Reframing the Multiculturalism Debates and Remapping American Studies

Abstract

The term "multiculturalism"--understood in very different ways by different people-- has been central to recent debates not only about the curriculum in American universities and secondary schools, but also in debates about national identity and prospects for the future. This paper offers an overview of these debates--what prompted them, and what shape they took in the late 1980s and early 1990s.