Multiculturalism and diversity are not synonymous with anti-racist education

Claudine Lam

doi:10.37291/2717638X.202563642

Authors

Claudine Lam Melbourne Polytechnic https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1557-4395

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37291/2717638X.202563642

Keywords:

Diversity, Discourses of multiculturalism, Critical Race Theory, Eurocentric ideologies, Colonized racialized 'other'

Abstract

Across the Australian early childhood landscape there is a tendency for educators to veil discussions about race through the lenses of diversity and multiculturalism, falling short of addressing pervasive racism. Consequently, a more focused anti-racist education model is needed given the rise of racism and ‘othering’. Within the context of this research, teaching practices utilized by participants drew primarily on discourses of multiculturalism, premised on the shared understanding that it was important to teach about differences through similarities. Participants also identified that policy documents and professional development opportunities reinforced approaches to diversity and multiculturalism that emphasized inclusion, tolerance and acceptance, rather than addressing and disrupting discourses of race and racism. Three core tenets of Critical Race Theory illuminate how an over-reliance on discourses of multiculturalism amplifies the challenges of creating and delivering curricula that explicitly name and recognize race; a prerequisite for engaging with anti-racist endeavours. Moreover, discourses of multiculturalism are synonymous with discourses of colour-blindness, which is problematic because both engender an ‘us’ and them ‘binary’. Underpinned by Eurocentric ideologies, this binary normalizes the fabrication of a colonized racialized ‘other’. Accordingly, this paper argues that in order to reimagine and realize anti-racist pedagogy in early years education we must first recognize, disrupt and decolonize how the power inherent within Eurocentric discourses operates to silence and oppress those who are perceived as the colonized, racialized ‘other’. Only then can we critically examine diversity and discourses of multiculturalism in ways that genuinely generate and sustain opportunities and spaces for anti-racist teaching and learning.

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