Teachers play a pivotal role in the production of discourse on race relations in education, yet few studies have researched the impact of white teacher identity construction as a variable in the creation and maintenance of racial ideologies, particularly here in Canada. The majority of the current research done on racism in schools has produced data that points to the widespread denial of racism by the majority of white teachers and students, while parents, teachers and students of color acknowledge the pervasive role racism plays in their educational and social lives. While the focus on institutional and systemic racism is important, it sometimes denies the role individuals play in the reproduction of racism and in our ability to make change. For these reasons, it is critical to consider the identity constructions of white teachers, as these constructions will influence how we interpret and respond to existing racial inequalities in education. <p>This research will draw from poststructural theories of discourse analysis in order to analyze how white teacher identity constructions of innocence are reproduced in an education system where racial inequalities are pervasive and systemic. Discourse analysis and deconstruction are important in understanding the way our subjectivity as white teachers continues to be produced and maintained.<p>This study takes place in the Prairie region, where Aboriginal people have been produced as the racial Other historically. Using an open-ended questionnaire, in-service, and focus group method, this research study invites educators to narrate their own perceptions of racism in schools. The collection and analysis of this data begins to address the theoretical gap in academic knowledge on teacher perceptions of racism in education.

The aim of this paper is to examine how teachers experience their possibilities to develop democratic teaching in high school and how they reflect upon their position of power within the teaching situation. Four professional high school teachers have been interviewed for the study. The theoretical perspective of the study is an intersectional view on power and a view on democratic teaching which is partly built on the high school curriculum, but mainly defined by deliberative conversations, anti-oppressive education and norm-critical education. The result of the study is focused on three themes, which were shown in the analysis of the interviews. These themes are: choices of teaching content,  authority of the teacher and democratic teaching. The conclusion of the study is that there is no fixed manual or one single method, for democratic teaching. However, if possibilites are created through educational politics, teacher tranining, existing norms at the school, and individual teachers ability to reflect upon their own position of power, democratic and anti-oppressive education is possible.

The aim of this study has been to analyze how society is constructed in the workbook Möte med människor från andra kulturer, a popular material within the “cultural competency” industry. The analysis has largely been carried out from the perspective of a pedagogy against oppression as it has been outlined by Kevin Kumashiro. I have found that the material combines discursive movements, which in complex and hybrid ways deconstruct, decenter, recenter and reproduce stereotypes and norms, through its normative language and pedagogy. A language constructing culture as cleanly demarcated, static and homogenous. Cultures are made mutually exclusive and cultural patterns dominant within Sweden are placed in a dichotomous relationship with the “immigrant” other, naturalizing the privileges of the former and the marginalization of the latter. The material attempts to structure a reflexive process encouraging the reader to develop a critical self-awareness. However, the material, more often than not, fails to move this beyond an individual level, other than to inscribe a static and excluding notion of “Swedish” culture and identity onto the reader. The material teems with critical potential but I argue that its ambition is mired by normative language and staging. This is not to say that it cannot encourage critical awareness, but inarguably, its ability to do so has been lessened.

This thesis problematizes to relationship between gender based poverty and exclusion and urban space. Five forms of oppression, namely exploitation, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, violence, marginalization, faced by women in highly patriarchal urban setting are examined to identify the spatial dynamics of each forms of oppression. A field research was carried out in one of the poor neighborhood of Ankara / nearby Siteler where male dominated furniture production is carried out. Through the in-depth interviews, women&rsquo / s perception and experience of spatializedoppression is documented and used to develop the arguments put forward in the theoretical section.

<p> </p><p>The aim of this study has been to analyze how society is constructed in the workbook <em>Möte med människor från andra <em>kulturer</em>, a popular material within the “cultural competency” industry. The analysis has largely been carried out from the perspective of a pedagogy against oppression as it has been outlined by Kevin Kumashiro. </em></p><p>I have found that the material combines discursive movements, which in complex and hybrid ways deconstruct, decenter, recenter and reproduce stereotypes and norms, through its normative language and pedagogy. A language constructing culture as cleanly demarcated, static and homogenous. Cultures are made mutually exclusive and cultural patterns dominant within Sweden are placed in a dichotomous relationship with the “immigrant” other, naturalizing the privileges of the former and the marginalization of the latter.</p><p>The material attempts to structure a reflexive process encouraging the reader to develop a critical self-awareness. However, the material, more often than not, fails to move this beyond an individual level, other than to inscribe a static and excluding notion of “Swedish” culture and identity onto the reader. The material teems with critical potential but I argue that its ambition is mired by normative language and staging. This is not to say that it cannot encourage critical awareness, but inarguably, its ability to do so has been lessened.</p><p> </p>

The first two decades of the 20th century have brought us to a critical crossroad that few could have predicted when the calendar ticked over from 1999 to 2000. The strife of world wars, of intolerance, of discrimination, of prejudice and oppression that were so evident in the 20th century should have provided the impetus for peace and acceptance in the 21st. Yet, world events early in this century have demonstrated that we have not learned from the lessons of history and thus, unless we intervene, we are doomed to repeat them. Teachers and schools play significant roles in shaping future citizens – in helping learners develop character and integrity, to value others and the earth, and to work collaboratively to address problems new and old. Teacher educators play a critical role in developing the pedagogical understanding of pre-service teachers as they prepare to take up these roles in Canadian classrooms. Teacher educators working from and for a social justice mandate recognize that there are many factors that impact their ability to guide pre-service teachers to a greater understanding and valuing of equity and diversity in their classrooms, schools, and communities. This study’s exploration of factors that constrain or enable this work has exposed the difficulty and intransigence of perceiving the work and ultimately, the world through polarized binaries of either/or – constrain or enable. This has resulted in a greater respect for the complexity in envisioning and enacting pedagogy and practice that strives to inculcate pre-service teachers with a commitment to creating classrooms focused on equity, diversity and social justice. / Graduate

As the notion of sustainability has gained prominence in the past decade, so have different disciplines that have addressed sustainability issues from an educational standpoint, for example Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development. Both fields have been called out for shortcomings such as omitting social considerations to sustainability issues and reproducing neoliberal framings that go hand in hand with oppressive power structures and systemic inequality. To better grasp how sustainability education is framed in relation to anti-oppressive pedagogy, this research conducted a Critical Discourse Analysis on selected materials that were publicly available on the websites of three international high schools with sustainability-oriented curricula—Green School, United World Colleges, and Amala Education. From the analysis of the selected documents, the three educational organizations’ discourses of sustainability align with the narrative of Education for Sustainable Development and lack critical considerations on the embeddedness of their sustainability education, and the larger sustainability challenge, in neoliberal framings and systems of oppression that reproduce inequality and marginalization and that constrain processes of transformation. While language that relates to the framings of anti-oppressive pedagogy was present, to different extents, in the texts of the three organizations, it was not framed in relation to sustainability, but as a separate layer of educational practice, lacking problematization on the role of sustainability education discourses in the making of anti-oppressive sustainability education, and on the critical significance of considering anti-oppressive pedagogy for the making of sustainability education.

Under arbetet med denna studie fann vi att toleranspedagogik är ett relativt outforskat område inom svensk förskola. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om och i så fall hur förskollärare använder sig av toleranspedagogik i relation till kulturell mångfald i sin yrkesutövning. I detta syfte ingick även att undersöka huruvida förskollärares kännedom om toleranspedagogik skiljer sig åt beroende på yrkeserfarenhet. För att undersöka detta har vi genomfört två delstudier som bestått av kvalitativa intervjuer. I varje delstudie har fem förskollärare med stor geografisk spridning intervjuats. I delstudie 1 intervjuades förskollärare med två års yrkeserfarenhet eller mindre, i delstudie 2 intervjuades förskollärare med 15 års yrkeserfarenhet eller mer. Databearbetning skedde genom riktad innehållsanalys där vi kodade materialet utifrån vår teoretiska ram. Vi valde att använda Kevin Kumashiros teori om antiförtryckande undervisning. Detta gav oss möjlighet att belysa förskolan som ett normativt landskap där diskriminering, stereotypisering och osynliggörande av olika kulturella identiteter kan ske. I Kumashiros teori ingår fyra förändringsstrategier för antiförtryckande undervisning, vilka främst fokuserats i vår databearbetning. Delstudiernas sammanställda resultat indikerar att toleranspedagogik var ett välanvänt pedagogiskt arbetssätt hos de förskollärare som ingick i studien. Dock visade resultatet att ingen av de deltagande förskollärarna hade en kännedom om toleranspedagogikens innebörd. Delstudiernas resultat visade på en viss skillnad i mångkulturella arbetssätt mellan förskollärare med längre yrkeserfarenhet kontra kortare yrkeserfarenhet. Vidare fann vi i våra resultat att vissa arbetssätt inte gick att placera under Kumashiros fyra strategier. Därmed fann vi att i vissa barngrupper användes undervisningsstrategier vilka inte tog hänsyn till kulturell mångfald. Vi fann också att i många fall användes svenskhet som norm för undervisningen. Utifrån dessa resultat skulle det varit intressant att vidare undersöka vilka de långsiktiga konsekvenserna av toleranspedagogik skulle kunna bli.

The goal of this study was to assess how child welfare services are conceptualized and viewed by Canadian young adults with heritage from the Indian Subcontinent. Five second-generation young adults with heritage from the Indian Sub-continent were interviewed about their thoughts, attitudes, and opinions toward the Children’s Aid Societies when they were youths, and also currently. Findings showed that lack of awareness around the function of CAS, observations of negative CAS-community interactions, and overt/subvert whiteness in the system all contributed to participants not trusting CASs during their childhood and teenage years. Participants felt that the CAS systems are designed for the white population and not for children and youth of South Asian descent. Reflecting back on when they were youths, instead of viewing CASs as a source of support or help in times of family trouble, participants indicated that they and their parents would seek support from trusted friends, family, or community members. Now young adults themselves, and envisioning having their own families in the future, participants said that if needed they would access the same friend, family and community supports rather than approaching a CAS. That being said, participants expressed that they would be open to accessing CAS services but that this would be a last resort given their perception that the CAS is not designed for them or their community. Participants expressed a desire to be able to access CAS services, but not until CAS deal with their own whiteness. In addition to being less Eurocentric, participants also recommended a number of changes CAS make so that they better serve communities with Indian Sub Continent heritage, these include increased community engagement, information campaigns, increased presence of workers/foster families from South Asian communities). / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Since the start of the Syrian war, Jordan has received many Syrian refugees with around 650,000 Syrians now residing in the country. As the state has received a lot of help from the international community, funding refugee camps and providing basic necessities, a lot of international humanitarian practitioners have come to Jordan to work alongside Jordanian and Middle Eastern practitioners. The situation therefore has brought practitioners from different academic, professional and geographical backgrounds together to work with people of a different cultural background than their own. Syrians represent a vast diversity in terms of ethnic, religious, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. Research have addressed that practitioners’ sensitivity to how cultural complexities may influence social problems can facilitate a better understanding of the client’s path to recovery. The purpose of our study was to increase the knowledge of mental health and psychosocial support practitioners’ understanding and experience of a culturally sensitive social work in Amman, Jordan and discuss how this affects their practice with Syrian refugees. Through qualitative interviews we found that the practitioners’ perception of Arab culture as one and the same makes culture a non-issue in terms of cultural diversity, and that this perception influence the practice with Syrian refugees in a number of ways.