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James A. Banks Home | UW College of Education

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James A. Banks is the Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies Emeritus and is the founding director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. He was the Russell F. Stark University Professor at the University of Washington from 2001 to 2006.

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Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age

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Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age

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Democracy, Diversity and Social Justice: Education in a Global Age

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What does it mean to be plural in culture and diversity?

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What does it mean to be plural in culture and diversity?

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The plurality of religious traditions and cultures has come to characterize every part of the world today. But what is pluralism? Here are four points to begin our thinking:

First, pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity. Diversity can and has meant the creation of religious ghettoes with little traffic between or among them. Today, religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is not a given; it is an achievement. Mere diversity without real encounter and relationship will yield increasing tensions in our societies.

Second, pluralism is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference. Tolerance is a necessary public virtue, but it does not require Christians and Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and ardent secularists to know anything about one another. Tolerance is too thin a foundation for a world of religious difference and proximity. It does nothing to remove our ignorance of one another, and leaves in place the stereotype, the half-truth, the fears that underlie old patterns of division and violence. In the world in which we live today, our ignorance of one another will be increasingly costly.

Third, pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments. The new paradigm of pluralism does not require us to leave our identities and our commitments behind, for pluralism is the encounter of commitments. It means holding our deepest differences, even our religious differences, not in isolation, but in relationship to one another.

Fourth, pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and encounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means both speaking and listening, and that process reveals both common understandings and real differences. Dialogue does not mean everyone at the "table" will agree with one another. Pluralism involves the commitment to being at the table - with one's commitments.

-Diana L. Eck, 2006

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The plurality of religious traditions and cultures has come to characterize every part of the world today. But what is pluralism? Here are four points to begin our thinking: First, pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity. Diversity can and has meant the creation of religious ghettoes with little traffic between or among them.

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Dr. James A. Banks--Founder of Multicultural Education

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A song for social justice and equality.

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Andra Day - Rise Up [Official Music Video] [Inspiration Version]

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On Educating for Diversity: A Conversation with James A. Banks

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On Educating for Diversity: A Conversation with James A. Banks

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May 1994 | Volume 51 | Number 8
Educating for Diversity Pages 28-31

Ron Brandt

They are-and that may be all right. Many of the school systems I work with that are at the additive and contributions stages see their current efforts as prerequisite to moving farther. They start with contributions-you know, Black Day, Indian Morning, and Jewish Afternoon. I used to be critical of that, but I've come to see that you've got to start somewhere. I was criticizing the contributions approach one day when a teacher said to me, "I just wish we had days that recognized contributions. I'd be proud if we could just do Martin Luther King Day."

So I'm more sympathetic to the contributions approach now. I think it's OK to start with Black History Month, as long as you don't stop there. And I think it's fine to start by adding good books to the existing curriculum-let's say, Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred Taylor (1981) to 5th grade language arts. You can't transform the curriculum overnight. It took 300 years to get the current curriculum structure-the Renaissance, the Middle Ages-and it's going to take a long time to transform the current curriculum into new patterns.
Transformed to what? What does a transformed curriculum look like?
What I mean by transformation is helping kids to look at reality differently. For example, you can put Indians into the curriculum without really changing its structure. What Indians do you add? Typically, we add Sacajawea and other "good" Indians to the curriculum. But if you really transform the curriculum-change its perspectives, change its assumptions-you might study Geronimo, who challenged the social and political structure.

Another example I often give is "the Westward Movement." Westward to whom? It wasn't westward to the Lakota Sioux; for them, it was their homeland, the center of the universe. And, of course, it wasn't west to the Mexicans, who considered it north, or the Alaskans, for whom it was south, and so on. I think kids should talk about the many meanings of "the west"-what it meant for different people.

Now, this is not to debunk the people who went west, or to make anyone feel guilty. It's to help kids understand that when some people went west, other people were already there. To the Lakota Sioux, the settlers were not heroic pioneers but invaders. We may not see them that way, but that's how others saw them.
So the idea is to look at a topic that is an established part of the curriculum and think about it from other points of view.
Yes, to reconceptualize it.
I can see how this applies to social studies, and to the arts and humanities, but does it apply to other curriculum areas?
Not to all, but the broader aspects of multicultural education apply to all subjects, all teaching. For example, a physics teacher may be able to do something with content transformation, but not much. What may be more appropriate for the physics teacher is "equity pedagogy." By that I mean changing teaching strategies so that girls and kids of color will learn more effectively.

A good example of equitable pedagogy is the work of Philip Treisman at Berkeley. Treisman noticed that the Chinese students were doing well in freshman calculus but that black students weren't. These were very bright kids-Berkeley gets only the best-so he decided to try to find out what they were doing differently. He found that the Chinese-American students were helping each other in tutorial study groups, so he structured groups like that for African-American students, and sure enough, they increased their academic achievement in calculus.
When we hear the term "multicultural education," many people think only of curriculum content, but you're saying it also includes such things as teaching for equity and working to reduce prejudice. That makes sense, although for this conversation we'll probably focus mostly on curriculum. For example, Rod Janzen (See "Melting Pot or Mosaic," p. 9), says there are two ways of defining multicultural education: one emphasizing assimilation of multiple cultures into a common American curriculum, the other emphasizing pluralism, or what some call a cultural mosaic. Do you agree there are these two perspectives, and that teachers get caught in the crossfire between them?
The two perspectives certainly exist, but I don't think it's such a dichotomy. The goal is to help kids function in their home communities-their ethnic communities-and in the mainstream world; they have to do both. And we do that by transforming the mainstream-the center-so that it accepts some differences. Everybody has to make some accommodations; students should read Langston Hughes, but also Charles Dickens and Robert Frost.

As a black growing up in the South, I had to change-but I didn't have to give up all that I was. In my segregated school, we sang the National Anthem each morning and then the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." We knew we needed both.
I've heard you say that including more material from a wider range of cultures doesn't mean we're neglecting Shakespeare and Benjamin Franklin, but there is really only so much time available to teach history and literature. If you're going to do more of one thing, you have to do less of something else.
Not necessarily. Maybe you rethink what you're doing. For example, at a museum in Germany last summer, I saw a painting of a black Madonna, which reflects a black presence in early Europe. That made me realize that, in history, we need to know more about the African intersections with Europe. Africans influenced Western civilization in many ways. For example, Picasso's work was heavily influenced by African art.

A book by Jack Weatherford called Indian Giver (1988) describes how Native American contributions to Western Civilization transformed the world. Another is called Native Roots (1991) which describes how the Indians enriched America. Such books help us see interconnections between cultures. I don't think it's either/or.
I can see why you say that in many cases we need to transform design of the curriculum. If you're doing the traditional survey of English literature, it's going to be hard to incorporate other cultures. You're stuck with Chaucer, Keats, and Shelley, and so on.
Yes, but as Toni Morrison points out in her book, Playing in the Dark (1992), even the absence of blacks in some of these major works makes a statement about the black presence. Morrison argues that the identity of whites was formed to contrast to the black population. For example, whites were able to describe themselves as free because blacks were enslaved. White was defined as beautiful, and black as ugly. Morrison's point is that even the absence of blacks in white mainstream literature makes a statement about the black presence. When studying works in which the black presence is not explicit, the teacher can help students to identify ways in which blacks are implicitly present and why their presence is implicit rather than obvious.
That suggests another controversial topic. In recent years, some educators have set out to reorganize the entire curriculum around the culture of the particular students they're teaching. The prime example of that, of course, is Afrocentric curriculum. Is there a danger in such a relatively narrow approach?
Here's my feeling on that. Given the desperate situation of black males and blacks in general in this society, I think we need some dramatic experimentation. I don't need to go over the litany of statistics; everybody knows we have a major crisis-and we don't know what to do about it. As long as innovative approaches are constitutional and as long as they don't hurt kids, we ought to give them a chance.

I visited an Afrocentric school in Detroit-the Paul Robeson School-which, by the way, had some girls enrolled-and I was deeply touched by what they are doing. They're taking young black kids who live in an inner-city community plagued by poverty, crime, drugs, and gang activity, and they're giving them security, pride, and hope. Those of us not directly involved in schools have to be supportive of people who are struggling in the trenches to make a difference.
A movement that seems closely related to multicultural education is global education, but I know you distinguish between the two. How?
They're similar in many ways, but one emphasizes cultures of other lands, while the other deals with ethnic diversity within the United States. Both are needed. They both have important goals. But confusing the two can lead to avoidance of critical concerns: we try to get teachers to teach about the internment of the Japanese Americans in World War II; they do a nice unit on Japan. We encourage them to deal with the barrio in Los Angeles, and they do a nice unit on Mexico. I've seen it happen over and over.
They are connected, though, aren't they?
Sure, you can make a connection. But that connection must be made explicit. If you want to know the difference, talk to Japanese Americans who have visited Japan. They're not Japanese; they're as much foreigners as you and I are. I'm going to Africa for the first time this coming summer, and, as Maya Angelou described the experience in her wonderful book, All God's Children Got Traveling Shoes (1986), I expect to be reminded of how American I really am.
I wanted to ask a question about acceptance of cultural differences. I've been reading recently about an international movement to ban so-called female circumcision, a horrible practice, which opponents describe as genital mutilation. Defenders of the practice say it's traditional in their cultures, so critics should mind their own business. In light of what you've just said, that example may not be appropriate, because it is primarily international. Still, it is a striking illustration of the problem of differing cultural values.
I welcome the opportunity to clarify where I stand on matters like that. Our critics misinterpret multiculturalism by claiming we are cultural relativists. Nowhere in my writing, or in the writing of other multicultural educators, do we advocate cultural relativism. Rather, we make a strong, unequivocal commitment to democracy, to basic American values of justice and equality. And that means that values that contradict justice and equality are not acceptable.
But educators do sometimes imply cultural relativism in the language they use. With the best of intentions, educators declare their intent to teach "respect for and acceptance of other cultures."
Yes, goals like that are unfortunate, because they cause misunderstanding and provoke abuse from the critics. Taking such language literally would mean having respect for Nazi Germany.
But how can we say it without being misunderstood? Opponents of outcome-based education in Pennsylvania objected strongly to the word "tolerance." I've always considered tolerance a lukewarm term. Surely we can do better than simply tolerate one another-although even that mild word was objected to by some religious conservatives who said it implied, among other things, acceptance of homosexuality.
Banks: Conservatives are citizens too, of course, and they have a right to express their views in a public forum. However, the right by a group to express its views within a democracy does not mean that all views should have equal power to influence the civic community. In a democratic, just society, all views cannot have equal weight. Views and opinions that violate the human rights of others, such as gay people, cannot be sanctioned or tolerated in a democracy. In a democracy, we must take a strong stand and defend equality and justice for all groups, no matter how stigmatized they are within society, because as Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
I'm intrigued and troubled by the problem of conservative objections to multicultural education. It's very complicated because religious conservatives believe there is a correct way to think and they do not want their children to be taught, for example, to condone religions other than their own.
I agree it's a difficult problem. However, schools are public institutions that should promote the common good and the overarching values of the nation-state. While we value diversity and are committed to that ideal, the diversity that we value must exist within the framework of American democratic values. Gunnar Myrdal calls this framework the American Creed in his study published in 1944, An American Dilemma. Myrdal points out that American values include justice, equality, and human rights. Our national values also include the right to freedom of expression and freedom of choice. Many of the religious conservatives deny these rights to others, and consequently violate some of the basic values of our democratic legacy.

Cultural freedom and democracy can exist only within the framework of an overarching consensus of values. If cultural freedom has no bounds, then the center cannot hold and national unity becomes threatened. Democratic societies are quite fragile.

References

Angelou, M. (1986). All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. New York: Random House.

Morrison, T. (1992). Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Myrdal, G., R. M. E. Sterner, and A. M. Rose. (1944). An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. New York: Harper.

Taylor, M. D. (1981). Let the Circle Be Unbroken. New York: Penguin Books.

Weatherford, J. M. (1988). Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. New York: Crown Publishers.

Weatherford, J. M. (1991). Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

James A. Banks is Director, Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington, 110 Miller Hall DQ-12, Seattle, WA 98195. Ron Brandt is ASCD's Executive Editor.

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On Educating for Diversity: A Conversation with James A. Banks

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May 1994 | Volume 51 | Number 8 Educating for Diversity Pages 28-31 Ron Brandt They are-and that may be all right. Many of the school systems I work with that are at the additive and contributions stages see their current efforts as prerequisite to moving farther.

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James A. Banks Interview with National Association of Education

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James A. Banks Interview with National Association of Education

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This interview in 1998 offers insight into the 5 Dimensions of Multiculturalism.

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JAMES A. BANKS is Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington. As a former elementary school teacher, renowned social studies methodologist, and strong advocate for social justice issues, Banks is widely recognized as the "father of multicultural education" for his pioneering research and distinguished contribution to the development of the field. He also serves as the editor, with Dr. Cherry A. McGee Banks, of the award-winning Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (2 nd Edition, 2004). As a past president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), Banks has worked as a consultant and lectured widely in the United States and abroad. Recognized for his exemplary educational research and scholarship, Banks has been elected to the National Academy of Education and received numerous other awards and honors including honorary degrees from six colleges and universities. He received Distinguished Career Awards from both the AERA (1996) and NCSS (2001) and was honored as the first recipient of the AERA Social Justice in Education Award (2004) for his lifelong commitment to advancing social justice through education research. Throughout his extensive publishing career, he has authored or edited more than 100 journal articles as well as 60 book chapters and 20 books, including most recently: Cultural Diversity in Education: Foundations, Curriculum, and Teaching (6 th Edition, 2015); Race, Culture, and Education: The Selected Works of James A. Banks (2006); Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society (2 nd Edition, 2007); Teaching Strategies for Ethnic Studies (8 th Edition, 2009); and An Introduction to Multicultural Education (5 th Edition, 2014). Banks is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education (2012) and the Multicultural Education Series of Books (Teachers College Press) which includes 57 published books, to date, with others in development. [/Expand]

For more information, visit James Banks's Website. To learn more about James Banks from his family and friends, visit his Reflections. To view photographs from James Banks's personal collection, visit his Photo Gallery.

Visit the video below to watch a short overview of the interview with James Banks. Otherwise, see all four of the full interviews with James Banks below.

Video Interviews with James Banks:

Growing up in a segregated farming community in the Arkansas Delta, Dr. James Banks describes his experiences as a young child. Although his school was five miles from home, he recalls pleasant memories of time spent walking with friends each day. As a conscientious and hardworking student, Banks became keenly aware at an early age of the unequal and inequitable opportunities available to African American students in poverty. Having watched "bright kids fall by the wayside," Banks developed a strong commitment to social justice issues that shaped his life and work as a classroom teacher, university professor, and educational scholar. Having met his wife, Dr. Cherry A. McGee Banks while they were students at Michigan State University, Dr. Banks also shares his passion for increasing equality and justice with their two daughters. Watch this clip to hear more from Dr. Banks about his long journey to the academy, the lessons he learned in his early years as a professor, and his advice for graduate students who also hope to change lives.

Often recognized as "the father of multicultural education" for his profound contribution to the field, Dr. James Banks finds the compliment both flattering and humorous, noting that other scholars also share his career-long dedication and commitment. Recalling his experiences providing professional development training to teachers, Banks describes the five dimensions of multicultural education as a way to help teachers, especially those in math and science, apply the concepts in their curriculum. Also serving as co-editor (with his wife, Dr. Cherry A. McGee Banks) of the groundbreaking Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education, he describes the publication as an effort to integrate the research and legitimize the field. In this clip, Dr. Banks shares the story of The Three Little Pigs to illustrate the importance of persistence and describes the reforms still needed to transform K-12 education.

Reflecting on his scholarship focused on global citizenship, Dr. James Banks describes the need for "unity in diversity" to help students become more effective citizens. He emphasizes the importance of conceptualizing ways students can embrace their dual identities in an increasingly globalized society, suggesting that "world problems cannot be solved with national solutions." Banks also identifies social class differences as one of the most pressing issues facing the nation and shares his hope that his students will continue the struggle to help the ideals of equality and equity become a reality. Unaware at times of the profound impact of his research around the world, he describes the "rock star treatment" he has received when traveling abroad as "humbling, satisfying, and surprising." In this clip, hear more from Dr. Banks about the importance of thinking globally as he shares his hopes for the future.

When recalling some of those who have had the greatest impact on his life and work, Dr. James Banks notes his close relationships with his mother and his siblings. Also grateful to his Black teachers for their faith in his abilities, he continues to be inspired, championing ways to address the unresolved issues of race and poverty. If he had chosen another profession, Banks notes he would have considered political service as a means of enacting change-a lifetime commitment also reflected in his favorite words "freedom" and "possibilities." He adds that he was always meant to be a teacher and encourages graduate students and young scholars to choose an area of research based on their passion and interests, and then stay the course. In this clip, learn more from Dr. Banks about the historical figures who have shaped his work as a scholar and the need to rethink current policies in education, especially in terms of the relationship between tests and teaching.

Amrein-Beardsley, A. (2014, March 15). Inside the Academy video interviews with Dr. James Banks [Video files]. Retrieved from /inside-the-academy/james-banks

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JAMES A. BANKS is Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington. As a former elementary school teacher, renowned social studies methodologist, and strong advocate for social justice issues, Banks is widely recognized as the "father of multicultural education" for his pioneering research and distinguished contribution to the development of the field.

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How does multiculturalism affect a modern world? Teachers discuss how this affects a modern world.

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Multiculturalism in the Modern World: Jen Holladay at TEDxDenverTeachers