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Abstract:The authors base this article on findings from two qualitative studies conducted in Galiza (northwest Spain), in the province of A Coruña: an action research project in an early childhood education classroom; and a composite of ethnographic enquiries focusing on secondary education and vocational training programmes. Both studies sought to contribute to a fundamental transformation of schooling toward a more just, integrative and democratic intercultural institution. This effort includes denouncing the process… Show more
“…The slipperiness of the notion of integration, especially its tendency to slide towards the notion of assimilation in Spanish public discourse, has resulted in a degraded and devalued term (Teasley et al, ). Perhaps for this reason, we found a very strong tendency for interviewees to carefully define their usage of the word as clearly anti‐assimilationist – in many cases, as the following examples illustrate, by way of explicit contrast, either with the term “assimilation” itself or with clearly assimilationist practices:Assimilation implies imposition.…”
Section: How Is “Integration” Understood By Immigrants?mentioning
The ongoing project of citizenship construction in societies receiving international immigration demands a perspective that takes into account the interests, views and needs of all socio-demographic groups, including those of newcomers as potential new citizens. We interviewed representatives of 16 immigrant associations operating in the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia, reviewed immigration policy in 13 Spanish (Galician) municipalities, and interviewed 20 municipal government staff members who put these into practice. With this research, we aim to explore the perspectives of immigrants with respect to their own integration and to examine how these compare with local policies designed to facilitate these processes. By comparing the immigrant representatives' perceptions with local policy discourses and practice, our study reveals how local integration practice is not only inconsistent with its own policy discourse but also fails to consider and include immigrants' own understandings of what integration means and how it can be achieved.
“…The slipperiness of the notion of integration, especially its tendency to slide towards the notion of assimilation in Spanish public discourse, has resulted in a degraded and devalued term (Teasley et al, ). Perhaps for this reason, we found a very strong tendency for interviewees to carefully define their usage of the word as clearly anti‐assimilationist – in many cases, as the following examples illustrate, by way of explicit contrast, either with the term “assimilation” itself or with clearly assimilationist practices:Assimilation implies imposition.…”
Section: How Is “Integration” Understood By Immigrants?mentioning
The ongoing project of citizenship construction in societies receiving international immigration demands a perspective that takes into account the interests, views and needs of all socio-demographic groups, including those of newcomers as potential new citizens. We interviewed representatives of 16 immigrant associations operating in the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia, reviewed immigration policy in 13 Spanish (Galician) municipalities, and interviewed 20 municipal government staff members who put these into practice. With this research, we aim to explore the perspectives of immigrants with respect to their own integration and to examine how these compare with local policies designed to facilitate these processes. By comparing the immigrant representatives' perceptions with local policy discourses and practice, our study reveals how local integration practice is not only inconsistent with its own policy discourse but also fails to consider and include immigrants' own understandings of what integration means and how it can be achieved.
“…In Spain, this distinction has become blurred in both political and educational policy discourses (Teasley et al, 2012). Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar has defined integration as adopting the apparently universal European Judaeo-Christian value system: 'The fourth challenge that Europe must meet is that of immigration.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The successful social integration of migrant populations has been defined as an intercultural, mutually enriching process, and can be distinguished from processes of assimilation that involve a more unilateral adaptation on the part of immigrants to the norms of the host country (Martín Rojo & Recuerda, 2004;Berry, 2006). In Spain, this distinction has become blurred in both political and educational policy discourses (Teasley et al, 2012). Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar has defined integration as adopting the apparently universal European Judaeo-Christian value system: 'The fourth challenge that Europe must meet is that of immigration.…”
The social integration of migrant populations has been defined as an intercultural, mutually enriching process, and can be distinguished from processes of assimilation that involve a more unilateral adaptation on the part of immigrants to the norms of the host country. In Spain, this distinction has become blurred in both political and educational policy discourses. In this article the authors analyse an incident that occurred in 2011 in which an 11-year-old girl was expelled from her school for wearing a hijab, one of two such cases in Spain and the first of its kind in the autonomous community of Galicia. The initial argument as expressed in the school policy reveals an essentialist and assimilationist understanding of culture in terms of the norms of the host society: students were expected to 'keep their heads exposed' in class as a 'sign of respect'. Based on press reports, policy documents and legal proceedings, the authors interrogate the discourses deployed by the school and the local educational administration officials, politicians, Muslim community representatives and the family directly involved in the case, focusing on the ways in which they reveal an overall assimilationist vision of Spanish-Muslim intercultural community relations at the level of school policy.
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