'Sex', 'Race' and Multiculturalism: Critical consumption and the politics of course evaluations

This paper calls attention to the difficulties of broaching issues of 'race' and 'sex' in the classroom in the context of nation-wide institutional calls for multiculturalism. I argue that critical multicultural objectives can only be successful if: (1) faculty who take curricular and pedagogical risks are able to count on strong support from colleagues, departmental chairs and university administrators; (2) classroom realities of homophobia, sexism and racism are acknowledged at an institutional structural level to be societal in reach and global in scale; (3) we engage in evaluative strategies that are educative about the learning process; and (4) we stress to students the emotional realities and practical skills involved in learning about, and working through, social conflict and difference.