Call for papers

Call for Papers Migration, Minorities, and Learning , Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Education (Edited Vol.)


Migration, Minorities, and Learning ¡V Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Education (Edited Vol.)
In educational research on migration and minorities, the debate over the relevance of culture and its potential influence on learning processes has a long standing tradition. In educational theorizing the so-called thesis of 'conflict of cultures' is under review because when critically approached it is shown to support essentializing processes of ethnization and culturalization. More recently, a call has been made to turn our attention towards the nature of structures of social in-equality. Within this line of research culturehas been predominantly understood from a constructivist perspective. Transculturality and recognition have been posited as highly relevant concepts which in turn are in need of critical approaches. All in all, when taking into account current debates among constructivists/ anti-essentialists and advocates for Leitkultur (leading culture) in all that relates to recognition and social cohesion in modern societies, 'culture' has become a predominant factor for the explanation and understanding of social differences, e.g. dilemmas and conflicts.
Migrants and minorities are affected by these theoretical directions as they are always at risk of becoming imprisoned in essentialized cultural definitions and/or of having their cultural preferences denied because they are perceived and qualified as standing in opposition to social solidarity. Migrants and minorities respond to these challenges in multiple ways; they are active agents in the pedagogical, political, social, and scientific processes that position and attribute them to this or that cultural sphere. On the one hand, they reject ascribed cultural attributes while striving towards integration in a variety of social spheres, e.g. school and workplace, in order to realize their social mobility. On the other hand, they articulate a demand for cultural self-determination. This discursive duality is met with suspicion by the west (especially towards Islam).
For educational processes to be developed in migration/minority societies, questions related to the meaning of cultural heterogeneity and the social/cultural limits of learning and communication (e.g. migration education or critical multiculturalism) are highly important.
It is precisely here, where the chances for new beginnings and new trials become of an utmost importance for educational theorizing which urgently needs to find answers to current questions related to individual freedom, community/cultural affiliations, and societal democratic cohesion. Answers to these questions need to account for both 'political' and 'learning' perspectives at all macro, mezzo, and micro contexts.
The planned edited volume seeks empirical and theoretical contributions from a variety of methodological perspectives on the following issues as they relate to migration and minority educational processes and practices:
„X Processes of (social) learning under conditions of cultural heterogeneity or homogeneity.
„X The outer and inner limits of social/cultural learning.
„X Emancipatory educational practices within heterogeneous and homogenous cultural settings.
„X How/when/why do learners and educators in conflict-ridden societies, negotiate their objective situation and their subjective everyday practices?
„X How/when/why do new historical perspectives and the past residues of dominant forces influence the path of learners and educators between resistance and conformity?
„X How/when/why within social resistance movements and outside them, do individuals work against themselves, contributing to the making of new structures of domination? Why do they build their own walls to learning or capitulate in the face of such barriers?
The planned book seeks to collect contributions from a variety of disciplinary and international contexts. We would like to invite you to send an abstract (800 - 1000 words) with your suggestion for a chapter in our planned edited volume together with a short CV (max. 200 words).
Deadline for proposals October, 30th 2008 Selection of proposals by the editors December, 15th 2008 Deadline for delivering the chapter July, 30th 2009
For further information please contact one of the editors directly.
Please send your proposal via email to both of the editors.
Zvi Bekerman, Hebrew University Jerusalem (Israel),
mszviman@mscc. huji.ac.il
Thomas Geisen, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern
Switzerland, Olten (Switzerland) , thomas.geisen@ fhnw.ch


Zvi Bekerman, Hebrew University Jerusalem (Israel),
mszviman@mscc. huji.ac.il

Thomas Geisen, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern
Switzerland, Olten (Switzerland) , thomas.geisen@ fhnw.ch

Email: mszviman@mscc. huji.ac.il