Hitting bedrock: multiculturalism, political education, and the question of self-knowledge

This paper examines the concept of multicultural education particularly by exploring the idea of self-knowledge, sometimes claimed to be one of its major outcomes. While acknowledging the importance of knowing oneself in relation to other cultures, I attempt to complicate the picture further. This is to remain cautious about how certain terms are taken, especially in high-profile and high-visibility policy statements that feed into neoliberal economic interests. What is missing there is the existential, self-transformative dimension, which is rather more intimate and can be disruptive. Stanley Cavell helps show that struggle in multicultural relationships should be taken seriously as the condition of knowing oneself and one’s relation to society. With him, I turn to Wittgenstein’s expression of ‘hitting bedrock’ to further explore such struggles as places where possible conflicts and frustrations can lead to deeper reflection on one’s own and others’ cultures. The journey of self-knowledge is far from tidy, and the path is not well-trodden. But it is precisely from the rough terrain there that we begin to realize our responsibility in thought and action. R. W. Ellison’s Invisible Man adds further depth to this discussion, offering an illustration of political education; it helps us see democracy as more than a mere structure, revealing a personal dimension at its core—without which multicultural education would be empty. The dynamism and complexity not only in the idea of self-knowledge but also in the very notion of culture itself will be explored.