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Devices of Intercultural Mediation and their Role in the Evaluation of the Pupils and their Families

Sun, August 13, 10:30am to 12:10pm, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Floor: Level 5, 511B

Abstract

Although devices, taken in their sociological interpretation, may constitute resources for action, they also appear as constraints as they tend to prevent the adoption of certain behaviours and judgements (Dodier and Barbot, 2016). In this talk, we will discuss the effects that some educational devices, which aim at reducing school inequalities by taking into account the supposed "origins" or "culture" of pupils, may have on behaviours and judgements. This talk is based on interviews and participant observation, in Paris and Paris area, of two devices involving families with high ethnoracial and social diversity, including newcomers who do not speak French. In particular we observe that the supposed culture of the families and pupils is a core component of their evaluation by the actors of the devices and leads back to the formation of social barriers (Lamont, 2016). The first device we studied organises ethnoclinical consultations in a Parisian primary school. The second device, which is managed by an organisation for intercultural mediation, aims at opening the school to the parents by offering them an autonomous space within the building. While the first device relies on a well defined and constraining organisation, the second device presents a more flexible and blurred set up for the actors. It turns out that the categories and practical criterion that are used by the actors within the devices are tightly connected to the nature of their organisation.

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