Abstract
Issues pertaining to religion and Australian schools have generated a significant amount of controversy and scholarly attention in recent years, and much of the attention in the religion and schools debate has focused on Muslim and non-religious children’s experiences (Erebus International, 2006; Halafoff, 2013). This article, by contrast, explores the manifestations of antisemitism as experienced by Jewish children and youth in Canberra schools. It considers the characteristics of antisemitism; when and why it occurs; its impact on the Jewish children and young people; and also the responses to it by them, the schools and the Jewish community. Based on focus groups with the Jewish students and their parents, the study reveals that antisemitism is common in Canberra schools, as almost all Jewish children and youth in this study have experienced it. The findings from this study suggest that there is a need for more anti-racism education. Specifically there is an urgent need for educational intervention about antisemitism, alongside education about religions and beliefs in general, to counter antisemitism more effectively and religious discrimination more broadly in Australian schools.
Highlights
The special edition of this Journal explores theories of cultural diversity and multiculturalism in globalised cities, applied to migrant youth in particular. This article considers these issues in the context of the experiences of intercultural relations and social inclusion of Jewish children and youth at schools in the city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
The findings reported in this article suggest that the experience of Jewish pupils at school in Canberra is similar to that experienced by the much wider sample from the Gen08 study (Markus & Taft, 2011), with significant covert antisemitism such as stereotyping jokes being common
As with the data collected for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Antisemitism Annual Report (Cohn-Sherbok, 2002), this hatred is more manifest in verbal and written form rather than violent attacks
Summary
The special edition of this Journal explores theories of cultural diversity and multiculturalism in globalised cities, applied to migrant youth in particular This article considers these issues in the context of the experiences of intercultural relations and social inclusion of Jewish children and youth at schools in the city of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). As émigré countries, such as Australia, are shifting from being majority Christian to increasingly religiously (including no-religion) diverse societies (Halafoff, 2010), this has resulted in a re-thinking of the place of religion in the late modern public sphere and of what constitutes a secular society. These developments have led scholars to devise new frameworks for managing (Bouma, 1995; Bouma, 1999) or governing (Bader, 2007) religious diversity and to a series of debates centred on a number of controversial issues including the appropriate relationship of religions to government institutions, including state schools
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