Troubling Multiculturalism: The New Work Order, Anti Anti-Essentialism, and a Cultural Studies Approach to Education

Abstract

The changing face of international economic systems brings with it an increased sensitivity to changing notions of culture, race, and class. The ways in which these multiple subjectivities function in pursuit of democratic systems serves as new way to explore issues of multicultural education. Beginning with a discussion of a cultural studies approach as delineated by Grossberg (1992, 1997), how multiculturalism as a project can be informed by this particular theoretical approach serves as a point of departure. Using James Gee's (1996) conception of the "New Work Order" and Paul Gilroy's (1996, 2000) anti anti-essentialism, this article explores how new fields of struggle in multicultural education open through an analysis of changing work relations and troubling the notions of race and subjectivity.