"Living Diversity" and Schooling: Difference, Belonging, and Community-Inclusive Pedagogies for Social Justice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: From Colonization to Community-Informed Educational Research (Table 9)

Abstract

Despite decades of “equity-oriented” policymaking, there is ample evidence of persisting educational disparities affecting minoritized students. This paper examines two reasons for this. Firstly, it explores “intercultural” education across the Global North, demonstrating its detachment from the unequal dynamics of social and political life. Secondly, it employs the concept of ‘museumification’ to show that diversity is often performed and curated, keeping dominant structures intact. The paper is based on multi-stakeholder participatory research (MSPR) in the UK, including collecting stories from people with a refugee/immigrant background, working with a celebrated Black photographer to produce participant portraits, and co-producing educational resources for schools. Findings suggest that ‘diversity’ involves complex, iterative, and dis/located dynamics requiring community-inclusive pedagogies of “living diversity”.

Author

• Reza Gholami, University of Birmingham