ERIC Number: EJ1215588
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1745 -7823
EISSN: N/A
Lazy Multiculturalism: Cultural Essentialism and the Persistence of the Multicultural Day in Australian Schools
Ethnography and Education, v14 n3 p295-310 2019
Multicultural Days are a regular event in Australian schools. While they are viewed as a vehicle for cultural inclusion and strengthening community, they have long been critiqued for their avoidance of a more critical engagement with deeper issues around cultural complexity. The intent of this paper is not simply to add to this critique but to understand why such forms of lazy multiculturalism persist in schools. Taking an ethnographic orientation to the field of multicultural education, it examines one school's approach to the Multicultural Day. The paper considers how, despite engaging in professional learning designed to challenge established practice in this area, teachers resisted the intellectual task of doing diversity differently. The ethnographic methods used in the study not only allowed for an examination of the practices this school engaged in, they drew attention to how teachers might modify their practice and develop a deeper understanding of cultural complexity.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Multicultural Education, Faculty Development, Cultural Pluralism, Inclusion, Cultural Activities, School Activities, Educational Change, Research Projects, Partnerships in Education, Public Schools, Suburban Schools, Food, Parent Participation, Global Approach, Elementary School Students, English (Second Language), Teacher Role
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A