Dancing With Bigotry: Beyond the Politics of Tolerance

by Donaldo Macedo, Lilia I. Bartolomé

As the end of the century draws closer, one of the most pressing challenges facing educators in the United States is the specter of an 'ethnic and cultural war' - a code phrase that engenders our society's licentiousness toward racism. In Dancing With Bigotry, Macedo and Bartolomé use examples from the mass media, popular culture, and politics to illustrate the larger situations facing educators and how this type of argument is both ignored in much of the academic research and rhetoric. They also examine why it is essential to take on the sources of 'mass public education.' Academia needs to understand that the popular press and mass media educate more people about issues regarding ethnicity and race than all other sources of education available to U.S. citizens. By shunning the mass media, educators are missing the obvious - more public education is done by the media than by teachers, professors, or anyone else. Dancing with Bigotry sheds light on the ideological mechanisms that shape and maintain the racist social order, while moving the discussion beyond the reductionist binarism of White versus Black racism. Discussing social complexities, including ethnic cleansing, culture wars, hegemony, human sufferings, and intensified xenophobia, Macedo and Bartolomé explain why it is essential that we gain a nuanced understanding of how ideology underlies all social, cultural, and political discourse and actions. This book shows that it is imperative that we appreciate what it means to educate for critical citizenry in the ever-increasing multiracial and multicultural world of the twentieth century.

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2000

Reviews

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Macedo and Bartolome are two critical linguists who offer a helpful critique of multicultural education. Their basic message is that teachers concerned about multiculturalism must not simply tech appreciation of difference and tolerance, but also explore the political dynamics of race and culture; that is they need to look at the way power is distributed according to one's race and ethnicity. They explore the way the English language is preferenced over other languages without appreciating the unique contribution and insight other cultures bring. They also look at the way race and ethnic concerns are taught without exploring the intersection of race/ethnicity with gender and class. the book also contains two leading critical pedagogy theorists: Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux. This book challenged me to examine the way I address issues of difference and encourages me to keep in the forefront the way in which white power is privileged in this society, and how that impacts both the learning and general well-being of students of oclor.