The Case for Intercultural Education in a Multicultural World

The Case for Intercultural Education in a Multicultural World by Jagdish Gundare Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 2015, 246 pages ISBN: 978-0-88962-936-3 (paperback) The Case for Intercultural Education in a Multicultural World, by Dr. Jagdish Gundara, discusses the intercultural challenges to be found in increasingly complex and unstable multicultural societies in the UK and Europe. The central thesis of the book is that the marginalization of minority groups is paralleled by declining educational opportunity among immigrants and poorer social classes, yielding grave consequences. Dr. Gundara's book is a timely publication. In recent years there has been a burgeoning interest in the socio-cultural processes that promote outcome-equity among students who come from conditions of socio-economic adversity or cultural disadvantage (as seen in the work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2011). Such students are often described as at risk, a term that means to be in jeopardy of disaffection (at best), and encompasses all aspects of the social and personal that contribute to social dysfunction and academic failure. As one reads Dr. Gundara's book, one is reminded that the challenges across each nation, community, and case-study are unique. Yet, every public school teacher who works alongside socially disadvantaged families and children plays an identical role as a gate-keeper who prevents the social and economic inequities that threaten and diminish the life-chances of their students. There can be no doubting the credentials and experience of Dr. Gundara, but the question remains--to what extent does this collection of do the author justice? This review is written with the greatest of respect for the author's career accomplishments, but it is of course essential to maintain objectivity where the subject matter is concerned. For European nations, which are the focus of Gundara's considerations, the way forward is to reconcile the cultural and social differences in communities, institutions, and societies. For the author, the resolution resides in a trans-historical curricula that creates unifying world-knowledges among people from varied economic and cultural backgrounds. This review was written on the same day that Time Magazine and The Financial Times awarded German Chancellor Angela Merkel the Person of the Year Award in recognition of her policy on immigration from the war-torn state of Syria. For both Gundara, and for some European politicians, multiculturalism has created something of a bleak social vista replete with oppression, inequity, and social instability requiring reactionary practices by the authorities. Merkel's recent public condemnation of multiculturalism further clarifies Gundara's observations on multiculturalism as an unsuccessful social construct. What, then, shall we do? This is the question that the reader would expect Dr. Gundara to answer. The collection of essays continuously reminds the reader that while the challenges across each nation and community are unique, they often arise from common histories. Of central thematic importance throughout is the need for trans-historical education and social policy agendas that promote open discussion about cultural differences designed to foster inter-subjectivity and consensus. It is also a timely contribution because of an intensification of interest in outcome equity across recent years due to the expansion of enrollment in public education worldwide (United Nations, 2010)--but timing is not everything. Neither individually nor collectively do the essays adequately address how deep divisions born of centuries of conflict and oppression may be redressed by schools and colleges (for example, in the schools of Paris where Muslims rioted in 2005, 2007, and 2013). As one might expect from an accomplished academic, the essays in the collection are well crafted, yet weakened by a lack of transparency. …

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