Sunny Days on Sesame Street? Multiculturalism and Resistance Postmodernism

Now in its fourth decade, Sesame Street, which has been called one of the most influential children's shows in television history, plays an important role in shaping society's construction of multiculturalism. This article addresses the role of educational children's television as a contributor to the forging of the notion of multiculturalism by analyzing Sesame Street's suitability as a tool for multicultural pedagogy. Using McLaren's theory of resistance postmodernism (1994), this study argues that while Sesame Street does not directly provide a language for educators to critique social and cultural practices, it is a text that allows and invites multifaceted dialogues that critically discern an Other in the construction of identity.