Multicultural Experiences, Multicultural Theories

This reader in multicultural social theory provides selections from a wide range of multicultural theorists that include Feminist, Queer, Afrocentric, Native American, Chicana, and Asian American perspectives. Rogers begins with an Introduction, then breaks the 38 readings into seven thematic sections, beginning each section with an essay emphasizing the main points of the readings and helping to place those points into a broader theoretical context.Through the readings students come to see that intergroup "differences" are products of the societies and times in which they exist and that often those "differences" can often reveal not only cultural divergence but cultural similarities as well.The book goes beyond the usual class, race, gender approach found in social theory texts. It shows the similarities as well as the dissimilarities between multicultural and other social theorists, highlighting the idea that "theory, " though diverse and eclectic, involves individuals of all intellectual and cultural bents commonly turning their consciousness to interpretation and understanding. The book uses the concept of "dignity" to integrate the cultural and theoretical concerns addressed in the readings.