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

82

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