TOWARD A MULTICULTURAL SOCIOLOGY - BRINGING POSTMODERNISM INTO THE CLASSROOM

In this paper I argue that any serious attempt to move sociology towar d a viable multiculturalism will require an interrogation of the funda mental and historical forces at work in Western epistemological tradit ions. ! focus on two such major historical forces: the Platonic subjec t/object separation and Judaeo-Christian theology I argue that postmod ern criticism is of great utility in furthering this interrogation, an d I criticize some of the simplistic caricatures of postmodernism prom oted by its opponents. The second half of the paper is a detailed desc ription of pedagogical strategies that are designed to make these issu es available to undergraduate students.