Meanings of Culture in Multicultural Education: A Response to Anthropological Critiques

Abstract

This paper explores the meanings of culture in multicultural education, as used within discourse in the United States. The paper examines anthropological criticism of cultural usage in multicultural education, responds based on multicultural education literature, and considers implications of this exchange for multicultural education. Anthropological literature related to multicultural education over the last 20 years, is reviewed. Multicultural education literature for the same time frame is considered. Several questions, raised within anthropological literature, frame the analysis and the response. Is culture treated simplistically within multicultural education discourse? Is multiculturalism the normal human experience? Is culture ultimately located in the individual? Is support for cultural pluralism antithetical to multiculturalism? Is culture a response to social, political, and material conditions? Implications for multicultural education focus on ways anthropologists and multicultural educators can join forces to explore these questions in ways pertinent to them both.