Children of Different Categories: Educational Practice and the Production of Difference in Danish Day-Care Institutions
Titel:
Children of Different Categories: Educational Practice and the Production of Difference in Danish Day-Care Institutions
Auteur:
Bundgaard, Helle Gulløv, Eva
Verschenen in:
Journal of ethnic and migration studies
Paginering:
Jaargang 32 (2006) nr. 1 pagina's 145-155
Jaar:
2006-01-01
Inhoud:
In this article we discuss the production of social distinctions within an institutional setting. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a pre-school institution in Denmark, we focus on the interpersonal encounters between ethnic minority children, their parents and the staff. More specifically we explore an apparent paradox in daily practice where, on the one hand, staff attempt to mute differences between children on the assumption that all children are equal and should be treated as such, while, on the other, distinctions are in practice established when children behave in ways considered inappropriate in relation to their own long-term interest. Our data indicate that differences related to social class and ethnicity mutually reinforce each other in the institutional context, resulting in the marking of Middle Eastern children as somehow different. This legitimises an educational effort to compensate practices of upbringing in the families by teaching these children how to behave in ways considered 'proper' and appropriate for their future lives in the Danish welfare state.
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