Research on and with ethnic minority students is characterised by a growing international literature that privileges "liberal multiculturalism" as a lens through which to understand their experiences, yet ethnic diversity is constructed and responded to in many societies that are not underpinned by liberal democratic values. In this paper we use Joppke's binary to show how researching ethnic minority students outside of a liberal democratic framework requires methodologies that enable researchers to see beyond the invisibility that is often attached to ethnic minorities. We show how invisibility (i.e. antidiscrimination) can also be further culturally constructed, confounding even more any broader multicultural project. We canvass four broad areas including the role of legally binding legislation that seeks to prohibit racism, the views of policymakers attempting to implement policy consistent with the legislation and the views of teachers about their roles in supporting ethnic minority students. (Contains 2 notes.)