Chapter 1: Frameworks for Promoting Multicultural Literacies: Moving Toward Educational Justice

In this chapter, we critically reflect on past and current conceptual and theoretical constructs related to the promotion and enactment of multicultural literacies. To help literacy educators, researchers, and policymakers understand the cultural nature of multicultural literacies, we first review cultural definitions and caveats, drawn primarily from the fields of educational anthropology, sociolinguistics, and critical theory. Next, we review the link between multicultural education and multicultural literacies, followed by an examination of the contributions of critical theory, critical literacy, and multiple or multiliteracies to our understanding of multicultural literacies. Lastly, we include a discussion of critical race theory. We conclude the chapter by calling for critical theorizing and critical multiculturalism.