Português / Español

This qualitative study aims to discuss the main findings in a study on the teaching of multicultural education at a university in the Midwest of the United States, where the racial / ethnic context is predominantly white and where the teacher of the class is a racial and ethnic, religious, and a sexual minority. In the United States, multicultural education is one of the main approaches to understand diversity and promote equity and social justice in educational settings (Banks, 2004; Newby, Swift, & Newby, 1996). Specifically, in higher education, various publications from the country have focused mainly on race / ethnicity, gender and multicultural policies to promote education in future teachers. However, empirical evidence about the challenges of teaching this topic in higher education from the perspective of a minority is not available. Through observations and interviews carried out during an academic semester to a biracial professor, it was possible to establish: (1) the importance of the minority social status of the professor while teaching students of the majority; (2) the symbolic struggle in the classroom; (3) the effect on the classroom community of the high emotional content; and (4) the effect on the classroom community of the physical environment. Also, institutional policies that promote and support diversity are crucial in the development of an educational environment that works towards multiculturalism.

Multicultural education, Higher education, Racial minorities, Ethnic minorities, Teaching.

Flanagan, A. & Raible, J. (2015). Luces y sombras en la enseñanza de la Educación (Multi)cultural: Reflexiones a partir de un caso de estudio de los EEUU. International Journal of Education for Social Justice (RIEJS), 4(2), 185-200.