Social Justice Education in European Multi-ethnic Schools by Pica-Smith, Cinzia; Manuela Contini, Rina; N. Veloria, Carmen;

Short description:

 Social Justice Education in European Multi-ethnic Schools brings together researchers in the fields of sociology and education to examine debates in multicultural education.

Long description:

Winner of the American Educational Studies Association Critics’ Choice Book Award, 2019

Europe is a multi-ethnic society experiencing a rise of anti-immigration, racist, xenophobic discourses, and right-wing political rhetoric and movements proposing legislation to further solidify structural inequality and institutionalized systems of oppression that fuel educational inequities. Social Justice Education in European Multi-ethnic Schools brings together researchers in the fields of sociology and education to examine debates in multicultural education. Drawing on critical theory, the book takes an in-depth look at how these challenges are being addressed (or not addressed) in educational contexts and in the proposed framework of intercultural education adopted as a conceptual and educational framework by the European Union over the last two decades.

The book begins with an analysis of the sociological models and theories of migration and their connection to multiculturalism and interculturalism. It engages in the current debate between multiculturalism and interculturalism, bringing to light the "political rhetoric" that fueled narratives about the "failures" of multiculturalism, which ushered in the intercultural framework. It puts forth a critical analysis of interculturalism, linking it to neoliberalism, and policies of civic integration and the concept of govermentality. Advocating for a transformative framework informed in social justice education that aims to promote more equity in schools, it critically analyzes and discusses intercultural education, the pedagogical extension of interculturalism, as per the European documents highlighting its goals, pedagogies, tensions, and challenges.

Social Justice Education in European Multi-ethnic Schools will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and scholars in the fields of intercultural, multicultural, and transformative education.

* Winner of the 2019 American Educational Studies Association's Critics' Choice Book Award! *

"Immigration is the issue of our times. It is polarizing politics in Europe and North America and leaving those directly affected by the experience targeted, discriminated against, and frequently, marginalized. This important new book provides scholarly perspectives on the various factors influencing immigration and the adaptation of immigrants to the lands where they settle. Well researched and far-reaching in its scope and relevance, this book will be an invaluable resource to those who seek to understand a social phenomenon that will define our lives for many years to come."

Pedro A. Noguera, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Education, Faculty Director, Center for the Transformation of Schools, University of California Los Angeles Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

"As multiculturalism has been declared dead across Europe, interculturalism has been embraced with enthusiasm by policy-makers, academics, and educators. This valuable study exposes the vacuity of the new speak, which ignores widening power disparities and inequality in our brave new neoliberal world."

Christian Joppke, Professor of Sociology, Executive Director, Institute of Sociology, University of Berne, Switzerland.

"Full of important, often critical, framing. Pica-Smith, Contini, and Veloria nudge us toward a deeper, more sophisticated, more transformative view of intercultural education . . . They wrap a critical view around frameworks and practices that tend to be depoliticized in schools prior to implementation, urging us toward integrity despite all the possible detours."

Paul C. Gorski, PhD, Founder and Director of the Equity Literacy Institute.

Table of Contents:

Foreword: Paul Gorsky

Introduction

Part 1: Intercultural education: Origins, current thinking, practice and critiques

1. Social theories of migration, political realities, and the rise of interculturalism








2. Intercultural education: theoretical model and strategies for implementation








3. Talking back: critical theory and critical pedagogy








4. Intercultural education in Italian schools: A case study

Part 2: Theory in practice: "us and them", intergroup friendships, intergroup dialogue, and the promise of social justice education

1. "Us and them," the social construction of race, intersectionality and the importance of discussing race








2. Intergroup relationships in school, intergroup contact, & prejudice reduction: is it enough?








3. Social justice education and anti-colonial educational frameworks and pedagogy

Final thoughts

Afterword: Maurizio Ambrosini