|
|
|
Potential and Limitations of Multicultural Education in Conflict-Ridden Areas: Bilingual Palestinian-Jewish Schools in Israel
by Zvi Bekerman - 2004
In recent years, a new integrative bilingual multicultural educational initiative has been developed in Israel. Its main purpose is to offer dignity and equality to the two Israeli groups who have for the last 100 years denied each other's humanity: Palestinians and Jews. The research examines this attempt at encouraging each group to take pride in their own cultural heritage while respecting and experiencing the heritage of the other. Through the ethnographic analysis of data gathered at four ceremonial events held at two of the three currently functioning integrated schools in Israel, the study inquires into the potential of school ritual events to support this endeavor. Probing into the ways in which these efforts may shape individual and group perspectives and help to overcome intergroup tensions and conflict, I expect this research to shed some light on the potential and limitations of multicultural education in conflict ridden areas. In focusing on the treatment of special ceremonial events in these schools I wish to explore the fruit of multicultural educational approaches and to question how these are shaped by contextual conditions specific to conflict-ridden areas. If multicultural education is to alleviate interethnic tension, it must offer options to refashion teachers', parents', and students' understandings of cultural borders and their positions and relations within the different cultural arenas.
To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropriate membership. Please review your options below:
|
|
|
|
- Zvi Bekerman
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
E-mail Author
ZVI BEKERMAN teaches anthropology of education at the School of Education and the Melton Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His main interests are in the study of cultural, ethnic, and national identity, including identity processes and negotiation during intercultural encounters and in informal learning contexts. He has also recently become involved in the study of identity construction and development in educational computer-mediated environments. He is one of the editors of the soon to be published Learning in Places: The Informal Education Reader (Peter Lang).
|
|
|
|
|
Executive Summary
Full Text in PDF Format
Email this article
Print this article
Post a Comment
