Essentializing vs. non-essentializing students’ cultural identities: curricular discourses in Finland and Sweden

Harriet Zilliacus,Gunilla Holm,Bethanne Paulsrud

doi:10.1080/17447143.2017.1311335

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines how students’ cultural identities are discursively constructed in the Finnish and Swedish national curricula for the compulsory school. The aim is to illuminate the manifold discourses on cultural identity which prevail within Nordic educational policy. The study employs a critical multicultural education and postcolonial perspective with a particular focus on essentialist and non-essentialist views of identity in the curricular discourses. Through discourse analysis, key terms such as ‘cultural identity’ and ‘multicultural identity’ as well as different aspects of cultural identities such as language, gender and religion are investigated. The results show diverging discourses, with distinct differences in their explicitness and implicitness in the two countries. A clear effort to see all students as having multi-layered and multicultural identities is evident in the Finnish curricular discourse whereas a more essentializing discourse emerges in the Swedish curriculum. We conclude with a discussion on the importance of addressing policy discourses on students’ cultural identities in order to ensure non-essentialist and socially just teaching and educational practice.

Highlights

As policy documents, the national curricula in Finland and Sweden have a significant role in how students’ identities are perceived and talked about in the educational discourse in the two contexts
As elsewhere in Europe, the general discourse on student populations has moved from accentuating homogeneity towards identifying increasing diversity among students (Eriksen 2005; Holm and Londen 2010). How is this reflected in educational policies such as the national curricula? As they are important to the discursive developments on students’ cultural identities, this study addresses the question: How are students’ cultural identities constructed in current national curricula in Finland and Sweden?
The mother tongue tuition (MTT) syllabus states that students should ‘develop their cultural identity’ and ‘be given the opportunities to develop their knowledge of cultures and societies where the mother tongue is spoken’ in order to ‘develop a comparative perspective to cultures and languages’ (71)

Summary

Introduction

The national curricula in Finland and Sweden have a significant role in how students’ identities are perceived and talked about in the educational discourse in the two contexts In both countries, as elsewhere in Europe, the general discourse on student populations has moved from accentuating homogeneity towards identifying increasing diversity among students (Eriksen 2005; Holm and Londen 2010). A movement from initial hegemonic attitudes of assimilation to discourses on multiculturalism and two-way integration can be seen in educational discourses across the Nordic countries These discourses are multifaceted and have been influenced by the multicultural backlash and the crisis of multiculturalism the past decades, including a rising white insecurity and defensive reaction against cultural differences (Eriksen 2005; Hage 2008; Holm and Londen 2010). Rather than seeing descriptions of specific identities as essential traits, they should be seen as situated constructions within discursive practices in concrete contexts (Shi-xu 2001)

Materials and methods

Discussion

Findings

Notes on contributors