Economic status of Muslims in Korea: a preliminary report

Summary

This study hardly meets the minimum requirements for identifying the economic status of the Muslim minority in Korea. As more data becomes available it would be possible to present a more sustained effort. However some interesting findings can be highlighted even at this early stage:

First, so far as the Korean Muslim population is concerned, it is heavily concentrated in the Seoul area. Further, 34% of the total Korean Muslim population is presently residing in Islamic countries. Secondly, 50% of Korean Muslims have an education above high school which is comparatively higher that the average for non‐Muslim Koreans. Also, the opening of the Korea Islamic University will play a critical role in the future growth of the Islamic faith. Thirdly, according to occupational patterns, more than one‐third (35%) of all Muslims are engaged in academic pursuits. In comparison, 20% of Korean Muslims fall in the category of employee. Lastly, the 20–30 and 30–40 age groups, representing primarily students and employees respectively, make up over 65% of the total Korean Muslim population in Korea.     

Ideal liberal subjects and Muslim “Others”: liberal nationalism and the racialization of Muslim youth in a progressive Danish school

Drawing on an ethnographic case study of Muslim youth in a Danish lower secondary school, this article explores teacher talk about Muslim immigrant students and how teachers engaged liberal ideals of respect, individualism, and equality in ways that racialized immigrant students. I consider moments of vacillation in teacher talk to explore tensions between teacher’s desires to assimilate immigrant students to national norms of belonging and their desires to be perceived as inclusive and ‘open.’ In doing so, I ask how visions of liberal schooling impose ideas of what a ‘normal’ citizen should be and how teachers produce ‘ideal’ liberal subjects in their talk and in the everyday practices of schools. I argue that teachers engage the ideals of abstract liberalism to establish a colorblind discourse of non-racism. While educators described the school as an idealized space where students are encouraged to freely express themselves, to develop unique individual outlooks, it was clear that this vision of ‘openness’ did not include Muslim students’ attachments to religious and cultural identities.     

美国的全日制伊斯兰学校

美国全日制伊斯兰学校是美国穆斯林团体或宗教组织自主创办和管理的学校,目的旨在培养子女继承伊斯兰传统文化和宗教信仰.本文运用文本资料和实地考察相结合的方法,首先对这些学校的现状进行了介绍,其次对其存在的问题进行了比较客观的分析,这些问题主要是办学宗旨或教学内容调整的问题、师资招募及其水平提高的问题、教材编写的问题、资金不...     

Border stories: using critical race and Latino critical theories to understand the experiences of Latino/a children

The number of school-age children of color in US schools is increasing, while the teaching force continues to be dominated by white teachers. According to the 2013 Digest of Education Statistics in the 2011–2012 school year, 81.9% of public school teachers were white, while the projected number of Hispanic students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools is expected to increase 33% between 2011 and 2022. In my experience, the issue of immigration is often ignored by the majority white teacher population, but, as I will share in this article, it is part of the lived experience of Latino children. I present my students’ border stories as discussed in relation to Latino children’s literature. I am using the words ‘border stories’ to represent the narratives my students shared about their families’ experiences crossing the US–Mexico border as well as what they felt about the societal discourse around ‘illegal immigrants.’ Critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical theory (LatCrit) are used to frame these border stories to speak against the majoritarian story.     

“Arabic is Not my Language…”: Debates over Teaching of Arabic in Irish Muslim Schools

Based on ethnographic fieldwork that took place in 2014 in two Irish primary Muslim schools in the Republic of Ireland, this article draws from both observations of Arabic classes from fourth and fifth classes as well as semi-structured interviews with teachers and parents. The research findings explore the content of and approaches towards the teaching of Arabic and the views held by participants towards the learning of Arabic as part of Islamic religious education. The study reveals the diversity of views that exist and questions the importance of learning Arabic, as part of formal religious education for young Muslims living in non-Muslim pluralist societies. The author concludes with some implications from the study and offers some direction for Muslim schools as it relates to teaching Arabic and, more broadly, to Islamic religious education of young Muslims in Western contexts.     

Racism and linguicism: engaging language minority pre-service teachers in counter-storytelling

Abstract

This study examines how language minority pre-service teachers engaged in the discussion of racism and linguicism through counter-storytelling informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT). Counter-stories can act as a medium through which minority students can unpack the power relations embedded in academic learning. This study also explores ways in which having a language minority teacher educator with a similar background facilitated the discussion of race and native speaker status. Drawing on co-teaching experience with a white teacher educator, I suggest that the teaching of race and language be not only about racialized and linguistic identity of instructors, but pedagogical approaches and strategies through counter-stories that actively foster critical reflection on power imbalance inherent in schools.     

Whiteness and national identity: teacher discourses in Australian primary schools

The study examines how white teachers talked to children about national identity and cultural diversity by drawing on qualitative research with eight- to 12-year-old students and their teachers from four Australian primary schools with different racial, ethnic and cultural demographics. Despite a range of explicit and implicit approaches that fostered different levels of critique among students, teachers often communicated Australian national identity as commensurate to white racial and Anglo-Australian cultural identity. We identified three main approaches teachers used to talk about national identity and cultural diversity: cultural essentialism, race elision and a quasi-critical approach. We conclude that the wider education system needs to develop a more formal curriculum structure that guides teachers in developing a better awareness of the power of white normativity, and to critically and explicitly counter discourse and practice that centres whiteness as foundational to dominant conceptualisations of national identity.     

‘No more Turkish music!’ The acculturation strategies of teachers and ethnic minority students in Flemish schools

ABSTRACT

While considerable research has focused on the process and factors affecting acculturation, there is little research that investigates how members of minority and majority groups define acculturation in educational settings. Ethnographic research and qualitative interviews in three secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) show that teachers and ethnic minority students have different ideas and expectancies regarding the concept ‘integration’, which appears to affect student–teacher relationship. Berry et al.’s [1989. “Acculturation Attitudes in Plural Societies.” Applied Psychology: An International Review 3 (2): 185-206. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1989.tb01208.x.] acculturation orientations are used as a theoretical template to analyse teachers’ and ethnic minority students’ discourses about acculturation. Analyses reveal that students of immigrant descent perceive acculturation mainly in terms of the establishment of intergroup contact. In contrast, teachers find it harder to disconnect cultural maintenance from contact and participation. By suggesting some form of cultural adoption, teachers hope to socialise their ethnic minority students into the culture of the dominant ethnic group and prepare them for their future. These distinct interpretations of ‘integration’ in everyday life (which actually refers to acculturation) often leads to misunderstandings between ethnic minority students and their teachers, even to conflict, as many students feel that their cultural background is disparaged and not fully valued in school.     

Critical Race Theory,policy rhetoric and outcomes: the case of Muslim schools in Britain

The expansion of state-funded Muslim schools in Britain since 1998 has developed against a backdrop of sustained public political rhetoric around the wider position of British Muslims in both political and educational contexts. This article explores the public policy rhetoric around Muslim schools under New Labour and the subsequent Coalition and Conservative governments and compares how these narratives align with outcomes in terms of numbers of, and types of, denominational Muslim faith schools in Britain. The article applies a Critical Race Theory approach based on the construction of counter-narrative through a critical analysis of policy and its outcomes. This analysis is contextualised through exploring the implications of counter-terror strategies such as Prevent for the political and educational equity of British Muslims as stakeholders in the state. Against this context the article explores the extent to which successive policy frameworks and political narratives around faith schooling have played out in terms of denominational state-funded Muslim schools. Whilst gains have been made under New Labour and the successive Coalition and Conservative governments, critical analysis reveals that public policy narratives allow for a misleading account of the extent to which Muslim communities have been enfranchised through state funding for Islamic schools.     

Race and opportunity in a public alternative school

This qualitative case-study explores questions about the stratifying role of public alternative schools created for ‘at-risk’ youth by analyzing the school experience of students who attend a single continuation high school and the process of student enrollment and referral to that school. Drawing on the concept of whiteness as property, this article demonstrates how the continuation high school maintained and protected the property functions of whiteness through acts of symbolic violence and the systematic removal of non-white students from the school district’s mainstream high school. Instead, students were placed in a substandard alternative school lacking in material and intellectual resources. Furthermore, teachers, counselors, and administrative staff at the mainstream and continuation high schools alike drew upon the racial ideology of merit to rationalize the overrepresentation of non-white youths at the study school and to ‘deracialize’ the student referral process.     

‘You are not born being racist,are you?’ Discussing racism with primary aged-children

Ethnic-racial socialisation is broadly described as processes by which both minority and majority children and young people learn about and negotiate racial, ethnic and cultural diversity. This article extends the existing ethnic-racial socialisation literature in three significant ways: (1) it explores ways children make sense of their experiences of racial and ethnic diversity and racism; (2) it considers ways children identify racism and make distinctions between racism and racialisation; and (3) it examines teacher and parent ethnic-racial socialisation messages about race, ethnicity and racism with children. This research is based on classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with teachers, parents and students aged 8–12?years attending four Australian metropolitan primary schools. The findings reveal that both teachers and parents tended to discuss racism reactively rather than proactively. The extent to which racism was discussed in classroom settings depended on: teachers’ personal and professional capability; awareness of racism and its perceived relevance based on student and community experiences; and whether they felt supported in the broader school and community context. For parents, key drivers for talking about racism were their children’s experiences and racial issues reported in the media. For both parents and teachers, a key issue in these discussions was determining whether something constituted either racism or racialisation. Strategies on how ethnic-racial socialisation within the school system can be improved are discussed.     

An exploration of teacher attrition and mobility in high poverty racially segregated schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the mobility (movement to a new school) and attrition (quitting teaching) patterns of teachers in high poverty, racially segregated (HPRS) schools in the US. Using 2007–9 survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics, a multi-level multinomial logistic regression was performed to examine the contribution of teacher characteristics, school setting characteristics, and school climate with a focus on interactions between school climate variables. The findings demonstrated that school climate variables predicted increased odds of mobility and that teacher characteristics, school setting, and teachers’ perceptions of school climate predicted increased odds of teacher attrition. These findings suggest that teacher attrition and mobility from HPRS schools could be slowed by strategic placement of teachers based on their beliefs about students in poverty and students of color.     

The significance of the racial contract in teachers’ college expectancies for students of color

ABSTRACT

Drawing on the theories of the racial contract and whiteness as property, this one-year qualitative case study explored the ways in which 27 classroom teachers harnessed school structure and classroom curriculum to support the college readiness of students of color in two California school districts. The study discovered that these teacher participants displayed different degrees of race consciousness, prompting contradictory expectancy practices. Negative expectations often reinforced ideologies and material conditions associated with the racial contract and, in effect, perpetuated whiteness as the racial construct of college-going abilities. Conversely, those teachers who operated with a higher degree of race consciousness reported more equitable teaching practices that emphasized self-respect, solidarity, and education as a collective contract for the common good. The study draws conclusions that impact educational policies, particularly those that identify college readiness as the benchmark of equity and high-school success.     

Releasing the “Terror Genie”: Man Haron Monis and the “Sydney Siege”

The threat of “Islamic terrorism” has become a feature of the Australian political landscape. This has taken the form of unconfirmed suggestions of promised beheadings by groups, the threat of lone-wolf attacks, and the radicalisation of Islamic youths fighting in Syria and Iraq. This paper argues that the Islamic terror genie has been used to effectively transform the Australian political landscape through a series of plotted suggestions. The excuse for such policy excludes the necessity for evidence in a public forum. Law and order issues that involve Muslim figures who so happen to embrace, erroneously, an Islamic stance, end up being swept up in this current. The Man Haron Monis hostage case (or the “Sydney Siege”) provided a classic example of this problem, illustrating the misunderstandings, deceptions and delusions that have come to characterise the response of Australia’s security and media establishment.     

Pools,Piety, and Participation: A Muslim Women's Sports Club and Urban Citizenship in Germany

Abstract

This paper introduces the Muslim Women's Sports Club (MWSC) in Stuttgart, Germany and analyzes this club's role and contribution in the construction of urban citizenship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, I illustrate that this club is a vibrant space of civic participation. I argue that associations like this sports club are crucial sites of Muslim civic engagement where individuals configure forms of religiously circumscribed citizenship. The club plays a vital, but largely overlooked, role in the urban civic sphere, as it articulates and strengthens the bonding and civic participation of pious Muslim women and creates cross-ethnic relationships and networks. Some members are initiated into the landscape of civic associations, as they learn about their rights, duties, and potentials, through cooperation with other associations or institutions. I argue that an association such as the MWSC, regardless of its rather invisible activities, is a full-fledged part of the urban public sphere in Germany. Theoretically I engage questions of urban citizenship and civic participation in the context of a faith and/or identity-based association.     

Korean American social studies teachers’ perceptions and experiences of teaching profession in multicultural urban high schools

This study explores two Korean American social studies teachers’ perceptions and experiences of the teaching profession in multicultural, urban public high schools. Drawing upon critical race theory (CRT) and its interconnection to the model minority myth, the most dominant form of racism against Asians as theoretical underpinnings, this study focuses on: (1) Korean American teachers’ unique experiences of being racial minority educators teaching a contentious subject like social studies within culturally and linguistically diverse school settings; and (2) the influences of the model minority racial stereotype on the teachers’ career choice, professional experiences, and associated coping strategies. This study aims to shed light on the heterogeneous stories and ethnoracially contextualized teaching experiences of Asian American teachers and to provide meaningful insights into and practical implications for the preparation and retention of teachers of color.     

Educational Cultural Negotiators for students of color: a descriptive study of racial advocacy leaders

The research presented in this study focuses on Educational Cultural Negotiators (ECNs). The participants were teachers, administrators, and graduate students in an after-school program in the Midwest and a community-based school/university partnership in the Western U.S. We posit that the roles of the ECNs function as advocacy leaders to invoke racial affirmation, and academic intervention on behalf of African-American and Latina/o students at these school sites. Relying on critical race theory as the methodological analysis of the findings, this study seeks to identify the role of the ECNs as advocates for students in these settings to promote their academic and personal growth and success. This work illustrates how these particular educational leaders provide academic direction and challenge racial neglect and color-blindness within the public school system.     

Institutional Governance of Minority Religious Practices: Insights from a Study of Muslim Practices in Danish Schools

An increasing number of studies are concerned with the ways in which the religious practices of Europe's minority populations are accommodated on the political, national and local levels. In this article, I present a case study of Muslim practices in Danish schools. The study is an investigation of how and why six selected practices are governed in Danish schools: halal food, fasting, prayer, head scarves, holidays and mosques. The results underline the importance of the specific practice in question for the way in which it is governed: some practices are easily accommodated, while others are rejected outright by the schools. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how governance of Muslim practices is developed in the absence of national regulation and against the prevailing ideals in the Danish public debate. In fact, the governance developed seems to be a direct response to the number of Muslim children in school and in line with general school ideals of inclusion. However, the results also indicate that more direct involvement by local or national authorities might push schools to be more exclusive with regard to Muslim practices.     

Effect of School Racial Composition on Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms from Adolescence Through Early Adulthood

We investigate the effect of high school racial composition, measured as percent of non-Hispanic white students, on trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to early adulthood. We also explore whether the effect of school racial composition varies by respondent race/ethnicity and whether adult socioeconomic status mediates this relationship. We analyzed four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health using 3-level linear growth models. We restricted our sample to respondents enrolled in grades 9–12 in 1994/5 who were interviewed at a minimum in Waves I and IV. This resulted in 10,350 respondents enrolled in 80 high schools in 1994/5 (5,561 whites, 2,030 blacks, 1,834 Hispanics, 738 Asians, and 187 of other race). As the percentage of white students increased at the high school respondents attended in 1994/5, blacks reported more depressive symptoms. This effect did not vary by age. In comparison, Asian and Hispanic respondents who attended predominantly white high schools had lower levels of depressive symptoms than their counterparts who attended predominantly minority schools, but they also experienced a slower decline in depressive symptoms through early adulthood. Adult SES mediated the relationship between high school racial composition and depressive symptoms for black, but not for Asian or Hispanic respondents. Our results suggest that high school racial composition is associated with trajectories of depressive symptoms through early adulthood, but the effect differs by respondents’ race/ethnicity. Racial/ethnic disparities in depressive symptoms during early adulthood may have their origins in adolescence.     

Witnessing an Islamic Rite of Passage and a Local/Non-Local Articulation

This paper examines power relations predicated on the recourse to a Muslim identity by the Luri inhabitants of a remote, inaccessible place in south-western Iran known for their tenuous observance of the Islamic rules propagated by the faith's gate-keepers at the centre. The Muslimhood is asserted by the Lurs as an articulation of localness within the wider national context through a ritual practice characterised by spatial paucity that facilitates the deployment of an image of a 'historical' precedent, an abstract narrative of the Muslim community (ummat) in diverse contexts. Thus, the specific spatial and temporal limits that condition their differentiated access to sources of power based on class, gender and race are superseded by the Lurs in an imagined 'horizontal comradeship' with others creating an anti-structural domain and a 'plebeian public sphere' in which ordinary people appear as the agents as well as beneficiaries of the expanding domain of politics through a forged brother/sisterhood. Effective in this universalisation of politics is the use of slogan as a genre devised to overcome the structural inequalities that characterise the encompassing national system. The greater the structural gap, the paper argues, the more appealing the ritualistic use of slogan as an accessible anti-structural device susceptible to articulate the sacred with the profane. The 'plebeian' use of slogan, therefore, increasingly exposes the contradictory practice of becoming a Muslim in a peripheral location.