Fluctuating Landscapes, Shifting Thinking

TLDR: The issue of Curriculum Inquiry as discussed by the authors focused on multiculturalism, understanding difference, and ways of relating to self, others, and the world, concepts that have been fundamentally challenged by the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks.

Abstract: On September 28, 2001, the Chronicle of Higher Education featured scholars in a variety of disciplines reflecting upon September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. As we were reading and discussing their controversial comments, and continuing to experience dramatic threats to everyday life in the United States, we were composing this editorial. We saw this issue of Curriculum Inquiry as one focused on multiculturalism, understanding difference, and ways of relating to self, others, and the world—concepts that have been fundamentally challenged by the magnitude of the catastrophe. The world landscape around us is fluctuating—politically, economically, socially, academically. People are filled with uncertainty and fear. In response to uncertainties and fears some are looking for vengeance, others are searching for new ways to examine the past, live evolving change, and imagine the future. As we discussed the articles and reviews, we found our conversations woven together with the deep fears and growing questions engulfing us. In the midst of this turmoil we wondered if there are ways for educators to raise awareness of, and develop dialogue on, global issues to enhance mutual respect and understanding, to develop compassion, empathy, and acceptance, and to create possibilities to cultivate world community. It is with the cataclysmic events of September 11 emblazoned in our minds, with compassionate thoughts in our hearts, that we look at issues discussed in the articles and reviews in this issue of Curriculum Inquiry—in areas as diverse as Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and, ultimately, how these issues impact globally. Themes running through most of this issue concerning teaching, learning, researching, and living resonated with literature we have been reading