Abstract
The formation of young children’s national identity usually happens in early childhood. The family and social environment, the school and the national festivals play an important role and have a particular effect on the formation of a child’s national identity and on the identity of the national ‘other.’ Research has shown that kindergarten students have already form a strong national identity, in favour of the dominant national identity. This is combined with stereotypes and prejudiced opinions against the non-dominant national identities. For the majority of Greek students, the national enemy is usually represented by the citizens of Turkey. In this article is presented an action research which took place in a Greek kindergarten; its aim was to transform the children’s view of the neighbouring ‘other.’ The individual activities aimed to help the children to transcend the stereotypical image of the Turk as the enemy of Greece and to discover cultural similarities between the two peoples. The research showed that after the completion of the activities, the young students formulated significantly more positive views than their initial ones about this particular national ‘other.’
Highlights
The multicultural composition of modern societies, the development of nationalistic rhetoric and the various geopolitical twists and turns are reasons why the meaning and dimensions of national identity are regular international issues which are formally discussed and the subject of conversations in everyday life
The purpose of the research presented in this article was to explore children‟s perceptions about the Turkish as national enemy, and whether these perceptions can be transformed after an appropriate teaching intervention
The interview with focus groups of young pupils at the beginning of the research showed that for the majority of students, the residents of the neighboring country reflect the image of the national enemy
Summary
The multicultural composition of modern societies, the development of nationalistic rhetoric and the various geopolitical twists and turns are reasons why the meaning and dimensions of national identity are regular international issues which are formally discussed and the subject of conversations in everyday life. On the basis of this definition, it is clear that the national identity is signified through the classic duality of them and us, where the characteristics of the national self compare with those of the national „other.‟ Among these features is knowing the official language of the nation state and accepting its official history, that is, the national historical narrative as presented by the dominant group. In this way the social, cultural, linguistic, religious and any other heterogeneity that exists between members of the same ethno-cultural group is often degraded, while, a sense of common identity is strengthened between those who constitute the population of the nation-state. One of education‟s basic purposes is the cultivation of a nationalistic view, which in turn leads to a false image of a nationally homogeneous social body where the national other is often presented as a national enemy
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