Antiracism Education In and Out of Schools

Abstract

This chapter explores how an anti-oppressive practice (AOP) perspective can inform contested understandings of social inclusion within the LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) integration program at NorQuest College in Edmonton, Canada. Based on research findings obtained during case study fieldwork, it examines how inclusion is negotiated by program participants and juxtaposes this with anti-oppressive practice principles. In so doing, it offers valuable perspectives for critical and anti-racist discourses in adult education. The data for this studies includes in-depth individual interviews with LINC teachers, administrators and counsellors, group interviews with students and 1.5 months of participant observation. Interview transcripts and observation logs were analysed using inductive content analysis. The empirical findings illustrate the need for educational providers seeking to implement policies of inclusion to transcend their institutional boundaries by adopting structural, cross-sectorial and distinctly political responses. These include creating more egalitarian educational partnerships with all stakeholders comprising teachers, students and community organisations involved in LINC. Responses further entail reexamining institutional procedures, curricular mandates, as well as promoting public education programs and collective political mobilisation to address the structural factors circumscribing the lives of migrant students. A complementary finding in furthering inclusion suggests that components of social criticism and critical citizenship focusing on students' own experiences should become more entrenched within NorQuest's integration educations.

“Reflexivity of reflexivity” with Roma-related Nordic educational research

“…I constructed the data by selecting 32 articles that explore Roma related topics within the Nordic context through a rigorous search and selection process in university library databases 5 . I added to the sample one article published in the Critical Romani Studies journal written by a Roma-identified researcher (Stenroos, 2019) and one book chapter discussing antiracist education with some references to Roma struggles in the context of solidarity across affiliative groups (Alemanji & Seikkula, 2018).…”

“…Their critical paradigm standpoint also intersects with certain aspects of a reflexive middle voice and complex communication from the limen. Alemanji (in Alemanji & Seikkula, 2018) identifies common struggles in differences with Roma people as a Black African living in Finland:…”

“…Such characteristics include their inferiority, inaptness and backwardness associated with the black or African identity (p. 174). Alemanji & Seikkula, 2018) discusses the invisibility of whiteness which masks racial privilege, particularly for those who inhabit that privilege, such as herself "as a light-skinned, natively Finnish speaking secularised Christian in Finland" (p. 175). She problematizes the difficulty of positioning herself as having white privilege when whiteness is the invisible norm against which institutional and societal structures hierarchize people based on race.…”

“…The authors share teaching experiences from their different positions. When teaching, Alemanji (in Alemanji & Seikkula, 2018) uses personal experiences through storytelling and humor to exemplify racism in Finland. Still, students often find his classes confrontational.…”

“…His challenge is to make these tensions productive with the aim for students to become allies in "the fight against racism in Finland" (p. 181). Seikkula (in Alemanji & Seikkula, 2018) often shares her students' privileged racial position, which makes them "feel too at ease to make uninformed comments" (p. 177). She therefore constantly deconstructs her (reproduction of) whiteness in the classroom.…”