The Construction and Historical Development of Multicultural Education, 1962–2012

Abstract

The field of multicultural education emerged during the 50 years in which Theory Into Practice has been published. I provide a brief historical overview of how the field developed from ethnic studies, to multiethnic education, and to multicultural education, and identify articles published in Theory Into Practice that describe and analyze trends in the field since it was founded in 1962. The Theory Into Practice articles are discussed without the broad context of the historical development of the field. The most recent manifestation of multicultural education is its global focus and how it is implemented in nations around the world.

Notes

1. I acknowledge with appreciation the research assistance given during the preparation of this article from these colleagues at The Ohio State University: Patty Hanna, Heather Hill, and Professor Alan Hirvela.

2. James A. Banks holds the Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies and is the founding director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. His areas of specialization are multicultural education and citizenship education in multicultural nation-states.