Why Wrestle With "Diversity"? A Critical Analysis of Multicultural Education Policy Discourses in South Korea

• In Event: The Climate of Multicultural Education: Investigating Policy and Praxis

Abstract

The multiculturalist agenda of “embracing diversity” has been criticized for its paradoxical effects of othering the “diversity-relevant” minority students, particularly communities with a migration background. This study aims to critically scrutinize the meanings of “diversity” in the context of Korean multicultural education policy discourses. To this end, we analyzed 39 policy texts from 2006 to 2019, focusing on statements defining diversity as “someone’s problem” to be managed. The study shows that the three meanings of diversity (i.e., at risk, productive, and endurable) indicate a way that identifies “multicultural students” with ethno-racial differences as an object of conditional hospitality. Based on Derrida’s notion of hospitality, we attempt to provide policy directions to develop a “better” hospitality toward nonhierarchical diversity of students.

Authors

• Soohan Lee, Seoul National University

• Kyunghee So, Seoul National University

• Jiae Park, Seoul National University

• Yuri Choi, Seoul National University