Confronting Islamophobia in education 1

The Religion and Diversity Education program of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding includes innovative training for elementary and high school educators on addressing religious pluralism in school. This paper highlights the program and its curricula which confront Islamophobia by teaching students concrete skills for living in a pluralistic society.     

The influence of a multicultural teacher education program on teachers’ multicultural practices

This study examined the multicultural classroom practices of two novice secondary English teachers employed by the same US school district that serves a diverse student population. Findings indicated a high level of consistency between the teachers’ intended multicultural practices and their implemented practices. Based on classroom observations, both teachers implemented the general multicultural practices of critical pedagogy, real life application, student choice, multicultural literature, individual student attention, cultural physical adaptation, active learning and cooperative grouping. The factors supporting multicultural infusion were the teachers’ previous experiences with diverse populations, the teachers’ own previous meaningful high school experiences and the teachers’ backgrounds that were similar to their students. The impeding factors were the structure of the school, time constraints, racism and tracking.     

Intercultural education in the multicultural and multilingual Bolivian context

Intercultural bilingual education (IBE) has been discussed in Bolivia since the 1970s. The first Educational Act with a bilingual and intercultural curriculum adapted to cultural and linguistic diversity – Ley de Reforma Educativa – was passed in 1994 with implementation starting in 1996. However, discussions continued: when the Evo Morales government was installed in January 2006, it abolished the act initiating work on a new law – ‘Ley Elizardo Pérez y Avelino Siñani’ (decolonised community education) – arguing that intercultural education is more than bilingualism; the new law would emphasise the main values of Amerindian communities. The article will focus on the contextual background of educational reforms in relation to IBE. How is IBE defined and related to an Amerindian context? Why did the government dominated by ministers of an indigenous background abolish an educational act that emphasised intercultural education? Why would a revision not have sufficed? As the historical process is the basis for the current situation, I will begin by presenting the country’s history emphasising the state of education and progress.

Educación intercultural bilingüe, EIB, se ha discutido en Bolivia desde la decada de los 70. Cuando la Ley de Reforma Educativa LRE fue aprobada en 1994 el curriculo fue adaptado por primera vez a la diversidad cultural y lingüistica del país. Sin embargo, el debate continuaba y cuando el gobierno de Evo Morales tomó posesión en 2006 abrogó el código iniciando el trabajo con una nueva ley, ‘Ley Elizardo Pérez y Avelino Siñani’. La argumentación principal fue que educación es más que bilinguismo; la nueva ley enfatizaría mejor los valores principales de las comunidades indígenas. El enfoque del articulo será la base contextual de la las reformas relacionada con EIB. ¿Cómo se define EIB? y ¿cómo se relaciona en un contexto amerindio? ¿Por qué fue necesario para un gobierno dominado por ministros indígenas anular una ley que enfatiza la educación intercultural? ¿Por qué no era sufficiente hacer una revisión? Ya que el proceso histórico siempre es la base de la situacion actual empezaré con una breve presentación del país enfatizando la situación y los procesos educativos.     

Pedagogies of discomfort and empathy in multicultural teacher education

To show the potential and limitations of pedagogies of discomfort and empathy in anti-racist and multicultural teacher education, this paper engages in an in-depth analysis of two ‘critical moments’ that are drawn from a series of teacher workshops. The purpose of the analysis is to show how discomfort and empathy may be combined together pedagogically in the context of multicultural and antiracist teacher education. The contribution to the literature is to highlight the importance of foregrounding attention to teachers’ discomfort and its pedagogical implications in multicultural teacher education.     

Complicity with conservatism: the de‐politicizing of multicultural and intercultural education

Although multicultural education, a field dedicated to promoting equity and justice in education, continues to be the target of conservative critics, its contemporary crisis brews from within. The greatest danger to the movement toward equity and social justice that underlies multicultural education in the US comes from educators who ostensibly support its goals, but whose work—cultural plunges, food fairs, human relations activities—reflect more of a compassionate conservative consciousness than an allegiance to equity. By reviewing conceptions of multicultural education from the field’s leading US scholars and uncovering inconsistencies between these conceptions and the work people do under the guise of multicultural education, the author works toward a re‐establishment of an authentically progressive notion of the field.     

Refusing to be co-opted: revolutionary multicultural education amidst global neoliberalisation

Abstract

In this article, I explore how neoliberalism dictates the terms of debate about education reform and equity in the U.S. and abroad. In particular, I explain how two paradigmatic reforms – the edTPA evaluation for preservice teachers in the United States and the global initiative Teach For All – have co-opted the discourse of multicultural education in an attempt to advance their own priorities and not those at the heart of the field, thus jeopardising the possibility of real justice. Finally, I envision a way forward, through a theory of revolutionary multicultural education, as we seek to reimagine the terms of debate about the goals of educating all students.     

Toward a ‘paideia of the soul’: education to enrich America’s multicultural democracy

What role might education play in the reinvigoration of a robust American democracy? We argue that common understandings of democracy, citizenship, and democratic education are too anemic to right the political inequalities and stagnancies that have deadened American democracy. Instead, we look to notions of paideia and an educated, enlightened citizenry to shape a multicultural democratic education. Multicultural democratic education cultivates the full and flourishing lives and minds of all citizens in American democracy rather than focusing on narrow preparation for voting. It does this through the practice of critical and authentic caring, the cultivation of community across difference, the connection to a global context, and the opportunity for social action. Most importantly, multicultural democratic education takes as its starting point equity and justice in a pluralistic society by committing to the cultivation of the minds and intellects of all students – in stark contrast to the unequal and mind-numbing education that most marginalized and minority students receive.     

Critical reflective thinking through service‐learning in multicultural teacher education

This paper describes and discusses the effect of service‐learning on students’ reflective thinking about their own knowledge in multicultural teacher education at a state university in Southern California (USA). Two versions of students’ multicultural autobiographies, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the course, were examined to determine their individual progress. Two classes, one with a service‐learning assignment and the other without, were involved to identify differences. Using King and Kitchener’s model of reflective judgment, this study compares and contrasts the progress of student critical reflective thinking and differences between the two classes. The research suggests that service‐learning stimulated and increased students’ reflective thinking about their own knowledge in multicultural education.     

Voting to belong: the inevitability of systemic Islamophobia

In this article, I connect Muslim American voting practices to the ‘good Muslim’ trope. Tracing participation of members of Islamic Representative Organizations (IRO’s) in election cycles from 2000 to 2016, I argue that elections have been a site for Muslim Americans to negotiate a sense of belonging in the U.S. My research reveals deep cynicism about the transformative potential of elections and a sense that systemic Islamophobia (i.e. militarism and surveillance) were perceived as inevitable. IRO members opted instead to vote as a way to articulate the presence of Muslims in the U.S.; for instance, Muslims ought to ‘make a statement’ by voting against Donald Trump or for the first woman candidate. In this way, voting can be understood as an articulation of a ‘good Muslim’ subjectivity through which IRO members seek legitimacy within, rather than a dismantling of, an Islamophobic milieu.     

Undoing Islamophobia: Awareness of Orientalism in Social Work

Islamophobia describes the racism, exploitation, and violence experienced by Arabs, individuals of Arab descent, and Muslims. Although social workers are meant to challenge social injustice, social work codes of ethics and the literature are without guidance for unlearning Islamophobia. Arguing that one’s ability to interrupt Islamophobia is strengthened by an understanding of the historical record and theoretical tenets of Orientalism, we offer social workers explicit linkages between Orientalism and Islamophobia and engage with the idea of Islamo-racism. In this article, we attend to the ways in which Orientalism is used to “other” individuals while strengthening white hegemony, and we link those processes with Islamophobia and Islamo-racism. We conclude with some strategies derived from postcolonial theory to disrupt Islamophobia.     

Antigypsyism,education and the media: ways forward

ABSTRACT

This article is a self-reflection of my work over a decade of challenging school segregation of Roma across Europe. I look at how segregation has been framed and how communication around equality in education with the public took place. The education system is an important pillar in producing and reproducing antigypsyism in society. I see school segregation as an important mechanism that perpetuates antigypsyism. I explore ways to attract support for equality measures in education. One important strategy is to engage with media in transmitting messages to an audience that was usually not the target of inclusive discourses that promote diversity and equality as societal values.     

Bitter strawberries: the construction of differences in a multicultural school: a case study

This paper presents the results of a case study looking at the views of teachers and other educational professionals pertaining to the academic progress and general integration of immigrant schoolchildren in multicultural schools in the province of Huelva (Andalusia, Spain). It is organised into three sections: first, the geographical and social context of the study is described, focusing in particular on the impact on schools of migratory trends within the province associated with strawberry cultivation. This is followed by a presentation of the results of a field study into the educational panorama of immigrant pupils from various countries, drawing on verbal reports by teachers and school administrators. Finally, some conclusions are suggested for possible categories of analysis with a view to opening new lines of research in the future.     

Ethnic mobilization in a multicultural society

The aim of the present paper is to demystify those anxieties that emerge out of the presence of ethnic minorities in developed capitalist societies in showing that these relate as much, if not more, to misconceptions about the issue of identity proper, that of national identity, as well as that of ethnic mobilization. It is argued that the relationship of immigrant minority cultures and identities to national culture and national identity can be thought of as paralleling that between class structures and identities. Ethnic mobilisation and ethnic movements can be thought of in terms of something like the class‐in‐itself problematic Ethnic groups can be seen as having a particular and distinct position in relation to economic and political resources, but whereas classes in the Marxian sense must develop their sense of identity, their forms of organisation and their culture ab initio, ethnic groups can call upon their sense of ethnicity and their forms of ethnic bonding as a resource and this may well make them more effective political actors than classes. However, whereas it is tempting, within this framework to think that out of a process of negotiation, there will emerge a multicultural society in which there is on the one hand a shared political culture of the public domain and on the other a world of private communal cultures, the actual situation is much more complex. What ethnic minorities in actuality confront is a hierarchy of cultures which have already been involved in a political struggle for the definition of a disputed shared political culture. This is bound to influence the process and character of ethnic mobilization as well as its likely outcomes.     

Public policy in a multicultural Australia

The debate on the consequences of large-scale immigration in the making of public policy began in 1968. Muliculturalism is for all Australians and any social policy designed for the benefit of one group in the population must have profound consequences on all people. 40% of the Australian population was born overseas or have at least 1 parent born overseas. Almost 1/4 of the population has ethnic roots in other than the Anglo-Celtic majority. The ideal of moral progress, greater equality, and improvement is the motive force in society. The presence of social heterogeneity--religious or ethnic--is linked with the issue of stability in a democratic system. There are 2 models of multiculturalism and corresponding public policy approaches. 1 model emphasizes the role of the political processes in Australian ethnic relations and sees ethnic structures (political, social, economic) as legitimate but separate interest groups, each having the exclusive responsibility for the realization of ethnic goals. The leading feature of this model is the structural fragmentation of Australian society into parallel segments of varying degrees of exclusiveness each with its own "ethnic" label. The 2nd model stresses the priority of the wholeness and welfare of the entire society. It assumes that a society based on satisfaction of individual needs through voluntary exchange is fertile ground for cultural enrichment. The goal is cohesion and unity in living together in Australia, seen as of central concern and consistent with the ideals of intercultural understanding and improved communication. The model assumes that the culture must be seen as a living, dynamic, changing, and interacting set of life patterns. The author prefers the 2nd model which stresses that the future vision of a multicultural Australia must be a shared one because only then can cultural diversity and national cohesion coexist within the 1 economic and political unit.     

Outcomes of an interdisciplinary study abroad course: learning Spanish and multicultural education concurrently

This study reports the outcomes of undergraduate students completing a pilot Interdisciplinary Intensive Course Abroad (IICA) with a service learning component. The IICA model is comprised of a three-part sequence of study that includes a seven-week course on campus, followed by three weeks of study abroad, and a summative seven-week course back on campus. The additional summative component gives students the opportunity to bring together their newly acquired knowledge and skills, and to reflect on how to integrate these experiences in their future. The sequence integrates discipline-specific content studies with foreign language classes, and grounds them with a study abroad experience. A mixed-method design was used to measure students’ development of language skills, understanding of multicultural education concepts, and intercultural skills. Primary data sources were pre/post-assessments, student field notes and reflections, and a post-course survey. Results indicated that students gained confidence in their Spanish skills and were likely to enroll in further Spanish courses, their ability to define multicultural education concepts increased, and service learning, homestays abroad, and their time in an indigenous reservation contributed to development of intercultural skills.     

Between ‘homeland’ and ‘diaspora’: multicultural education in Israel and South Korea

The aim of this qualitative case study was to explore multicultural education for ‘newcomers’ in Israel and in South Korea. Despite their differences, the two countries face the same inflow of two types of newcomers – one group that is expected to fully integrate, and the other of newcomers considered temporary. The educational challenge that results is recognition of the cultural groups, and providing equal educational opportunities, for both. Four schools were compared, two in each country, measuring multicultural education according to Bank’s five dimensions. Findings show that the same dimensions could be identified in all schools. The differences were in the school’s interpretation of the cultural identity of the students, congruent with their legal status, and degree of acceptability by the host country. The groups that were expected to fully integrate into the host country (perceived as a ‘homeland’) were given a more assimilatory education, as manifested in the Content Integration dimension; whereas the groups that were considered foreign were given a more multicultural education, with the schools making more references to their national culture, thus enhancing an identity of a ‘diaspora.’     

The Visible and Invisible in Cross-cultural Movement Experiences: Bringing in our bodies to multicultural teacher education

This paper proposes a new paradigm of embodiment to multicultural teacher education. It argues for the necessity of bringing in the body to teacher education programs committed to preparing and supporting culturally sensitive teachers, and to multicultural teacher education research conducted for the study of teachers' first-hand, cross-cultural experience, both in theory and practice. To create a place for the body in multicultural teacher education, this paper first highlights the major premises of this paradigm of embodiment as an alternative to a qualitative approach to educational inquiry of cross-cultural experience. Then, a teacher's bodily experience of participating in a university-funded cultural diversity project is explored and discussed.     

Integrating ICT and multicultural aspects within a classroom: the SAIL project

The implementation of technology in the primary school sector during the last few years has resulted in issues being raised relating to teachers’ knowledge of technology and their propensities for incorporating ICT into an already packed curriculum. Teachers in Malta were faced with challenges to their various teaching professional knowledge and to their prior and developing understanding of the conceptual and procedural aspects of technology. SAIL provided opportunities for teachers to develop their understandings of minorities in Europe within a community of teachers, while at the same time promoting technology both as a process and a product.