1. Education and Social Justice: Diversity and Intersectionality
Hanna Ragnarsdóttir
NERA 2012
Network 14: Preconference March 8

2. Education and Social Justice
Paulo Freire (1998):
„The struggle to bring dignity to the practice of teaching is as much a part of the activity of teaching as is the respect that the teacher should have for the identity of the student, for the student himself or herself, and his or her right to be.“ (p. 64)
„ … in the context of true learning, the learners will be engaged in a continuous transformation through which they become authentic subjects of the construction and reconstruction of what is being taught, side by side with the teacher, who is equally subject to the same process.“ (p. 33)
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

3. Theoretical framework
Key concepts for discussion:
Diversity
Intersectionality
Multiplicity
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

4. Diversity and the multicultural
Why problematic?
Who and what do these concepts refer to?
Problem of referring only to the „other“
Symbolic, constructed rather than critical?
Not addressing underlying unjustice and construction of differences.
Focusing on culture, excluding other diversities?
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5. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Diversity
According to Vertovec and Wessendorf (2010), „diversity“ emerged in part as a kind of transference from a corporatist, or group-ist approach to ethnic minority incorporation … towards more individual modes of inclusion.
Behind many emergent diversity policies there is the idea that, rather than treating members of ethnic minorites as ever-representative of bounded collectives, institutions should recognize culturel difference as an individual trait. This view has spearheaded the development of diversity management in public administration, corporate structures and industrial workplaces, where diversity calls attention to a range of overall benefits to be gained from recognizing and valuing individuals´ cultural differences (Vertovec and Wessendorf, 2010).
Other uses of diversity in today´s policy documents are wholly interchangeable with earlier uses of multicultural. That is, diversity is the term now meant to do much of the work that multicultural used to: … this mainly entails measures to reduce discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity and overcome barriers to full participation in society, to allow unconstrained access to public services, to recognize cultural identities (as opposed to assimilation) and open up public spaces to their representation, and to foster acceptance of ethnic pluralism and cultural understanding across all groups. In this way, multicultural programs have been replaced by ones concerned with diversity. (Vertovec and Wessendorf, 2010).
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

6. Steven Vertovec (2009): „Diversity is not what it used to be“
From (so-conceived) population segments based on class, region and, especially large ethnic minority groups.
To far more complex, multiple, cross-cutting, self-identified/mobilized, categories of ´difference´.
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

7. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Fazal Rizvi (2010): ‘Re-thinking Issues of Diversity within the Context of an Emergent Transnationalism’
Diversity cannot be read against a universal set of criteria.
The moral claims surrounding diversity are contextually specific.
The multiple ways in which people now experience, interpret, negotiate and work with diversity are affected by factors that are deeply shaped by the emerging patterns of global mobility and interconnectivity.
Fazal Rizvi argues that diversity cannot be read against a universal set of criteria, and that the moral claims surrounding diversity are contextually specific. Traditionally these claims have been nationally defined. Rizvi argues that this approach to thinking about diversity is no longer sufficient, and that while the national context still remains pertinent, in the era of globalization, it has become transformed by the emerging processes of transnationalism. Rizvi suggests that the multiple ways in which people now experience, interpret, negotiate and work with diversity are affected by factors that are deeply shaped by the emerging patterns of global mobility and interconnectivity. This recognition has major implications for educational research, requiring new conceptual resources that enable us to ‘read’ diversity as a product of complex interactions between national articulations and their re-constitution by transnational processes.
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

8. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Intersectionality
The theory of Intersectionality seeks to examine the ways in which various socially and culturally constructed categories interact on multiple levels to manifest themselves as inequality in society.
Intersectionality holds that the classical models of oppression within society, such as those based on race/ ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, class, or disability do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.
Intersectionality is an important paradigm for sociological and cultural studies, but there have been many challenges involved in utilizing it to its fullest capacity. Difficulties arise due to the many complexities involved in making "multidimensional conceptualizations that explain the way in which socially constructed categories of differentiation interact to create a social hierarchy.
For example, intersectionality holds that knowing a woman lives in a sexist society is insufficient information to describe her experience; instead, it is also necessary to know her race, her sexual orientation, her class, etc.
The theory of intersectionality also suggests that discrete forms, and expressions, of oppression actually shape, and are shaped by, one another. Thus, in order to fully understand the racialization of oppressed groups, one must investigate and examine the ways in which racializing structures, social processes, and social representations (or ideas purporting to represent groups and group members in society) are shaped by gender, class, sexuality, etc.
While the theory began as an exploration of the oppression of women within society, today sociologists strive to apply it not only to woman but to discussions of all peoples.
NERA 2012: Preconference March 8

9. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Deleuze and Guattari
Rhizome – „an acentred, nonhierarchical, nonsignifying system without a General and without an organizing memory or central automaton, defined solely by the circulation of states“(1987, p. 21).
Rhizomes … are networks, cut across borders ... build links between preexisting gaps and between nodes that are separated by categories and orders of segmented thinking, acting and being.
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10. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Deleuze and Guattari
Rhizomes develop and function according to six fundamental principles: Connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, asignifying rupture, cartography and decalcomania.
The principle of multiplicity: A rhizomatic system is comprised of a multiplicity of lines and connections. Multiplicity celebrates plurality and proliferative modes of thinking, acting and being.
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11. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
Research and teaching
Research and Research Networks, f.ex. NERA:
Multicultural Educational Research
Inclusive Education
Teacher Education and Educational Studies in Higher Education
Separation of f.ex. Inclusive Education, Multicultural Education, Special Education.
Importance of multiplicity and intersectionality, joining the various areas of teaching and research.
Danger of losing sight of the multiple issues that need to be addressed.
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12. Conclusion and next steps
New concepts and paradigms replacing multicultural education and research?
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13. NERA 2012: Preconference March 8
References
Darder, A., Baltodano, M. P. & Torres, R. D. (2009). Critical pedagogy: An introduction. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano & R. D. Torres (eds.), The critical pedagogy reader. New York: Routledge.
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Dimitriadis, G. and Kamberelis, G. (2006). Theory for education. New York: Routledge.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Rizvi, F. (2010). ‘Re-thinking Issues of Diversity within the Context of an Emergent Transnationalism. Invited Keynote Lecture. ECER conference, Helsinki.
Vertovec, S. (2009). Conceiving diversity. Lecture at Einstein Forum (Potsdam),
Vertovec, S. & Wessendorf, S. (2010). Introduction. In S. Vertovec & S. Wessendorf (eds.), The multiculturalism backlash: European discourses, policies and practices. London: Routledge.
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