‘Oh, this is really great work—especially for a Turk’: a critical race theory analysis of Turkish Belgian students’ discrimination experiences

Abstract

Students of Turkish descent suffer various forms of discrimination in education in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium). Nevertheless, few studies have documented how these discrimination experiences are situated within structures of ethnic inequality in education. Adopting a critical race theory approach, experiences of Turkish Belgian university students were analysed to expose deficit assumptions towards ethnic minorities and push against inequity in education. The accounts of students show the exclusionary treatment they were exposed to despite the dominating discourses of colorblindness in education. Students' experiences with peers highlight the pervasiveness of racism that targeted ethnic minority students based on their ethnic and social class background. Lack of minority representation, ubiquitous microaggressions, and exclusionary curriculum shape students' experiences at university context and affirm White normativity. These findings highlight the urgency of challenging against systems and structures of racism in education. The implications for research and practice are detailed in the concluding section.

“You never feel so Black as when you're contrasted against a White background”: Black students' experiences at a predominantly White institution in the UK

“…Black students are also disproportionately more likely to leave their degree programme prior to completion (Higher Education Statistics Agency [HESA], 2018). These patterns of racial inequality are common across Western higher education systems including the US, Australia, Belgium, and France (e.g., Byrd, 2014; Colak, Van Praag, & Nicaies, 2020; Ichou & van Zanten, 2019; Pitman, Roberts, Bennett, & Richardson, 2019). Recently, student campaigns, media commentary, and academic voices have insisted that our attention shifts from encouraging underrepresented groups through the door, to addressing the Whiteness of our institutions that signals non‐belonging and may compromise Black students' ability to thrive (National Union of Students, 2011; Richardson, 2018).…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the associations between perceived teacher-based racial-ethnic discrimination and student well-being and academic outcomes:

“…Notably, qualitative studies (Abu El-Haj, 2007;Rosenbloom & Way, 2004) have highlighted that ethnic minority students did not necessarily perceive any kind of conflict with teachers as examples of ethnic-racial discrimination. Instead, they perceived to be discriminated against when teachers did not respect or care about them as individuals or enacted subtle forms of discrimination, such as microaggressions (e.g., praising third-generation immigrant youth for their skills in the language of instruction) (Colak et al, 2020). In sum, TBRED can be conceptualized as differential treatment due to students' race or ethnicity but may manifest in different ways.…”

Beyond ‘migrant background’: how to select relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories in educational research

“…Experiencing discrimination from teachers has been linked to lessened school engagement among ethnic minority youth in multiple European settings (Artamonova, 2018;D'hondt et al, 2016). Importantly, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment are often intertwined (Reijerse et al, 2013), meaning, Muslim youth face heightened discrimination, including in educational settings (Colak et al, 2020;Welply, 2018). A nationally representative survey (N = 2012) in Germany found that nearly half of respondents agreed that, 'Islam does not belong in Germany' (Ahrens, 2018), reflecting societal anti-Muslim sentiment and behaviour, also known as Islamophobia (Kunst et al, 2013).…”