Student Movements for Multiculturalism: Challenging the Curricular Color Line in Higher Education

by David Yamane

Beginning with the premise that a comprehensive understanding of American life must confront the issue of race, sociologist David Yamane explores efforts by students and others to address racism and racial inequality―to challenge the color line―in higher education. By 1991, nearly half of all colleges and universities in the United States had established a multicultural general education requirement. Yamane examines how such requirements developed at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin at Madison during the late 1980s, when these two schools gained national attention in debates over the curriculum. Based on interviews, primary documents, and the existing literature on race and ethnic relations, education, cultural conflict, and the sociology of organizations, Student Movements for Multiculturalism makes an important contribution to our understanding of how curricular change occurs and concludes that multiculturalism represents an opening, not a closing, of the American mind.

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Stephanie Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had this book on my to read for almost two years since this was recommended by a professor--who said Yamane's study was well done and well written--on my dissertation committee. The study is dense --with a focus in case study, archival, and interviews--but I agreed that it was well-done in terms of methodology and coverage of the politics. As with any historical narrative, it got confusing with the different faculty and student committees at both Berkeley and U. Wisconsin. I wish Yamane had an additional appendix with a quick timeline and committee description. I also appreciated the focus on organizational theory in the two case studies. I also appreciate the last chapter about how these two cases relate to the larger pedagogy debate. But the argument that vocationalism is outpacing liberal arts majors came out of no where. I wish Yamane introduced that argument early in chapter 1. Overall a great case study on how two universities pushed through a multicultural requirement in the undergraduate core curriculum.