Intercultural education

‘Foreigners in Our Schools’: Cultural Diversity, Othering, and the Desire for Justice in Schools

“…We also add with this study that Othering does not simply happen in the ways student identities are constructed (e.g. Dooly, 2007), are (non)represented in curricula, or marginalized by specific types of school programs (Pica-Smith et al, 2019), but it is fundamentally intertwined with the ways teachers are positioned as professionals: their skills and abilities, motivation to teach, and aims of teaching. As we have shown in this study, representations of teaching and learning go hand in hand, with student and teacher identities weighing in equally in the multi-layered formation of cultural diversity and Othering in educational contexts.…”

“…Previous studies have also paid attention to a wider scope of Othering processes that create ‘normality’ and diversity as ‘abnormality’ (e.g. Bagga-Gupta, 2017; Pica-Smith et al, 2019; Popkewitz, 2001). This way, Pica-Smith et al (2019) define Othering „as a set of dynamics, processes, and structures that engender marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences based on group identities” (p. 92).…”

“…Bagga-Gupta, 2017; Pica-Smith et al, 2019; Popkewitz, 2001). This way, Pica-Smith et al (2019) define Othering „as a set of dynamics, processes, and structures that engender marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences based on group identities” (p. 92). Lines of Othering can be delineated through language use and background (Devadoss, 2020; Rühlmann & McMonagle, 2019), gender (Song, 2020), spatial belonging (Mawene & Bal, 2020), and at the intersections of several group identities.…”

“…Lines of Othering can be delineated through language use and background (Devadoss, 2020; Rühlmann & McMonagle, 2019), gender (Song, 2020), spatial belonging (Mawene & Bal, 2020), and at the intersections of several group identities. In schools, migrant and ethnic minority youth are often Othered through particular ways of integration and educational programs, pedagogical approaches, and (non)representation in curricula (Pica-Smith et al, 2019). Therefore, educational processes are understood as struggles over justice, cultural recognition and distribution in education (Fraser, 2003; Keddie, 2012a; Lim & Tan, 2020).…”

“…While previous research often detects the fundamentalizing discourse (Hark & Villa, 2020) of Othering in policy documents, media, and curricula, it is less clear whether and how it manifests in everyday urban school life (Pica-Smith et al, 2019). Consequently, more empirical, up-to-date, and context-specific research is needed to understand what meanings abstract multicultural ideas receive in changing urban schools today.…”