Multicultural urban schools in Sweden are facing two major challenges. First, the communities the schools serve are stigmatized and economically impoverished, leading to growing concerns regarding the quality of education, lack of credibility, and outflow of students. The second challenge is the ambivalent relationships with students' parents (presumable consumers and partners, but who are also regarded as culturally conservative) and with the broader community, such as public authorities and universities. I argue that we cannot understand the practical operations and outcomes of multicultural schools if we look only at the curriculum, individual attitudes, or educational policy changes and do not examine the broader challenges facing these institutions. What is needed is a more relational approach linking together the interests of different groups, policy changes, modes of representation, and the educators' practices. (Contains 10 notes.)