Multiculturalism and multicultural education : precarious hegemonic status quo and alternatives

Multiculturalism as a concept is both topical and relevant (Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2011) as well as being perceived positively and negatively (Lott, 2010; May & Sleeter, 2010; Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2010). The ongoing debates and continuing need to address multicultural education as policy and within classrooms and lecture theatres remains crucial when conside1ing domestic and international practice as well as the changing nature of cultural diversity (Banks, 2009; Modood, 2010; Race, 2011 ). The essays in this collection address the viability of multicultural education. We are hoping they will challenge the reader through differently focused snapshots of the status quo, the problematizing of aspects of multiculturalism, discussion of the processes and discourses that are contributing to its supposed imminent demise and indication of examples of alternatives to multiculturalism and multicultural education that are emerging. This introduction provides something of a contextualization of multiculturalism and multicultural education today, proceeding through a generalized overview of the context of multiculturalism and multicultural education and the specific examples of conservative European leaders' contribution to the "death of multiculturalism" trope and cosmopolitan education as a specific example of a discourse in complex coexistence with multicultural education.