Time out for the multicultural human being?

Many people, even in a country like Sweden that has been quite homogeneous until fairly recently, live a multicultural life. We do so not because it is fashionable, not because it serves a worthy social cause, or to profile ourselves in the local media, but because it is an aspect of our identity, an integral part of who we are.

As one of the last to appear at an “all-employee, last-hired, first-fired, age before beautiful information meetings” in the spirit of the global financial crisis this week, I remarked facetiously to one of my colleagues who was already seated to my left: “I think I’ll plead age and take a seat here.” Expecting a welcoming smile, despite the tension in the air, I was shocked by the response: “So where do you think everyone else is supposed to sit, on the floor?”

Powerful feelings produce a void in thought, a time-out, where language and meaning can enter to effect a shift of consciousness that blurs the boundaries between self and other. I am in a twilight zone occupied by rituals, open wounds, islands, dreams awakening, solstices, beaches, immigrants, witches and brooms. As a writer, editor and translator, I am constantly investigating the many ways in which my cultural backgrounds affect my sense of self, what it means to live a multicultural identity, as well as other aspects of being human.

Perhaps I am preparing to consider what the future may hold once globalization becomes so extensive that individuals begin to shift their identities in-between cultures, to a seat where identity is less associated with specific ideologies, values or traditions, and more self-reflexive.