Living dangerously: Identity politics and the new cultural racism: Towards a critical pedagogy of representation

The cult of ethnicity and its zealots have put at stake the American tradition of a shared commitment to common ideals and its reputation for assimilation, for making a ‘nation’ of nations. (Woodward, 1991, p. 43). At the end of the 20th century, U.S. society is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse; more polarized along class lines; more alarmed by lesbians, gay men, and other sexual minorities; more conscious of gender differences; and, as a result, increasingly preoccupied with political conflict over issues of representation. (Escoffier, 1991: 61)