ABSTRACT
Increasing ethnic diversity and expansion of full citizenship rights to previously excluded ethnic groups has led, in many Western countries, to widespread reassessment of traditional conceptions of national belonging. Demographic and social changes beginning at roughly the same time in France and the United States have provoked similar questions over national identity, immigration policy, civil and civic rights, and education. This chapter demonstrates that, in French and U.S. curricula and textbooks, growing acceptance of ethnic diversity has contributed to reaffirmations of national sentiment and redefinitions of national identity. In both cases, explicit ethnic conceptions of national belonging have been marginalized while cultural nationalism has been strengthened.
