An analysis of 50 textbooks used in the elementary schools of the former Belgian Congo reveals an overt attempt to propagate colonial ideology. Fundamental themes included the legitimacy of the colonization, denigration of the indigenous culture, and establishment of colonial authority. Three books, however, resisted this indoctrination and one…

Claims that multicultural education is based on unsound conceptions of the nature of culture, particularly the idea that it is inappropriate to judge cultures by the standard of how well they allow members to adapt to their current circumstances. Multiculturalism should encourage maximum interaction of all societal elements to forge an emergent…

Discusses "Seeds of Change," a Columbian quincentenary exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Describes the rapid transformation of the Americas after contact with the Europeans. Reports that the exhibit explores the destruction of the native population by disease, war, slavery, the ongoing decimation of the rain forest, and the…

The movement for multiculturalism has developed in part as a reaction to the dominance of the U.S. scientific culture. The U.S. language and U.S. culture are globally accepted as closest to the world's common culture. Those who advocate multiculturalism on U.S. campuses are seceding from this common culture. (SLD)

Examines multicultural and global education in relation to the growing concern for equity and social justice in the social studies curriculum. Suggests that global education studies global equity, whereas multicultural education teaches national equity. Argues that both types of programs, if well-designed and implemented, can fulfill the U.N.…

Examines society's ability to understand and value individuals from diverse cultures. From the different cultural and ethnic groups, to varying religious orientations, to understanding sexual-preference and gender and sex-role issues, the article examines barriers to the acceptance of other cultures and explores ways to gain a deeper understanding…

Teaches an introductory course on issues of prejudice and discrimination. Assigns a two-essay autobiography and analysis of other student biographies. Encourages students to use their life experiences to articulate sociology's theoretical, conceptual, and substantive materials. Finds course effective in reducing ethnocentrism. (NL)

Reacts to Ruth Spack's commentary "The Rhetorical Construction of Multilingual Students." Each reaction is followed by a response from the author. (Author/VWL)

Examines difficulties and complexities in researching issues of discrimination in education across European countries as a first step in devising intercultural curricula. Discusses cross-national differences in terminology, in the ways in which research issues related to racism and interculturalism are formulated, and in the educational experience…

The author's experience of discovering his own ethnocentrism is described. Factors which helped him process feelings, learn from mistakes, and move forward are discussed. The challenge of dealing with various people, culturally different from oneself, who may react in different ways for different reasons is discussed. (EMK)

Understanding the collective versus individualistic viewpoint is important to understanding racism in America. The author applies lessons learned in dealing with homophobia to the matter of racism. Forming for oneself a white version of racial identity is the key to white's active personal involvement and identification with being anti-racist.…

Although Yankton Sioux writer Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin, 1876-1938) was, as P. Jane Hafen notes, "virtually unknown for many decades," much critical work has appeared since Dexter Fisher's 1979 article,"Zitkala-Sa: Evolution of a Writer." Some critics desiring to bring Zitkala-Sa into the conversation about turn-of-the-century American women…

The author's teaching experience in France began in 1994 when she was offered a two-year position as "maitre de langues" (language instructor) at the University of Saint Etienne Engineering School. She had moved to France from Berkeley, California, the previous year along with a newborn baby and crates of photocopied archival material…

An instructor and her student offer complementary perspectives on what happened in a classroom in which reading Toni Morrison opened up nearly intractable resistances to a making and sharing of knowledge in which no one was allowed to take refuge in what Catherine Fox calls "whiteliness" and assume a position outside of others' knowing…

Racism, discrimination, and prejudice are typically viewed from the perspective of the disadvantaged ethnic minority, but another approach is to address the advantages of whites. There is one culture that is usually invisible to whites, and that is "whiteness." To grow up white is to be the focal point from which others differ. Whites…