The Passions of Pluralism Multiculturalism and the Expanding Community

Changing demographies and the new immigrations are making the phenomenon of pluralism inescapable in this country. At once, what is recognized as an erosion of community requires us to find ways of reconciling a newly acknowledged diversity with a Deweyan notion of a "Great Community." Using imaginative works as well as philosophic and ethnographic books as texts, this article explores the significance of heeding multiple voices silenced over the years, of making them part of the ongoing "conversation" that distinguishes our culture. This entails an incorporation of visions seldom tapped before; it entails a recognition of exclusions and deficiencies long denied, a discovery of ways to fill the voids and in some fashion to repair. Finally, seeking a regard for distinctiveness as well as a reaching toward connectedness, I look for opportunities for concrete engagements, for imaginative efforts to cross the distances and look through diverse others" eyes.