Bhikhu Parekh argues for a pluralist perspective on cultural diversity. Writing from both within the liberal tradition and outside of it as a critic, he challenges what he calls the "moral monism" of much of traditional moral philosophy, including contemporary liberalism--its tendency to assert that only one way of life or set of values is worthwhile and to dismiss the rest as misguided or false. He defends his pluralist perspective both at the level of theory and in subtle nuanced analyses of recent controversies. Thus, he offers careful and clear accounts of why cultural differences should be respected and publicly affirmed, why the separation of church and state cannot be used to justify the separation of religion and politics, and why the initial critique of Salman Rushdie (before a Fatwa threatened his life) deserved more serious attention than it received. Rejecting naturalism, which posits that humans have a relatively fixed nature and that culture is an incidental, and "culturalism," which posits that they are socially and culturally constructed with only a minimal set of features in common, he argues for a dialogic interplay between human commonalities and cultural differences. This will allow, Parekh argues, genuinely balanced and thoughtful compromises on even the most controversial cultural issues in the new multicultural world in which we live.

This important and much acclaimed book rapidly became a classic on first publication. In it, Bhikhu Parekh shows that the Western tradition of political philosophy has very limited theoretical resources to cope with cultural diversity. He then discusses how it can be revised and what new conceptual tools are needed. The core of the book addresses the important theoretical questions raised by contemporary multicultural society, especially the nature and limits of intercultural equality and fairness, national identity, citizenship, and cross-cultural political discourse. The new second edition includes a substantial additional chapter addressing key issues.

This book aims to bring together two movements - multiculturalism and anti- racism - which, though having aims in common, have been at arms length in the past. Differences of emphasis have meant that classroom practice has been the natural realm of multiculturalism, while anti-racism has been dissatisfied with an approach that accentuates life-style at the expense of challenging or changing the racism that minority students experience. In these debates, there has been a concentration on culturally specific topics and this book goes beyond national boundaries to find how international concerns and contexts might provide answers to problems faced in single countries. Leading figures in the USA, Canada, South Africa, the UK and Australasia write on the issues.

A selection of the leading theorists of multiculturalism revisit aspects of Parekh's work both to underline its continuing importance and the ongoing vitality of multiculturalist theory.

For over a decade, Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education has served as the guide to multicultural art education, connecting everyday experience, social critique, and creative expression with classroom learning. The much-anticipated Rethinking Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education continues to provide an accessible and practical tool for teachers, while offering new art, essays, and content to account for transitions and changes in both the fields of art and education. A beautifully-illustrated collaboration of over one hundred artists, writers, curators, and educators from in and around the contemporary art world, this volume offers thoughtful and innovative materials that challenge the normative practices of arts education and traditional art history. Rethinking Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education builds upon the pedagogy of the original to present new possibilities and modes of understanding art, culture, and their relationships to students and ourselves. The fully revised second edition provides new theoretical and practical resources for educators and students everywhere, including: Educators' perspectives on contemporary art, multicultural education, and teaching in today’s classroom Full-color reproductions and writings on over 50 contemporary artists and their works, plus an additional 150 black-and-white images throughout Lesson plans for using art to explore topical issues such as activism and democracy, conflict: local and global, and history and historicism A companion website offering over 250 color reproductions of artwork from the book, a glossary of terms, and links to the New Museum and G: Class websites---www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415960854.

Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education is the first book of its kind to address the role of art within today's multicultural education. Co-published with The New Museum of Contemporary Art , this beautifully illustrated book is a practical resources for art educators and students. Co-published with the New Museum of Contemporary Art.

Multicultural Riddle is a comprehensive exploration of all the issues that shape our search for a multicultural society. The book examines how we can establish a state of justice and equality between and among three groups: those who believe in a unified national culture, those who trace their culture to their ethnic identity, and those who view their religion as their culture. To solve the multicultural riddle, one must rethink national identity, ethnicity and the role of religion in the modern world.

Multicultural States challenges the national frames of reference of the debates which surround questions of ethnicity, race and cultural difference by investigating contemporary theories, policies and practices of cultural pluralism across eight countries with historical links in British colonialism: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Ireland and Britain. Written as history, theory, autobiography and political polemic, Multicultural States combines general theoretical discussions of the principles of cultural pluralism, nationalism, and minority identities with informative studies of specific local histories and political conflicts.

This book examines claims for recognition of cultural difference from immigrant and Indigenous minorities, highlighting the ways in which they intersect with ideas of national community. Busbridge argues that there is an important, albeit under-explored, relationship between nation and multicultural politics of recognition. Drawing on the Australian context, the book explores how nation features as a productive, if somewhat ambivalent, discursive resource in contemporary Muslim and Aboriginal struggles to be recognised. In demanding recognition, minorities enter into the business of ‘making the nation’ by positing alternative conceptions of national identity, culture and belonging that are more attentive to their differences and claims. This dynamic is engaged as an expression of ‘postcolonial citizenship’. Postcolonial citizenship is imagined in terms of the ways in which minority groups actualise multicultural realities through rewriting ideas of national community. It underlines the critical importance of revising the power relations that deem some groups ‘more national’ and others less so – and which, in Western multicultural societies, are typically tied to notions of the ‘West’ and its ‘others’. This book is an important conceptual, theoretical and political intervention that brings postcolonialism and multiculturalism into dialogue on the increasingly potent issues of nation and national identity. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of sociology, politics, postcolonial studies, culture, identity and nation.

This new and expanded edition collects the best articles dealing with race and culture in the classroom that have appeared in Rethinking Schools magazine. With more than 100 pages of new materials, Rethinking Multicultural Education demonstrates a powerful vision of anti-racist, social justice education. Practical, rich in story, and analytically sharp! Book Review 1: “If you are an educator, student, activist, or parent striving for educational equality and liberation, Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice will empower and inspire you to make a positive change in your community.” -- Curtis Acosta, Former teacher, Tucson Mexican American Studies Program; Founder, Acosta Latino Learning Partnership Book Review 2: “Rethinking Multicultural Education is both thoughtful and timely. As the nation and our schools become more complex on every dimension–race, ethnicity, class, gender, ability, sexuality, immigrant status–teachers need theory and practice to help guide and inform their curriculum and their pedagogy. This is the resource teachers at every level have been looking for.” -- Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor & Dept. Chair, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children Book Review 3: “Rethinking Multicultural Education is an essential text as we name the schools we deserve, and struggle to bring them to life in classrooms across the land.” -- William Ayers, teacher, activist, award-winning education writer, and Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (retired)