Cultural Pluralism and Ethnic Diversity

Abstract

Scholars who published articles in five major ethnic studies journals (Canadian Ethnic Studies, Ethnic Forum, International Migration Review, Journal of American Ethnic History, and Journal of Ethnic Studies) were surveyed in order to: (1) provide a profile of scholars in this cross-disciplinary field; (2) discover the kids of information they use for their research; and (3) how they retrieve information for their use. Findings indicate that respondents are a male dominated group, the majority of whom hold a PhD degree in the social sciences and are affiliated with public universities in the U.S. The primary focus of their research is on individual ethnic groups, immigration, demography, cultural diversity and race relations, and various specific aspects of ethnicity, e.g., ethnic literature and ethnic press. Many findings of the INFROSS and other earlier studies were confirmed and are still valued. For example, ethnic studies scholars use many primary sources and rely heavily on identifying information s...