Ethnic Identity Discourse in Intercultural Education

Teaching intercultural education and communication without personal ethnic identity development exposes students to the possibility of becoming so enamored with the cultures of others that they become disillusioned with their own ethnic heritages. Such circumstances are especially detrimental to children of color living in societies in which everything associated with White people is considered positive, good, and desirable, and much associated with people of color is interpreted to be negative, dangerous and worthy of denigration. In this article, I report and analyze the findings of primary and secondary school teachers who facilitated students’ ethnic identity development using subject matter content. With a strong sense of their ethnic identity, I argue that such students are positioned to benefit from instruction in intercultural education and communication with its requisite new cultural knowledge, feelings and behaviors. These findings reinforce both the need and efficacy of ethnic identity exploration as a necessary component of intercultural education at all levels of schooling. Ethnic identity exploration in education includes making connections with students’ families about ethnic identity, engaging students in ethnic identity dialogue, introducing students to social justice role models in their ethnic groups, and exploration of ethnic histories, traditions, and customs.