Kenan Malik

Kenan Malik (personal blog-cum-website, Wikipedia) is a UK-based writer of Indian origin. Malik writes on the philosophy of science as well as on theories of multiculturalism, race, and politics. He has defended rationalism, secular humanism, free speech (opposing restrictions on hate speech), and free migration. Much of Malik’s writing is available at his blog, Pandaemonium. He is also the author of several books.

Some of Malik’s writings that have been cited at Open Borders include:

Some of Malik’s notable essays include:

  • The introduction to his forthcoming book, Multiculturalism and its Discontents. Malik argues:

    Part of the problem in discussions about multiculturalism is that the term has, in recent years, come to possess two meanings that are all too rarely distinguished. The first is what I call the lived experience of diversity. The second is multiculturalism as a political process, the aim of which is to manage that diversity.

    The experience of living in a society that is less insular, more vibrant and more cosmopolitan is something to welcome and celebrate. It is a case for cultural diversity, mass immigration, open borders and open minds. As a political process, however, multiculturalism means something very different. It describes a set of policies, the aim of which is to manage and institutionalize diversity by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes, defining individual needs and rights by virtue of the boxes into which people are put, and using those boxes to shape public policy. It is a case, not for open borders and minds, but for the policing of borders, whether physical, cultural or imaginative.