A conference organized by the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences analyzes everyday racism in schools
A conference organized by the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences analyzes everyday racism in schools
A conference organized by the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences analyzes everyday racism in schools
In the conference, which was held on Mondragon University’s Eskoriatza campus, 100 participants from different fields of education reflected on everyday expressions of racism in schools.
This intercultural conference, now in its sixth year, was held on the Eskoriatza campus of the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences of Mondragon University. The conference, entitled ‘Structural racism in the educational community: everyday expressions and strategies for decolonization and equity,’ focused on everyday expressions of racism in schools. Iñaki Larrea, Director of Research and Transfer for the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences of Mondragon University, welcomed the attendees.
Next, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences researcher Ane Urizar began her talk with testimonies of situations of racism suffered in the school by racialized students: “We present these voices to talk about the construction of plural identity. It is important to talk about plural identity so that students who today do not feel like they belong here can feel native without renouncing their original identity.” Urizar underlined how important it is for educational agents and teachers to do this work in schools: “In advisory processes, we have realized that if explicit work is not done, it has no impact on the well-being of these young people.” Urizar also highlighted some keys to be taken into account in education: “We must be aware that the construction of identity requires naming and recognizing wounds, understanding parallels and encouraging encounter, ‘pluralizing’ ourselves, but from an awareness of our minoritized situation, and ultimately, strengthening the role of the Basque language in integration and belonging.” She also insisted on the need to address various discourses: “There are discourses that place the Basque language and immigrants head-to-head, in antagonism. A discourse that turns possible accomplices into enemies.” According to Urizar, teachers need to receive specific training to be able to respond to these challenges.
Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences researcher Sara Jiménez de Aberasturi stressed that “good intentions are not enough” and that educational agents must be anti-racists rather than simply not being racists: “It is our duty to reflect on privilege. We have been socialized in a system that places us as the norm and we have not worked enough on the privilege that being white gives us. We need to take a good look in the mirror and ask ourselves how the fact of being white influences our teaching.” Jiménez de Aberasturi closed her talk with a quote from pedagogue Paulo Freire: “There are no neutral attitudes. We educate for freedom or for domination.”
Expert voices and experiences of teachers, students and families
After the introductory speech, there was a round table with Lexuri Bergara Elu, Hanane El fakiri El basri, Ane Zelaia and Mikel Henda Gomez de Segura Abrantes, led by Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences professor Marta Quintas. The participants discussed the racist situations and systemic racism that they have experienced or identified on a daily basis throughout their academic careers and as teachers. They believe that it is necessary to work specifically on content related to racism in teacher training and to have racialized role models in the educational field.
The attendees then met in groups to share their impressions of the reflections presented in the first part and, after a break, there was a round table to collect the voices of families, led by Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences professor Sara Jiménez de Aberasturi. In this round table, Siham Houllich Azdiahmed, Milouda Maaroufi, Mamadou Sarr and Paloma Martínez Pérez reflected on the relationship between families and educational agents.
To conclude the conference, expert feminist, researcher and anti-racist and decolonial activist Jeanne Rolande Dacougna Minkette gave a talk entitled ‘Structural racism in the educational community: everyday expressions and strategies for decolonization and equity,’ in which she stressed that racism is understood as a system that permeates all aspects and all relationships, and focused on the obstacles created by institutional racism and social racism. Regarding the educational field, she noted that the objective of the school is to promote student emancipation but that, because it is part of the system, it reproduces racism: “There seem to be cliques of racialized students, but there are also cliques of rich students. Children need to mix to learn and to become familiar with different realities. Racism in schools takes the form of segregation: in the curriculum and the materials, in teachers’ expectations, in educational guidance, in relationships with families, and in racist bullying.” She reflected on the Pygmalion effect and denounced the fact that racialized students are directed to Vocational Training more often than non-racialized students: “If Vocational Training is good, let it be good for everyone.”
Jeanne Rolande Dacougna Minkette also urged action: “We must insist on an equitable distribution of students, schools must have reception protocols and anti-racist protocols, we must adapt the curriculum and the materials so that they don’t perpetuate racism; we have too many dead white men in the books.” Regarding the teaching staff, she pointed out the need for anti-racist training at all educational stages: “In Bachelor’s programs, in Master’s programs in teaching, in continuing education, teachers must be trained to deal with manifestations of racism.”
