Nationalism, Diversity, and Human Rights: An Ethnographic Study of Buddhism and Tagore and Thoughts for Marketing Intercultural Understanding

ABSTRACT

The return of xenophobic and racist movements in many countries known for their multiculturalism and tolerance signifies the resurgence of nationalism, marked by hostility to outsiders and cultural apartheid. The nation has been portrayed as an imagined community, and the terms nation and nationality have been acknowledged to be difficult to define. Despite its abstract nature, nationalism still commands profound political and emotional legitimacy in modern society and remains the most cruel and powerful force in politics. It is associated with the perception of national superiority, an orientation toward dominance, a collective grievance against foreigners, and a downward comparison of other nations. It shows an evaluative negative bias and prejudice against other countries and a need for national power, bolstered by a hostility toward others. Against the backdrop of the violence, racism, and religious fanaticism of the contemporary world, this paper aims to enhance our understanding and add to the literature on the consumption and marketing of intercultural and interfaith understanding, human rights, diversity, and nationalism and explores implications therein for nonprofit organizations in this area, with an ethnographic study of one of the world’s largest Nichiren Buddhist organizations and of the ideology of Asia’s first Nobel-Laureate, poet, author, and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• human rights
• intercultural understanding
• marketing
• nationalism
• social marketing