J. J. Smolicz’s research while affiliated with The University of Adelaide and other places

Under the impact of economic, political and cultural globalisation, one could expect that the whole world would tend to become more and more culturally homogeneous until a convergence of cultures eventuated. Such homogenising forces have impinged upon nation-states causing them to lose some of their traditional omnipotence and charisma. The rising significance of international organisations has eroded some of the states’ powers, as has the increasing acceptance of dual citizenship and the virtually uncontrollable migratory flows across the globe. An example taken from Australia illustrates the dimensions of the latter problem facing many states, even one such as Australia that was formerly proud of its ability to control immigration inflow, with immigrants carefully classified as ‘skilled’, ‘family reunion’, ‘refugees’ and ‘humanitarian need’ cases. Australia has no official category for asylum seekers who arrive without official papers by boat, by air or inside cargo containers. This ‘illegal’ migration flow was no longer a minor problem. In 2000, 4,174 asylum seekers were washed up on Australian shores, arriving in 75 boats (a substantial increase from the 157 people who came in 1997–1998) (Hugo, 2001, p. 188). The weakening authority of the nation-state in the face of such crises has paradoxically generated forces that counteract the homogenising effects of globalisation. As control slips out of its grasp, the state faces the rising demands of its local, regional and various other minority groups, which are gaining confidence and demanding their ‘place in the sun’. We are witnessing round the world a renaissance, a resurgence of ethnicity (Huntington, 1996). While political boundaries are tending to become more permeable, especially in places like Western Europe, cultural boundaries are becoming accentuated within countries. In this context, it is important to realise that the cultural and political boundaries between states do not

The cultural aspects of globalisation are often overshadowed by its economic impact, although both impinge upon the pattern of interaction among national and ethnic cultures within the state (see Smolicz & Secombe, 2005; Zajda, 2005, 2007, Zajda et al. 2008). In this chapter, Australia is taken as an example of a multi-ethnic state which is in the process of building a nation based upon a multicultural, rather than monocultural framework. The Australian case study is discussed as a possible model for other multi-ethnic countries in their search for a solution to the pluralist dilemma of how to achieve a resilient and stable nation state which does not negate the persistence of cultural pluralism along ethnic lines. Such a search has universal significance, since it calls for stability based upon the interdependence of peoples and cultures, and ultimately of whole regions and civilisations. The key lies in a global interculturalism that transcends national/ethnic affiliations by overcoming borders that have a cultural meaning, as well as those of solely political and administrative significance.

In spite of the previous assumptions, globalization has not generated the degree of cultural homogeneity envisaged by many educationists, sociologists and political analysts. Instead, it has generated forces that have contributed to the persistence of cultural and linguistic diversity, within states and at global level. Linguistic diversity per se has aroused contradictory responses, ranging from tension and conflict to harmony and creativity. The article adopts the humanistic sociological approach to analyse the outcomes that occur at the juncture points of different linguistic and cultural groups, ranging from persecution and discrimination of minorities, to their tolerance and inclusion in cultural interaction through active human agents being involved in a cultural negotiation process. The paper examines the cases of minority migrant and indigenous languages in Australia; of dominant and non-dominant indigenous languages of the Philippines; and the fate of the Belarusian language which is being rendered a subordinate tongue within the group’s own Belarusian nation-state. The influence of the education system as a reflection of the state’s national policy on languages is examined with reference to factors which either contribute to the survival and development, or the erosion and eventual loss, of minority languages.In the course of investigating minority languages in a variety of cultural and political contexts, our research group frequently encountered the view that studies on language maintenance were rather futile, in view of the homogenising effects of globalisation that were sweeping the world. The general expectation was that, under its impact, we were witnessing a process that would continue until the convergence of cultures eventuated. This was assumed to spell the doom of any efforts directed towards the survival and development of “minor” national languages, let alone the languages of ethnic minorities or of indigenous people.

This article examines the changing legislation and education policies towards minority languages of two multilingual countries, Australia and the Philippines. Australia’s emergence from its assimilationist past to embrace a more multicultural approach is analysed with special reference to young Cambodian - Australians’ educational achievements that show the vital importance of school support for minority language literacy in enhancing students’ subsequent professional advancement. Philippines’s transition from dependence on colonial languages is shown to have been only a partial success, with the dominance of English supplemented by the co-officiality of one of the country’s ten major indigenous languages. The downgrading of the remaining nine is examined through an analysis of empirical data from a non-Filipino speaking region, where students are invariably trilingual, but where the rural poor’s educational chances are lessened through being educated in two languages other than their home tongue. The article concludes by re-affirming the need for a supportive community milieu to be supplemented by school literacy programs in minority languages, in that one of these two factors in its own way may not be sufficient to ensure successful language maintenance. The Philippine case-study also shows how long periods of linguistic suppression can breed a degree of diffidence about the value of literacy in the home tongue, without eliminating the emotional ties of speakers to their mother tongue as the core-value of their culture.

The chapter examines the conflicting forces of homogenisation and division generated by globalisation and, in particular, their effect in weakening the traditional powers of the nation-state. One of these forces is the rise of various indigenous and ethnic minorities, demanding greater recognition and support for their cultural identities as well as greater autonomy. This chapter suggests that cross-civilisational dialogue can help to resolve the complex issues that face each country and the whole world order.