Intersections of Multicultural Identities With Diversity Issues in Online Multicultural Education Discussions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Multicultural/Multiethnic Education: New Insights for Schooling

Abstract

In online discussions, student identity exists as a descriptive and intertextual construct largely based on digital images, the individual photographs or avatars, and a brief biographic statement. But, there is little known about how online identities are developed and how they intersect – meet and interact – with diversity issues as students participate in dialogues. Using qualitative inquiry’s constant comparative method, students’ narratives and assignments were analyzed to examine the construction and intersectionalities of students’ multicultural identities with diversity education issues including race, ethnicity, class, language, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, and ability. The construction of multicultural identities was a continual, nonlinear process whereas the intersectionalities created new tensions for students to learn and unlearn about themselves and others.

Author

• Binod Gurung, New Mexico State University