AbstractInter- and multicultural approaches in education activate concepts such as race, racism, ethnicity or discrimination. These concepts are often associated with historical events, which have given them added significance and make their appropriation more complicated. Added to which, they can have different meanings according to the social or cultural group employing them, and according to their geographical or even their historical setting. For all these reasons, it is necessary to learn how to interpret these concepts, to understand the issues connected with their use and to discuss the ways they can be employed in education.