Introduction

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the life and works of Hannah Arendt. Radical theorists and educators have all too often taken the opposite position by associating the past and tradition with the logic of domination. This position is based on the assumption that schools function primarily as agencies of reproduction and domination. From this perspective, tradition and the past are regarded as negative and oppressive forces that have no emancipatory value. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the challenges posed by the condition of "natality" to the ways in which those of us engaged in multicultural and antiracist education prepare ourselves and our students for the inevitable and necessary frustrations we are likely to encounter when we attempt to engage in dialogues across racial differences.