Multiculturalism has long been linked to calls for tolerance of cultural diversity, but today many observers are subjecting the concept to close scrutiny. After the political upheavals of 1968, the commitment to multiculturalism was perceived as a liberal manifesto, but in the post-9/11 era, it is under attack for its relativizing, particularist, and essentializing implications. The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.

Multiculturalism has long been linked to calls for tolerance of cultural diversity, but today many observers are subjecting the concept to close scrutiny. After the political upheavals of 1968, the commitment to multiculturalism was perceived as a liberal manifesto, but in the post-9/11 era, it is under attack for its relativizing, particularist, and essentializing implications. The essays in this collection offer a nuanced analysis of the multifaceted cultural experience of Central Europe under the late Habsburg monarchy and beyond. The authors examine how culturally coded social spaces can be described and understood historically without adopting categories formerly employed to justify the definition and separation of groups into nations, ethnicities, or homogeneous cultures. As we consider the issues of multiculturalism today, this volume offers new approaches to understanding multiculturalism in Central Europe freed of the effects of politically exploited concepts of social spaces.

All chapters in this Second Edition of Increasing Multicultural Understanding have been revised and updated, and there are two new chapters on Muslims and Jews in the United States. The author presents a model which helps counsellors understand culturally different groups and the role culture plays in shaping the way people think, feel and act, and which provides the tools necessary for fostering positive and productive relationships among culturally diverse populations.

Taking the discussion about cultural diversity beyond the usual topics of anti-racism and inclusion but without overlooking these issues, Understanding Cultural Diversity in the Early Years considers current debates around the alleged failure of multiculturalism, and encourages practitioners to utilize their own cultural backgrounds and experiences as a way of developing their teaching. With an optimistic outlook, and focusing on the advantages for learning that cultural diversity can offer, the book discusses the concepts of culture, multi-culturalism and inter-cultural competence, and describes the principles that underpin good practice. It is packed full of case studies from a variety of early years settings, with ideas to try out and interactive exercises to aid reflection.

No one in this country is untouched by the impact of diversity. Yet, as diverse as diversity is, are too the many different emotions and attitudes evoked by diversity. As a nation, we are not well equipped to deal with the swirling transitions that are converging on us on a daily basis because of the nature of being the most diverse country in the world.This text will well serve the purpose for many who decide to learn and teach the fundamentals of cultural diversity. It will be beneficial for college students, high school juniors and seniors, and organizations whose ever-changing workforce leads to the necessity of educating employees on how to deal with the diversity of employees and customers in a positive manner. This timely publication is filled with current and relevant examples taken from pop culture: from TV shows, song lyrics, and poetry of the times. These excerpts make this publication much more interesting and easy for the reader to relate to and understand.

This volume constitutes a first step towards an ever-deferred interdisciplinary dialogue on cultural traits. It offers a way to enter a representative sample of the intellectual diversity that surrounds this topic, and a means to stimulate innovative avenues of research. It stimulates critical thinking and awareness in the disciplines that need to conceptualize and study culture, cultural traits, and cultural diversity. Culture is often defined and studied with an emphasis on cultural features. For UNESCO, “culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group”. But the very possibility of assuming the existence of cultural traits is not granted, and any serious evaluation of the notion of “cultural trait” requires the interrogation of several disciplines from cultural anthropology to linguistics, from psychology to sociology to musicology, and all areas of knowledge on culture. This book presents a strong multidisciplinary perspective that can help clarify the problems about cultural traits.

The authors seek to uncover the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the teaching-learning experience and the dynamics of curricular responses to changes within our society. They recognize the central role of faculty in delivering instruction in ways that are most understandable to culturally, gender-, and age-mixed groups of students. Faculty members must strive to understand and implement teaching styles and techniques that will best provide their students with a rich and challenging education.