In this article, the author argues that despite wide-ranging appeal of the discourses of globalization, our modes of thinking and ways of addressing issues of cultural diversity remain trapped within a national framework. The dominant constructions of cultural diversity often overlook the ways in which experiences of diversity now take place in emergent spaces that transcend national borders. Using a number of personal narratives, the author shows how experiences of diversity are now affected by dilemmas, contradictions and risks increasingly associated with multiple, dynamic, flexible and intersecting social affiliations. He suggests that this conclusion has major implications for thinking about the requirements of educational policy and practice committed to social inclusion and justice. (Contains 1 note.)