Intercultural Education

Eleanor Nesbitt is Professor Emeritus in Religions and Education at the University of Warwick and a founding member of Punjab Research Group. Her many publications include Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction and Intercultural Education: Ethnographic and Religious Approaches.

• Contents: Acknowledgements; A Note on Transliteration; Introduction: Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Education; Birthdays -- A Spectrum of Difference; Young Hindus and Vegetarianism; The Diversity of Experience within a Faith Tradition; Festivals -- Schools' Involvement in Tradition'; Belief and Practice -- God and Holy Water; Tradition and Choice -- What Young Hindus Believe; Caste, Hindus and Sikhs; British, Asian and Hindu -- Multiple Identities; Spirituality and Religious Experience; Ethnography as Reflective Practice; Appendix: Practical Guidelines for Teachers -- Cultural Diversity and the School; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

"This is a treasury of keenly observed signals of meanings that matter to children and young people, and which therefore need to matter and be understood by their teachers and wider community. It draws on a quarter of a century's field work by the author, well matched with the relevant scholarship of others. Its warning against misleading generalisation is made in the best possible way: vivid illustration of deeper significance. This book is an invaluable resource for teacher education and community relations generally, as well as for those with a particular concern for RE and Citizenship..." -- Brian Gates, Professor of Religious and Moral Education, St Martin's College, Lancaster."Eleanor Nesbitt succeeds in vividly bringing to life the traditional plurality (ethnic, cultural and linguistic, etc.) of different communities of faith, and the modern plurality related to the intellectual climate of late modernity or post modernity. She also makes absolutely explicit the gap between the rhetoric and reality of religions, and the urgent need for a religious and cultural literacy that takes us beyond, on the one hand, multiculturalism and, on the other, antiracism. She offers a set of educational ideals which are inspiring. At a time when religion is often deeply politicised and the integrity of scholars challenged as never before this book on intercultural education is timely, accessible and immensely rewarding." -- Journal of Punjab Studies."In this book Eleanor Nesbitt puts strong emphasis on diversity, syncretism, and the lived reality of religion. She stresses the need for these to be taken into account in RE teaching, alongside the presentation of orthodox religious ideals. It is an immensely enriching book and it is hard to think of anyone working in education who would not find reading it an enlightening and enjoyable experience." -- Dr Sarah Smalley, Chair of AREIAC (Association of RE Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants)."...clearly written: challenging, yet very accessible. ...warns against those convenient, misleading generalisations we often make, as it explores the richness of religious and ethnic diversity." -- Alan Brown, Church Times 11 February 2005."The great value of this book is its insistence that diversity, syncretism and the lived reality of religion should be taken into account in religious education teaching, and that it is important to hear the voices of children and young people al