This issue of Curriculum Matters contains an enticing range of articles across themes of culture and diversity and contested and contradictory notions of curriculum. Three articles  explore  aspects of the social sciences curriculum and three focus on mathematics, including an exploration of curriculum change in mathematics through the lens of Parliamentary discussion over the past two decades. One article  challenges the borrowing of epistemological concepts from one cultural context for use in another, using the example of the concept of hauora, while another discusses equity and diversity at the level of teacher practice. In the editorial, Carol Mutch reflects on a year of turmoil, including the Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River mine explosion and what the response to these events might teach us about the connections between crisis, curriculum and citizenship.