La Belle and Ward address a major question confronting American higher education - How do colleges and universities best prepare students for common citizenship in a diverse, democratic state while also nurturing their groups' cultures, values, and institutional participation? The authors clarify current debates about diversity and the content of curriculum, what one commentator calls the "culture wars". The book includes an overview of ethnicity, intergroup relations, and related concepts; the history and development of multiculturalism and ethnic studies in higher education in the United States; and an analysis of the issues related to diversity in higher education, particularly as they relate to tensions between ethnic studies and multicultural efforts.

La Belle and Ward address a major question confronting American higher education - How do colleges and universities best prepare students for common citizenship in a diverse, democratic state while also nurturing their groups' cultures, values, and institutional participation? The authors clarify current debates about diversity and the content of curriculum, what one commentator calls the "culture wars." The book includes an overview of ethnicity, intergroup relations, and related concepts; the history and development of multiculturalism and ethnic studies in higher education in the United States; and an analysis of the issues related to diversity in higher education, particularly as they relate to tensions between ethnic studies and multicultural efforts.

Building on the intellectual and political momentum that established the Critical Ethnic Studies Association, this Reader inaugurates a radical response to the appropriations of liberal multiculturalism while building on the possibilities enlivened by the historical work of Ethnic Studies. It does not attempt to circumscribe the boundaries of Critical Ethnic Studies; rather, it offers a space to promote open dialogue, discussion, and debate regarding the field's expansive, politically complex, and intellectually rich concerns. Covering a wide range of topics, from multiculturalism, the neoliberal university, and the exploitation of bodies to empire, the militarized security state, and decolonialism, these twenty-five essays call attention to the urgency of articulating a Critical Ethnic Studies for the twenty-first century.

Beginning with the premise that a comprehensive understanding of American life must confront the issue of race, sociologist David Yamane explores efforts by students and others to address racism and racial inequality—to challenge the color line—in higher education. By 1991, nearly half of all colleges and universities in the United States had established a multicultural general education requirement. Yamane examines how such requirements developed at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin at Madison during the late 1980s, when these two schools gained national attention in debates over the curriculum. Based on interviews, primary documents, and the existing literature on race and ethnic relations, education, cultural conflict, and the sociology of organizations, Student Movements for Multiculturalism makes an important contribution to our understanding of how curricular change occurs and concludes that multiculturalism represents an opening, not a closing, of the American mind.

"The SAGE Handbook of Race and Ethnic Studies is one of the best handbooks outlining the latest thinking on race and ethnic studies published in recent years...The breadth of themes and the depth of discussion are ambitious, offering the reader an A-Z guide of contemporary thinking on race and ethnicity...a valuable resource for scholars and activists alike." - Runnymede Bulletin What is the state of race and ethnic studies today? How has the field emerged? What are the core concepts, debates and issues? This panoramic, critical survey of the field supplies researchers and students with a vital resource. It is a rigorous, focused examination of the central questions in the field today. The text examines: The roots of the field of race and ethnic studies. The distinction between race and ethnicity. Methodological issues facing researchers. Intersections between race and ethnicity and questions of sexuality, gender, nation and social transformation. The challenge of multiculturalism. Race, ethnicity and globalization. Race and the family. Race and education. Race and religion. Planned and edited by a distinguished team of Anglo-American scholars, the Handbook pools an impressive range of international world class expertise and insight. It provides a landmark work in the field which will be the measure of debate and research for years to come.

La Belle and Ward address a major question confronting American higher education--How do colleges and universities best prepare students for common citizenship in a diverse, democratic state while also nurturing their groups' cultures, values, and institutional participation? The authors clarify current debates about diversity and the content of curriculum, what one commentator calls the "culture wars." The book includes an overview of ethnicity, intergroup relations, and related concepts; the history and development of multiculturalism and ethnic studies in higher education in the United States; and an analysis of the issues related to diversity in higher education, particularly as they relate to tensions between ethnic studies and multicultural efforts. The authors share their vision of how higher education might be made more open to ethnic and other groups, while broadening the learning about diversity for all students. They emphasize the role that institutional and student cultures, including extra-curricular organizations and activities, play in achieving these goals.

This collection of lively and insightful essays traces the historical development of Ethnic Studies, its place in American universities and the curriculum, and new directions in contemporary scholarship.