Sociální pedagogika | Social Education 81
Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 81–82, November 2016
ISSN 1805-8825
Review
Grant, C. A. (2015). Multiculturalism in education and teaching. The selected
works of Carl A. Grant. New York: Routledge.
"I wanted to act against that oppression." This sentence appears on
the very first page of the introduction to Grant's book. However, it is
not only this book that it begins. This imperative was basically the
start of Carl Grant's scientific and academic career, which spanned
over forty years and which was devoted to social justice in the school
system and multicultural education in the USA. Although this is a
selection of Grant's texts from the end of the 1970s to the present
day, it is neither a review nor an effort at a "Best of"-type publication.
That is what makes the book so appealing. The texts which were
selected are mainly a reflection of the sentence quoted above, and
they can be construed as a "strong broth" of multicultural discourse
in education in the USA.
The book contains a total of fourteen texts, which are divided into
three parts: Race and Educational Equity, Theorizing Multicultural
Education and Multicultural Teacher Education. Six texts were written
by Grant as a co-author. Race and Educational Equity contains three chapters, in which the central
concept is race and racism. "Race is a historical and contemporary determinant of life chances and
opportunities," writes Grant. Grant always manages support this claim, just like all the others, with
argumentation based on his own extensive research and study of many sources. The fight against
racism, as a formalized institution determining social stratification, requires not only a change of laws
towards a socially just approach to education, but also a change of curriculum, textbooks and the
concept of the educational process on the part of teachers. The second part, which is called
Theorizing Multicultural Education, captures the fundamental and essential thesis of the objectives
and content of multicultural education, which can be an important guideline for the reader when
(re)defining their own concept. Furthermore, for European readers, this part represents an
opportunity to compare multicultural educational paradigms in the USA with those in Europe. In
Grant's concept, multicultural education is not only an educational process but also a philosophical
concept, one whose roots can be found in the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960s.
While Grant bases the first two parts on knowledge of a large volume of literature from a number of
fields (for example, sociology, anthropology and history), the last part of the book, called
Multicultural Teacher Education, serves Grant as fundamental support for his many years of
experience educating future teachers. These are five texts from the later 1980s and 1990s. In them,
among others, Grant emphasizes the need to research teacher education in a racially, culturally and
socially diversified society. This research should be the foundation for the creation of concepts and
visions which are to be realized in a longer time horizon. According to Grant, the teacher is the
primary carrier of equity and equality, which is why high demands are placed on him or her.
Preparing teachers to perform their jobs in a pluralistic society requires a clear concept based on
empirical research.
The book represents a temporal and thematic cross-section of Grant's many years of academic
efforts. In short, the reader can follow the development of Grant's thinking and speculation on the
themes of race, multicultural society and education. What's important is that Grant's texts are always
based on a social context. Grant was always inspired by what was going on around him. That is why
his texts are a mirror of American society over the period of the last forty years. The book
Hladík / Grant, C. A. (2015). Multiculturalism in Education and Teaching...
Multiculturalism in Education and Teaching. The selected works of Carl A. Grant can be an
appropriate start to a study of Grant's work. It forces readers to familiarize themselves with other
texts, and represents a gateway to a deeper understanding of his books and articles.
The review originated within the scope of addressing the project IGA/FHS/2015/003 – Social
and Intrapersonal Context of the Multicultural Teaching of Secondary School Students.
Jakub Hladík
Faculty of Humanities, Tomas Bata University in Zlín