Theorizing acknowledgement: sourcing, grounding and politicizing recognition

ABSTRACT

The concept of recognition warrants re-examination in political theory. Despite its ubiquity in theoretical discussions and saturation in real political struggles, recognition is under-theorized, especially in relation to issues of post-immigration multiculturalism. We greatly appreciate, therefore, the generous responses of Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Sune Laegaard, David Owen, and Simon Thompson to our original article. In this rejoinder, we take up three issues on which they converge. First, we address the provenance or sources of our theoretical position and its connection to James Tully’s agonism and Tariq Moodod’s sociological-cum-political approach. Second, we clarify the theoretical ground of our concept of acknowledgement and its specific relation to “identity” and “negative difference.” Finally, we address the suggestion that recognition as acknowledgement is a specifically political model. We hope this exchange will encourage further consideration and analysis of why symbolic acknowledgement matters and qualifies as a form of multicultural recognition in its own right.

KEYWORDS:

• Recognition
• acknowledgment
• multiculturalism
• political theory
• belonging
• political inclusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Levy’s (2010) multicultural manners still seem to be directed at the accommodation of diverse and controversial minority practices; it is exactly our point that multiculturalism needs to broaden out beyond this focus to wider forms of symbolic recognition and acknowledgement.