Children’s construction and experience of racism and nationalism in Greek-Cypriot primary schools

Abstract

This article presents findings that highlight children’s construction and experience of racism and nationalism among a sample of Greek-Cypriot (the majority) and Turkish-speaking (the minority) children in Greek-Cypriot schools through the lens of intersectionality theory. The article first reviews previous work in relation to children, racism and nationalism and describes the theoretical framework that is grounded in intersectionality theory. The second section outlines the study, its sociopolitical context and its methodology. The third section presents findings with respect to three areas: Greek-Cypriot children’s perceptions of Turkish-speaking children; Turkish-speaking children’s experiences of racism and nationalism; and children’s strategies to negotiate racism and nationalism in school. Finally, the last section discusses the conclusions and implications with respect to educational policy and classroom practice.