‘Narrative Multiculturalism’: A Special Issue

JCS 34 (3), May-June 2002

In six articles, JoAnn Phillion and Ming Fang He outline their conceptualization of ‘narrative multiculturalism’ with particular reference to their own experiences in life and in the classroom.

JoAnn Phillion describes a 20-month study of teaching and learning in a diverse classroom in a downtown community school in Toronto. She examines teaching and learning in a multicultural classroom and documents successful strategies in working with immigrant and minority students. Her three papers detail the process by which this focus on classroom life led to a critique of the relevant scholarly literature and to a new way to think about multicultural teaching and learning.

Ming Fang He examines the identity development of three Chinese women teachers as they moved back and forth between Eastern and Western cultures and languages amid the rapidly changing events of the last four decades. In three papers she explores distinct phases in the cross-cultural lives of these women: their lives in China amid multiple cultural movements, their lives in Canada, and their lives in the North American academy. This life-based narrative inquiry opens up possibilities for establishing a link between cross-cultural lives and identities, cross-cultural teacher education, and curriculum studies in multicultural contexts.

JoAnn Phillion
Narrative multiculturalism

JoAnn Phillion
Classroom stories of multicultural teaching and learning

Ming Fang He
A narrative inquiry of cross-cultural lives: lives in China

Ming Fang He
A narrative inquiry of cross-cultural lives: lives in Canada

JoAnn Phillion
Becoming a narrative inquirer in a multicultural landscape

Ming Fang He
A narrative inquiry of cross-cultural lives: lives in the North American academy