University of Helsinki, Faculty of Behavioural Science
Department of Teacher Education University of Helsinki
Aminkeng Atabong Alemanji
Is there such a thing…?A study of antiracism education in Finland (2016)
Απόσπασμα από μία εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσα διδακτορική διατριβή. Έχει ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα το γεγονός ότι κατατέθηκε στο Παιδαγωγικό τμήμα του Πανεπιστημίου του Ελσίνκι :
(abstract)
In this thesis I set out to investigate what antiracism education in Finland is at a conceptual,
methodological and practical level. At the conceptual level, this study examines how and why
antiracism is theorised and explores the challenges to and possible gains from a potential shift in
existing antiracist strategies in Finland. At the practical and methodological levels (using both
literature and research data) this study investigates how antiracism education Finland is “done” and
how it could be done differently....
(σσ 58-62)
...5.3 Antiracism strategies for formal education
During my studies, I have investigated various National Core curricula in Finland to understand if
racism is covered. My findings revealed neither racism nor antiracism were popular words. They
appear in just two national curriculums: The National Core Curriculum for Integration Training for
Adult Migrants 2012 and the National Core Curriculum for preparatory Education for General
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Upper Secondary Education 2014. Consequently, it seems that racism is not a central concept in the
Finnish education approach, as the term is absent from most of the National Core curricula.
However, why do the terms racism and antiracism appear in some curricula but not in others, and
how are they used? In the National Core Curricula of General Education from Preschool to Upper
Secondary School, racism is systematically ignored. This is believed to be inconsistent with the
educational focus in those areas. When it appears in the National Core Curriculum for Integration
Training for Adult Migrants, it is treated as a cultural dynamic in which only racism aimed at ethnic
groups is highlighted. In this light, there is an underlying understanding that racism stems from
cultural interaction, as if without such interaction racism would not exist and would not be relevant.
It is clear that it appears in the National Core Curriculum for Integration Training for Adult
Migrants in a way that suggests adult migrants must learn that their ‘migrantness’ represents
otherness (ethnic), which nurtures and sustains racism. When the word racism appears in the
National Core Curriculum for Preparatory Education for General Upper Secondary Education 2014,
it appears as an empty signifier. It is insufficient to state that racism is not tolerated. How is it not
tolerated? Why is it not tolerated? and what can or should be done about it? These questions are
simply not addressed. It is understandable to argue that a curriculum cannot address all such issues;
however, if an issue is deemed central enough then a deeper exploration is warranted.
Because of the underlying acknowledgement of the existence of racism in Finland and the minimal
efforts to reject it evident in the above-mentioned curricula, I suggest that Finland requires a policy
shift from multiculturalism to antiracism and its integration into school curricula at all levels. As
mentioned earlier, as a word antiracism is indicative of the existence of racism and the need to
purge it from society. One way this could be achieved is by requiring schools at all levels to have a
compulsory antiracism education strategy in their school plan and report on their implementation of
that strategy in their Annual School Reports. Such strategies should cover both teaching and
learning in and out of the classroom, and they should be developed to confront race-based
generalisations, stereotypes, bias, prejudice and discrimination. The development of such strategies
as well and their resultant effects if implemented successfully will represent a major breakthrough
in antiracism education in Finland.
In addition, compulsory courses on antiracism could be introduced in universities around Finland,
especially for student teachers. During such courses, students would have the chance to discuss the
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topic and seek ways to uproot it from society. For example, student teachers could be encouraged
and taught to deconstruct existing literature (textbooks, children’s book, news etc.) from an
antiracism perspective (see Layne & Alemanji, 2015). A practical approach would be to offer
student teachers an opportunity to use their knowledge of existing “multicultural” books to create or
design antiracism education material like a textbook or children’s book. This process will equip
student teachers with the necessary tools and know-how to fight against racism in schools.
Moreover, in the absence of existing textbooks on antiracism education in Finland, teachers in could
use the concept of intersectionality to teach racism when teaching history classes. This can be done
when teaching about slavery, the slave trade, colonisation and the Holocaust (see Alemanji et al.,
2015).
Furthermore, the expectations of antiracism education also need revising. I often tell people that
when I go to class to teach about antiracism, I do not really go to teach people how not to be racist. I
go to talk to my students and colleagues about racism. “Teaching” about racism has much more of
an undertone of power and reflects a hierarchical structure that I am keen to avoid. Talking about or
discussing racism is more inclusive and participatory. Inclusiveness and participation are essential if
antiracism education it to achieve any significant results.
Moreover, in teaching antiracism student teachers could introduce multiple definitions of racism in
a bid to problematise the effects of power and history in the formation and sustenance of
racialisation in Finland. Teachers can then use intersectionality (see Crenshaw, 1994; Mirza 2015)
to tie together other forms of discrimination and othering, which students can use to develop their
understanding of racism. In doing this, there must be an emphasis on the concept of power,
privilege and history as essential variables for understanding racism. This will require, for example,
answering difficult questions as to who has power and why, why some people were colonised or
believed to be less than valuable than others and how this knowledge is continuously influencing
the occurrence of racialisation in Finland. Based on such understanding, the idea of culture and the
state as non-conflictual and harmonious can then be criticised using examples of how racialised
Finns (for example the Roma and non-white Finns) are marginalised. Such a discourse can provoke
guilt and shame among some white students (caused by the burden of whiteness; see Helms 1992)
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and anger among others (students from minority groups). This should not discourage teachers from
persevering however. Teachers must understand that antiracism work is about “insurgency and
unsettlement – unsettling the political economy of racial sovereignty and superiority (Goldberg
2015, 166)”. This cannot be achieved without conflict. With this in mind, teachers must understand
that antiracism education involves a mixture of exploration, interrogation, self-reflection,
understanding and learning about history and institutional racism; this will necessitate some
confrontation and a lot of support.
A small digression to the story of an African student’s experience or knowledge of Finland prior to
his arrival will convey a deep message to teachers in Finland and perhaps all over the world. In the
novel Messages from Finland by Sesay, (1996, 22-23) as cited in Dervin (2015), this student
observed that
I still recall one of the books we used for Geography entitled, ‘Regions and peoples of
the world’ by Charles McIntyre. It was through this book that I first learnt about
Scandinavia and of Finland. By then I could have been somewhere between 12 or 14
years old. During that time, when we learnt about these regions, little mention was
made about the fact that these places were industrialised and well-advanced, in fact,
apart from a few explanations such as the advanced techniques of protecting or
measuring the weather, it never crossed my mind that people here were educated and
they live in good houses. If this place was really so cold, with so harsh winters, then, the
immediate reasoning was that life must be primitive indeed. This is true, because our
geography teachers had always focused more or less on explaining about the climatic
conditions up here. They wasted no time talking about whether there was electricity or
ski-doos or whether even aeroplanes dared to come here. On coming to Finland, it
became evident that this rather detached form of education I had received about the
‘Tundra Regions’ was virtually similar to the kind given to Finnish kids about Africa,
whereby their teachers only concentrated in telling them about the hazards of famine,
the primitive countryside, and pervading misery and lack. For ages I have been baffled
by an inexplicable tendency as to why school teachers in each of our societies tend to be
more attuned to teaching kids about the harsh characteristics of each society while the
good points in each were actually ignored or stashed away.
I believe the most important message here is that as teachers we are called upon to paint a better
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picture of the Other (foreign or domestic) and foster the understanding that our world remains very
diverse and such diversities only become hierarchised when juxtaposed with socio-political,
historical and economical structures. The story of the Other can never be reduced to a single story
of limitation. It is and always should be told as a story of a struggle engulfed in peace and war,
wealth and lack, love and hate, hope and despair. How we tell this story today influences how the
story will be told tomorrow.
Του ίδιου συγγραφέα,
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εδώ . Και
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εδώ μια πολύ σύντομη περιγραφή του.