Cultural Discourse Studies through the Journal of Multicultural Discourses : 10 years on

This article explores the ways in which 10 interviewed educators in Finnish multicultural comprehensive schools talk about cultural diversity. Recent theories and research try to avoid problematic views of culture, and some of their approaches can be found in the Finnish curriculum. Instead of defining discourses as sound or unsound this article seeks to understand the variety of discourses through discourse analysis. Two main discursive approaches viewed culture as significant and as insignificant in diversity. The interviewees mixed different discourses in order to present themselves as aware educators, but also to normalize the multicultural school as a workplace. Sometimes cultural essentialism and colour-blindness occurred, and instances of criticizing one's own thinking were scarce. Religious diversity was mostly talked about as a natural part of cultural diversity, Islam being constructed as the main 'other'. The discourses were also very much interwoven with the multi-layered negotiations concerning practice, and tensions between staff members were implicit. Discourses concerning cultural diversity should be scrutinized by educators and student teachers in order to increase awareness about the risks of both cultural essentialism and colour-blindness. Furthermore, educators need appropriate discursive practices to address diversity and privilege, to decipher situations, and to avoid cultural relativism.

Section: Significance Of Culture In Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Buchtel 2014;Fischer 2011). Indeed, especially Cultural Diversity Studies have stressed the divisive nature of cultural diversity and the power struggle in which Western-centric ideas of shared notions are questioned (Shi-xu 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaching culture, negotiating practice: Finnish educators’ discourses on cultural diversity

Kimanen

2018

“…That is, findings show how 'culture' can be used to state who we are and what defines us, and can therefore contribute to processes of inclusion and exclusion. Thus, this study contributes to the fields of critical intercultural communication and Cultural Discourse Studies (CDS) that focus on deconstructing discourses in which culture is made relevant and on uncovering associated power relations (Piller 2011;Shi-xu 2016). Meanings attached to culture and religion in relation to secularism can affect who and what is perceived as belonging to the cultural reality in which laïcité is embedded and of which it is constructive.…”

Section: Tensions Between Culture and Religion In Discourses Of Seculmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Culture’ as a discursive resource in newspaper articles from Le Monde about secularism: constructing ‘us’ through strategic oppositions with religion

Sommier

2018

Building on research highlighting the complex webs of relations between secularism, culture, and religion, this study investigates how the concept of culture was utilized in discourses of laïcité from the newspaper le Monde. Articles (N = 76) published between 2011 and 2014 were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results revealed the agency associated with the use of culture as it was strategicallyrather than systematicallyused in opposition to religion. Overall, cultureand the practices it definedtended to be represented as normal and invisible. On the other hand, religion tended to be constructed as a disruption to secularism and the corresponding cultural reality. The findings therefore suggested culture could be strategically used to validate and regulate specific practices as well as representations of the imagined community. This study complements previous research on discourses of secularism by drawing attention to the strategic divisions between culture and religion, and their implications. The findings draw attention to the construction of a secular imagined community because of the punctual and strategic use of culture and religion as proxies for 'us' and 'them'. Thus, the findings have practical implications as regards religious minorities' identification with and belonging to the nation.

“…By looking at the categories and distinctions of the two national contextsand consistent with CDSwe seek to contribute to a context-sensitive analysis with an overarching aim to combat ethnocentrism and marginalization and to enhance equality and co-existence (cf. Shi-xu 2016). These are also intrinsic goals of the comprehensive school education in the two countries, and should therefore be reflected in their policies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Essentializing vs. non-essentializing students’ cultural identities: curricular discourses in Finland and Sweden

Zilliacus

Paulsrud

Holm

2017

This article examines how students' cultural identities are discursively constructed in the Finnish and Swedish national curricula for the compulsory school. The aim is to illuminate the manifold discourses on cultural identity which prevail within Nordic educational policy. The study employs a critical multicultural education and postcolonial perspective with a particular focus on essentialist and non-essentialist views of identity in the curricular discourses. Through discourse analysis, key terms such as 'cultural identity' and 'multicultural identity' as well as different aspects of cultural identities such as language, gender and religion are investigated. The results show diverging discourses, with distinct differences in their explicitness and implicitness in the two countries. A clear effort to see all students as having multi-layered and multicultural identities is evident in the Finnish curricular discourse whereas a more essentializing discourse emerges in the Swedish curriculum. We conclude with a discussion on the importance of addressing policy discourses on students' cultural identities in order to ensure non-essentialist and socially just teaching and educational practice.