The Meaning of Ethnicity at School: The Swedish Case

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 19. Race and Ethnicity: International Perspectives

Abstract

How does the social construction and meaning of racial and ethnic difference influence school policies and procedures? In this paper, I present analyses of qualitative data I gathered over the course of two years of research in ten Malmö schools. I demonstrate that the meaning of race and ethnicity in Sweden’s increasingly and recently diverse society is contested, plural, and negotiated locally, school-by-school. School specific particularities of the meaning of diversity have tremendous, sometimes counterintuitive impact on the cultural, curriculum, and faculty of the schools. Educational research and policy must take account of the meaning of ethnicity at school and, correspondingly, ask what is demanded of first and second generation immigrant youth who would ask to be included in the society of their adopted nation.

Author

• Andrea M. Voyer, Pace University