| Summary: | Offers a array of essays with challenging ideas and analyses of power asymmetries, multiple epistemologies and vital concerns for the education of a different America, the America of new immigrants, people of color with other cultures, languages and values. The authors also force us to reflect on the educational challenges we must face, especially in teacher education and the preparation of intellectual leaders. None of the major agenda items associated with a new era of social justice can be either comprehended or accomplished without a profound understanding of multicultural literacy, and of its relationship to ethnic, racial, cultural and linguistic diversity. Contributors bring us face to face with issues and challenges we can no longer sweep under the rug. This volume lays down a general conceptual foundation that permits us to link our theoretical past with the post-modern era. It also provides a clear context for the discussion of contrasting notions of monocultural literacy and the relationship of literacy and power. The authors go on to deal with the relationship of literacy and culture (actually to specific cultures, especially African American). At this point the discourse turns to strategies for incorporating minority perspectives into the literacy curriculum and including the home cultures of disenfranchised peoples. The last section of the book offers help on the practical issues of teacher education for student populations often ignored, and linkages between schools and homes in order to empower the disenfranchised and isolated. --From publisher description.
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