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KiesKleurig
a colourful
choice
handbook for international
teaching materials
Auteurs: Ineke Mok & Peter Reinsch
©Parel, Utrecht 1999
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Introduction
0.1
Goal
Anyone who
might have tried to read a school textbook from a
"multicultural viewpont" will have arrived at a sad
conclusion. Most school textbooks, even recent ones, depict
the average person both in words and images as a European.
Exciting and active roles are almost exclusively the domain
of white, men and boys from a middle-class background. This
Eurocentric and gender-biased perspective has the effect of
excluding some pupils and it also operates as a norm that
can have a negative influence on educational
results.
This book
offers guidelines for the evalution of teaching materials in
relation to their utility in a multicultural society. Many
of the examples discussed have been drawn from existing
material, including that offered as suitable for
multicultural education. The contributors give advice,
didactic instructions, inspiring ideas and alternatives for
everyday practice in the classroom.
This
publication is intended for everyone involved in the use or
compilation of school textbooks for primary and secondary
education: educational publishers, teachers and student
teachers. We hope to sharpen their critical view of school
textbooks and enable them to adapt or complement material.
The reader can restrict her/himself to the chapter
immediately relevant to her/his subject, but by reading more
of the chapters the diversity of approaches and perspectives
that teaching in a multicultural society embrace will become
apparent.
0.2
This Edition
This
internet edition is based on the text of the translation of
the original book of Ineke Mok and Peter Reinsch (eds.),
with contributions of Mildred de Baas, Rieke Evegroen, Ria
Kwisthout-Monsanto, Fred Mulder, Suzanne van Norden, Isolde
Vega en Anneke Zielhorst (Plantijn Casparie Studio,
Heerhugowaard 1999, ISBN 90-74220-23-1).
Chapter 1
contains a large part of the original text. The other
chapters are abridged versions of the original text. The
introduction is a compilation of the other parts of the
book. More information, pictures and a complete list of
sources can be found in the original book.
In the
printed version of A Colourful Choice the
suggestions of chapter one are summarized in a
'Checklist' which can be used for the rapid
evalution of classroom material. In stead of this Checklist
a new list of criteria (Parel
Indicator)
can be found at this site.
In order
that no misunderstandings should arise, no complete
evaluations of the books, series or methods mentioned are
contained in this book. The authors have merely used
examples to illustrate their opinions and experience. After
this book was written in Dutch, Parel got in touch with a
variety of international scholars throughout Europe.
Colleagues from Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland,
Germany, Italy, Portugal and Sweden were asked to search for
examples in their own lesson materials. As a result of this
we gathered all their national examples and added these to
each chapter in their own language and of course translated
into English. In this way we tried to achieve an European
dimension in the book. The examples and suggestions can be
applied to a scrutiny of the most recent lesson-material in
many European countries.
0.3 Glossary of
Terms
Naturally,
in writing a book about intercultural education one must
avoid all those 'mistakes' that are to be found in the
lesson-material critiqued. The first step is the
terminology, which is not as easy as it might seem. Terms
that might appear justifiable or politically correct from
one perspective transpire from another to be contextually
inaccurate or to have a polarising effect.
Equally, the
translation of these terms from one language into another is
far from simple. In this book we mention 'allochtonen'
(people of foreign origins) and 'autochtonen' (native-born
Dutch people) as well as white and black. Sometimes we speak
of white Dutch people (in Dutch the word for the colour
white is 'wit' when referring to objects, but 'blank' when
referring to people), and also to coloured Dutch people. No
choice has been determined in advance. The separate
contributions indicate that there is no consensus about the
terminology and no agreement is likely. Each term has its
shortcomings and newly-coined terms will acquire pejorative
connotations. The following, therefore, consists of a few
pros and cons.
The terms
black and white are used exactly because
they indicate the implicit binary division that
intercultural education sets out to undo. White
refers to a white European majority; blackencompasses
all those with a dark skin colour, but also all the people
from other parts of the world (such as Turkey and Morocco)
who are disadvantaged in a predominantly white environment.
The objections to the term black lie in its
everyday usage, when it generally refers to people of
Afro-Caribbean origin, and is sometimes taken literally as a
reference to skin colour. Naturally, no such thing as a
black or white skin colour actually exists.
The terms
allochtoon and autochtoon have been used
with equal frequency in the Dutch version of this book,
though they present problems in translation. In Dutch they
are seen to be the most neutral terms at the moment,
although they have a somewhat impersonal ring to them.
Nonetheless, there is no consensus regarding these terms
either. If we take them literally, they refer respectively
to people who come from elsewhere and people who were born
in The Netherlands. This can promote the undesirable notion
that people from elsewhere belong elsewhere. Moreover, most
crucially, some problematical questions arise. Who can be
referred to as 'allochtoon' or 'autochtoon'? What do we call
someone who has one parent born elsewhere? How many
generations do you have to go back? Which countries of
origin (and skin colours) are relevant? Is someone from
Germany or England also an 'allochtoon'?
The terms
migrants and foreigners are seldom used in
this book. Migrants are people who were born elsewhere.
Foreigners are people with a non-Dutch passport. Generally
speaking, intercultural education is geared towards people
who were either born in The Netherlands or (partly) raised
here and share their rights and a common world of experience
with the other inhabitants.
Ethnic
minority is a term that is often used in the
Netherlands by the authorities. Minorities can mean 'fewer
in numbers', fewer than another ethnic group, and suggests
that there i s such a thing as a (white Dutch) majority. In
Dutch the term is actually only appropriate for ethnic
groups who are disadvantaged. This is the way it is used by
the authorities. The main objection to the term in Dutch is
the semantic association betwe en the words for 'minority'
(minderheid) and 'inferiority' (minderwaardigheid). In the
English translation, the term 'ethnic minority' has been
used as a translation for 'allochtonen'.
Another
phrase that can be found is people of colour. This
is common in America where it carries positive connotations
and allows for nuances among the various black groups. It is
not widely used in Britain. In The Netherlands, however, it
has barely been adopted, and, due to the nature of Dutch
syntax, it leads to convo luted sentence structures.
Moreover, it suggests that white groups are colourless. The
objections to these designations are scarcely fewer than to
any others, but they are used by w ay of variation along
with the other terminology. They are only important when
differences in skin colour are moot, for example, when
discussing an illustration in a school textbook.
The term
compatriots is barely an adequate translation for
the Dutch term 'medelander' as it carries a range of
connotations absent from the Dutch. Moreover, there is a pun
involved that is untranslatable. While 'medelander' refers
to those who share a land 'with' (mede) others, it rhymes
with 'Nederlander' (Dutch person, literally a 'lowlander').
The contributors consider it to be paternalistic. However,
it is often used in governmental announcements with the
intention of indicating that a 'medelander' is an ordinary
'Nederlander'. In fact, the distinction itself denies the
assertion.
In brief,
for every term there is always at least one objection. When
attempting to refute the binary polarisation, it is best, as
a general rule, to use those terms that the people involved
would use with regard to themselves. Many (autochtoon)
native-born Americans prefer to see themselves as Inuit,
Apache or Sioux, for example, rather than as Indians, which
is a Eurocentric term, as is 'native peoples'.
The nature
of the term one chooses should be determined by the context.
If, for example, one is broaching the challenges and
problems of language education in a multicultural society,
then it would be more appropriate to speak of multilingual
pupils than of ethnic minority pupils (allochtonen).
Depending on the context, ethnic groups in The Netherlands
can be delineated by the use of adjectives: Moroccan Dutch
people, for example. The people who can be addressed in this
way are, once more, all different: they could be Muslim,
Berber, multilingual, employed, vegetarian young Dutch
people. In our view, intercultural education is not aimed at
ethnic groups in isolation but at the wide variety of
cultures and cross-cultural exchanges that result in all
sorts of cultural manifestations. These are not necessarily
bound to ethnicity.
0.4 A Few Definitions
Culture:
All those manifestations, in language, pictures, behaviour,
religion, art, music, etc, from which people derive their
own identity and their attachment to a group or a community.
Cultural manifestations both bind people and render them
distinct. It is characteristic of cultures that they are
never static, but ch ange continuously under the influence
of circumstances or acquaintances with other
cultures.
Discrimination
: Behaviour or attitudes that distinguish between people on
the basis of fallacious arguments. The distinctions are
expressed by disadvantaging peo ple on the grounds of
appearance, age, gender, class or religious conviction when
these grounds are not relevant to the situation.
Discrimination derives from a stance that takes the
individual primarily as a member of a certain group with
certain irreme dial characteristics. Power is always at the
root of discrimination: power is necessary to disadvantage
people.
Ethnic
group: A group of people who share a cultural
background derived from a common country of origin,
language, religion or customs.
Ethnocentrism
: A phenomenon which entails the viewing and
interpretation of processes and occurrences from the
perspective of a single ethnic group. Problems arise from
the general tendency to present this specific perspective as
universal. An ethnocentric pe rspective results in the
exclusion or distortion of 'other' viewpoints or
experiences.
Ethnocentrism:
A specific type of ethnocentrism in which the
European perspective is promoted exclusively. The
emphasising of the peculiarities and differences between
cultures. This term is used in a negative connotation in
order to stress that it is not an appropriate approach to
intercultural education. It often refers, for example, to
specific eating habits or to dancing styles or
music.
Eurocentrism:
A specific type of ethnocentrism in which the
European perspective is promoted exclusively.
Folklorism:
The emphasising of the peculiarities and differences between
cultures. This term is used in a negative connotation in
order to stress that it is not an appropriate approach to
intercultural education. it often refers, for example, to
specific eating habits or to dancing styles or
music.
Gender-bias
: A system of assumptions by means of which real or
imaginary distinctions in personality or in social disparity
can be attributed to differences in gender. Like racism,
gender-bias supposes inherent characteristics to be the
cause of, and the validation for, the disadvantaging of
certain groups, in this case women.
Intercultural
education: Education in which the pupils learn to
negotiate the similarities and differences that coincide
with characteristics derived from a cultural background.
This should be geared to an equal and communal manner of
behaviour in the context of Dutch society. This is the
definition given by the Ministry of Education, Science and
Culture. \par \tab In intercultural education we place
emphasis in intercultural education on the relationships
between different cultures, including those outside The
Netherlands. In our view, equality entails addressing the
diversity among our pupils, and that means in the
lesson-material itself. This diversity is given expression
in the choice of didactic approach and in the subject
matter. Furthermore, intercultural education re q uires a
recognition of the actual inequalities between the various
groups in The Netherlands. Therefore, the curriculum should
incorporate lesson-material on racism, stereotyping and
prejudice. The inter-relationships between cultures outside
The Nethe rlands and inequities in the North-South divide,
for example, are in equal need of coverage.
A
multi-cultural perspective:}presentation of
occurrences and processes from a perspective that allows for
a variety of cultural approaches. This perspective is often
advanced as the counterpoint to a monocultural approach, in
which only one culture takes the central position, and other
cultures are marginalised. If we restrict ourselves to
relationships between various ethnic groups, then we are
dealing with a multi-ethnic perspective. These perspectives
do justice to the broad diversity of cultures operating in
our society.
Prejudice:
An acquired attitude that results in preconceived opinions
or value judgements concerning other individuals or groups.
Prejudices generally find an outlet through generalisations
and a tendency to see only stereotypes. They cannot be
confuted through complementary knowledge, because there is
always an emotional component. Moreover, prejudiced people
are often oblivious to the irrational incongruity of
assumptions that co-exist such as: 'they are lazy' and 'they
are taking all our jobs away'.
Racism
: A system of assumptions by means of which people
are categorised as the 'other' on the basis of their app
earance (i.e. skin colour) and/or culture. Moreover, these
assumptions are based on the notion that one group is
superior to another. Racism leads to the exclusion and
marginalisation of the 'other', varying in its extent from
everyday activities such a s isolating and hurting
individuals to extreme acts of violence.
Race:
A term in circulation since the 19th century in Europe and
North America which is used to divide people into groups on
the basis of their appearance (skin colour, facial
characteristics , hair type, height) and their geographical
habitat. From the very beginning racial classifications were
endowed with value judgements. Scientists linked levels of
development, for example, to external characteristics.
Therefore, race and racism are traditionally and
intrinsically linked together. A scientific classification
of humans into races has never proved to be viable. No
single classification has ever served a valid purpose;
unless apartheid and colonialism can be construed as
justifiable. To refer to people by race, even in education,
is, therefore, only relevant in an explanation of racism
itself.
Stereotyping
: A fallacy by which personal characteristics or
peculiarities are attributed to all members of a certain
group. It is a characteristic of stereotyping itself that
the recognition of stereotypes is widespread, indicating
that there is a consensus operative. Stereotypes that
prescribe irremedial character traits or emotional
proclivities for whole groups reinforce racist or
gender-biased statements: for example, 'Muslims are cruel'
or 'women are sensitive'.
0.5
The Contributors
Mildred
de Baas is an educationalist working for the
Stichting Advies en Begeleidings Centrum voor het Onderwijs
(ABC -- the Centre for Educational Advice and Supervision)
in Amsterdam. She gives courses for teachers of Dutch, NT2
(Dutch as a second language) and intercultural education.
She develops material for intercultural lessons.
Rieke
Evegroen studied pedagogy. She works as a lecturer
at the Stichting Kunstzinnige Vorming Amsterdam (The
Amsterdam Foundation for Artistic Development). Also, she is
a project leader at Kaleidoscope, a branch of the
D'Averroe's Foundation.
Ria
Kwisthout-Monsanto is an adviser in intercultural
education at the Haags Centrum voor Onderwijsbegeleiding
(The Hague Centre for Educational Supervision). She screens
classroom material for its intercultural aspects and
develops intercultural material of her own. She also teaches
NT2 (Dutch as a second language) courses for primary school
teachers.
Ineke
Mok graduated in Dutch and went on to research the
relationship between intercultural education and the content
of geography and history books at secondary-school level. At
present she is writing her doctorate on theories of race and
geography books between 1870 and 1900. As a member of
PAREL's project team she has put a variety of proje cts into
operation.
Fred
Mulder graduated in biology (with Arabic as a
subsidiary subject) and mathematics. He works as a student
supervisor for the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Open
University and leads the project 'Bevordering in- en
doorstroom va n allochtone studenten bij de Open
Universiteit' (The Advancement of Ethnic Minority Students
at the Open University). He was involved in a project set up
to develop intercultural lesson material for mathematics
under the auspices of the Freudenthal Inst itute at the
University of Utrecht.
Suzanne
van Norden is an adviser in literary development at
the Stichting Kunstzinnige Vorming (Foundation for Artistic
Development) in Amsterdam. She works mostly on learning
languages through printing in primary schoo ls. Previously,
she was involved in the development of intercultural lesson
material for the SKVA publications: 'Dit zijn wij, een
interculturele leergang voor de bovenbouw van de
basisschool' (This is Who we Are: An Intercultural Course
for the Higher Levels of Primary Education) and 'Dingen in
de kring, taalvorming en drama voor meertalige
middenbouwgroepen' (Things in the Circle: Linguistic
Development and Drama for Multilingual Pupils at the
Intermediary Level).
Peter
Reinsch is an educational sociologist. He was born
in the United States of America, but has lived in The
Netherlands for more than twenty years. He has worked on a
variety of research projects connected to the relationships
between ethnic groups in The Netherlands. He is a member of
PAREL's project team and lectures at the department of
Algemene Sociale Wetenschappen (General Social Sciences) at
the University of Utrecht.
Isolda
Vega is a librarian specialising in books for
children and ethnic minorities. She has a managerial post wi
th the Public Library in Amsterdam where she is responsible
for advising on policy decisions. Alongside her training as
a librarian, she also studied pedagogy at the University of
Amsterdam,
Anneke
Zielhorst is an orthopedagogue working for the
Stichtin g Advies en Begeleidings Centrum voor het onderwijs
in Amsterdam (ABC). She gives advice and supervision to
schools that are developing intercultural education and
revising their language courses. She also gives courses on
'Education in Dutch as a Secon d Language' for teachers in
primary schools and is developing models for connecting
education in the mother-tongue with education in
Dutch
0.6
Recommended Literature
The
last two decades many learning materials are screened on
their intercultural and (anti-) racist content. Publications
are gathered in the documentation centre of PAREL, National
Advisory Centre for Intercultural Learning
Materials.
Mok, Ineke
and Peter Reinsch. Op zoek naar een multi-etnisch
perspectief; Analyse van een viertal nieuwe
aardrijkskunde-methodes. (In Search of a Multi-Ethnic
Perspective: An Analysis of Four New Methods for Geography.)
Utrecht: PAREL, 1993.
Mok, Ineke
and Marian van 't Hoff. "...en hij noemde hen Indianen..."
("...and he called them Indians..."), Utrecht: PAREL, 1992.
Three brochures about the shaping of images of Indians in
history books, for primary education, secondary education
and youth literature respectively.
Mok, Ineke.
Anti-racisme and schoolboeken: een evaluatie van
aardrijkskunde en geschiedenis in het voorgezet onderwijs.
(Anti-Racism and School Textbooks: An Evaluation of
Geography and History in Secondary Education. Utrecht:
PAREL, 1990.
The national
anti-racism organization LBR
(Schaatsbaan
51, 3013 AR Rotterdam, tel: +31(0)10-2010201) is a national
information centre specialising in issues relating to
racism, discrimination and encouraging good inter-ethnic
relations. The LBR has a collection of several thousand
titles from The Netherlands and abroad, among which are
books and brochures, videos and project material for use in
education.
Feiten tegen
vooroordelen. (Facts versus Prejudices): Anne Frank
Foundation/NBLC/SDU, 1993. This discusses and refutes the
most commonly held misconceptions about immigrants in Dutch
society. The Anne Frank Foundation provides workshops and
advice on ethnic minorities in the job market and
multi-ethnic education. The library is also open for those
looking for information concerning discrimination, racism,
anti-semitism and the multi-ethnic society. Anne Frank
Foundation, Prinsengracht 263, P.O. Box 730, 1000 AS
Amsterdam, tel. +31(0)20-5567100.
Interculturele
educatie voor lerarenopleidingen. (Intercultural Education
in Teaching Training.) Leeuwarden: Educatief Centrum Noord
(ECN)/Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden (NHL),
1991-1993.
This series was created with a view to including
intercultural lesson-material in a variety of subjects. It
also aims to raise the level of expertise in intercultural
education among (prospective) teachers.
Yvonne
Leeman en Sawitri Saharso studied the attitudes of school
children with regard to fellow-pupils from another ethnic
background. Their findings were reported in their
dissertation and elsewhere.
Leeman, Yvonne. Samen jong; Nederlandse jongeren en lessen
over inter-etnisch samenleven en discriminatie. (Young
Together: Dutch Youth and Lessons in Inter-Ethnic
Collaboration and Discrimination.) Utrecht: Van Arkel,
1994.
Saharso, Sawitri, Jan en alleman. Etnische jeugd over
etnische identiteit, discriminatie en vriendschap. (Jan and
Everyman: Ethnich Youth about Ethnic Identity,
Discrimination and Friendship.) Utrecht: Van Arkel,
1992.
Philomena
Essed carried out a study into experiences with racism, in
particular into the experience of black women in American
and The Netherlands. Two of her publications are:
Essed, Philomena, Understanding Everyday Racism: And
Interdisciplinary Theory and Analysis of the Experiences of
Black Women. London: Sage, 1991. Transl. Inzicht in
alledaags racisme; theorie, praktijk en ervaring. Utrecht:
Het Spectrum, 1991.
Essed, Philomena. Diversiteit; Vrouwen, kleur en cultuur.
(Diversity: Women, Colour and Culture.) Baarn: Ambo, 1994.
In this collection she uses a variety of perspectives to
reveal the relationship between racism, gender-bias and
identity.
Two classics
in the field of racism and oppression are:
Fanon, Frantz. Les damnes de la terre. Paris: Maspero, 1961.
Transl. De verworpenen der aarde. Amsterdam: Van Gennep, 3rd
ed., 1984.
Fanon, Frantz, Peau noir, masques blancs. Paris: Seuil,
1952. Transl. Zwarte huid, blanke maskers. Amsterdam/The
Hague: Van Gennep/Novib, 3rd ed., 1984.
In these works Frantz Fanon, a native of Martinique,
analyses the significance of colonisation and racism for the
colonised.
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