Increasing cultural globalisation and the assertion of cultural identities present an
interesting opportunity for cities in the postmodern Western World. An increasingly
multi-situated polity must better reflect and serve an increasingly self-aware and
heterogeneous population in search of better planning, community and social justice. A
great deal of research in diversity issues has been conducted in various disciplines, but
there is little integration of this theory and even less instruction as to its application. This
thesis attempts to address the deficiencies - providing some rationale and some
guidance towards the diversification of civic culture as a model of incorporation.
Diversification requires a significant shift in our understanding of culture, identity,
community and self - an end to mainstream and its hegemony. It places the onus for
change on local institutions and operates on an assumption of difference, a desire for
meaningful incorporation and a commitment to equality as equity. These principles
translate into the pursuit of increasingly differentiated benefits, inclusive participation,
varied discourse and inclusive definitions. For the transformation to be truly meaningful
and systemic, it must take place in all agencies of civic culture: government, civil society,
business, the media and family. A conceptual, prescriptive and evaluative framework for
cultural diversification is thus elaborated.
Change will require deliberate purpose and action. This thesis attempts to provide some
direction by applying the discussion to a level at which most urban leaders, planners and
cultural producers work. A local organisation in Vancouver, Canada - a reputed leader
in diversity - is selected as a case to illustrate application of the developed framework
and to enrich it with an initial investigation of how practitioners work towards the
diversification of their individual institutions and their larger socio-cultural environment. It
is hoped that strategies learned here, and in future applications of this research, can
provide guidance for other organisations and that numerous small efforts will be
rewarded with the gradual transformation of the whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/13894 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Dang, Steven R. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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