The intersectionality of nationalism and multiculturalism in the Irish curriculum: teaching against racism?

Abstract

This research explores the interrelationship between the production of national identity and multiculturalism in Irish schools and society. Working from the perspective that ideas about ‘race’ and nation are inextricably linked, I examine how contemporary nationalistic identity projects and processes map onto the current policy drive towards multicultural (or intercultural) education in Ireland. Informed by the intellectual oeuvre of Pierre Bourdieu, my analysis investigates state‐level discourses as they are articulated in recent anti‐racist policy documents and in the national curriculum, and how these broader discourses are interpreted at the local school level. Combining discourse analytic, observational and in‐depth interviewing techniques, I examine how state and school‐based intercultural policies and practices construct difference along racial‐ethnic and national lines, and consider the implications of these policies and practices for sustaining and contesting racism. The purpose of the research is to promote a deeper understanding of the ways in which racial inequality is reproduced through policies and practices which are purported to have egalitarian and anti‐racist aims. Implications of the study are discussed in terms of the state's increasing reliance on intercultural education as a policy panacea to the intensification of racism in Irish society.