(DOWNLOAD) "Communitarianism and Multiculturalism in the Academy." by Journal of Thought ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

July 12, 2021

eBook details

Title: Communitarianism and Multiculturalism in the Academy.
Author : Journal of Thought
Release Date : January 22, 2009
Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 194 KB

Description

Like diversity and unity, communitarianism and multiculturalism are often thought to be at odds, oxymoronic concepts invoked to achieve different ends. The criticisms of multiculturalism are familiar enough--it will serve to "disunite" the nation and water down the curriculum of schools and universities. The criticisms of communitarianism, while less widely known, are stated with just as much vehemence--a focus on community-oriented policy or curriculum will "provincialize" the policy arena or the curriculum of the academy. According to their respective critics, in one instance we expand the human gaze too widely, in the other, too narrowly. This essay will attempt a kind of synthesis between two academic movements that at first glance appear to be at odds, focusing on the role each plays, or could play, in the creation and improvement of democratic processes. The twentieth-century drive for civil rights in the United States, for affirmative action and other policies designed to end a wide variety of discriminatory practices, was not invoked under the rubric of "multiculturalism." That term entered the vocabulary of most Americans during the 1960s as a way to talk about educational reform. In fact, multiculturalism as an academic movement has been tightly connected to education, public education in particular, though contributions to it have come from virtually all corners of the academy and all corners of the globe. This has meant great visibility for the movement, for Americans are deeply concerned about what is taught in the nation's schools and universities: witness the maelstrom over the essay of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, or the heavy reprisals for professors who express their belief that the U. S. itself may have been responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Opponents of multiculturalism have published widely successful books with titles that leave little doubt about the author's antimulticultural stand. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., for instance, condemned multiculturalism in his 1991 book, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. Dinesh D'Souza's Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus, also published in 1991, was an equally successful attack on multicultural studies. Alvin Schmidt's The Menace of Multiculturalism: Trojan Horse in America (1997) is an even more pointed attack. And one can find numerous websites sponsored by conservative political and religious groups, all attacking multiculturalism either as anti-American, anti-Christian, or both.