The Using Media to Support Multiculturalism section provides information on evaluating media for bias, activities to promote understanding of stereotypes in the media, video stores that offer free rentals, and lists of movies that portray various cultural and ethnic groups. Students are avid consumers of information provided by media, and the classroom can be an excellent place to discuss and deconstruct stereotyping and negative portrayals of cultural groups. Bartolome and Macedo (1997) state, "Academia needs to understand that the popular press and the mass media educate more people about issues regarding ethnicity and race than all other sources of education available to U.S. citizens. By shunning the mass media, educators are missing the obvious: that is, that more public education is done by the media than by teachers, professors, and anyone else" (p. 223). This section provides a basis for understanding the role teachers can play in using media in their classroom to support multiculturalism. A highly recommended book to supplement this information is The Children are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversityby Carlos E. Cortes.
References:
Bartolome, L.I., & Macedo, D.P. (1997). Dancing with bigotry: The poisoning of racial and ethnic identities. Harvard Educational Review, 67(2), 22-245.
Cortes, C.E. (2000). The Children are Watching: How the Media Teach About Diversity. New York: Teachers College Press.