Schools as "Asylum": A Bakhtinian Discourse Analysis

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-17 - (Young) Adults and Their Stories: Dis/ability Policy, Practice, and Research

Abstract

School inclusion is significant in creating equal educational opportunities and experiences for all children. To understand the school experiences of children with special needs, this paper, focusing on one case, examines one child’s experiences in a restrictive elementary school and an inclusive one. Doing Bakhtinian discourse analysis on data from a semi-structured interview, I find that the inclusive school serves as a site of asylum in two senses simultaneously, supporting the child’s double ideological becomings. Implications for creating inclusive educational space are discussed.

Author

• Xiaoying Zhao, University of Georgia - Athens