Abstract
Teaching intercultural education and communication without personal ethnic identity development exposes students to the possibility of becoming so enamored with the cultures of others that they become disillusioned with their own ethnic heritages. Such circumstances are especially detrimental to children living in societies in which everything associated with the dominant ethnic group is considered positive, good, and desirable, and much associated with non-dominant ethnic groups is interpreted to be negative, dangerous and worthy of denigration. In this paper, I report research of a model of ethnic identity pedagogy in which primary and secondary school teachers facilitated students’ ethnic identity development using subject matter content and one of the dimensions of ethnic identity exploration in education. Using ethnographic data, primarily interviews and classroom observations, I argue that students who have been given opportunities to develop a strong sense of their ethnic identity, are positioned to benefit from instruction in intercultural education and communication with its requisite new cultural knowledge, feelings and behaviors. These findings reinforce both the need and efficacy of ethnic identity exploration as a necessary component of intercultural education at all levels of schooling. Ethnic identity exploration in education includes making connections with students’ families about ethnic identity, engaging students in ethnic identity dialogue, introducing students to social justice role models in their ethnic groups, and exploration of ethnic histories, traditions, and customs.
Presenters
André J. BranchTeacher Educator/Associate Professor, School of Teacher Education, San Diego State University, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
ETHNIC IDENTITY, INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION, TEACHER EDUCATION, RACIAL IDENTITY, CASE STUDIES
