Coat of Many Colors: Reflections on Diversity by a Minority of One

An American of Chinese descent and a professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, Eoyang offers some non-boilerplate perspectives on diversity. However, these essays, many delivered as academic papers, are too loosely linked to comprise a full credo. Still, Eoyang offers cogent observations: even Americans' familiar reference points (north, south, etc.) have varied connotations in different cultures; the premium we place on literacy shouldn't allow us to denigrate the works of ``the unlettered populations''; the new rhetoric used to describe race lags behind the reality of multiethnic, interracial identities. Eoyang, who considers himself a non-politically correct multiculturalist, sensibly reminds us that ``a proper definition of white culture in America must take into account the nonwhite elements as well.'' He remains optimistic that America will be enriched by its ``multicultural rainbow.'' (Feb.)