Interreligious dialogue in schools: beyond asymmetry and categorisation?
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Interreligious dialogue is a central objective in European and UNESCO policy and research documents, in which educational institutions are seen as central places for dialogue. In this article, we discuss this type of dialogue under the conditions of asymmetry and categorisation in two Finnish schools. Finnish education has often been lauded for its successful implementation of equity and equality by the thousands of ‘pedagogical tourists’ who visit the country's schools to witness the so-called miracle of Finnish education due to Finland's excellent results in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study. Through theoretically informed reading of ethnographic data, we examine how Self and Other are constructed in everyday encounters in school and how religions, religious groups and individuals become regarded as Others. We also ask whether the aims of interreligious dialogue in schools represent a viable way to learn about each other and to increase mutual understanding. The theoretical and methodological approaches derive from post-colonial, post-structural and related feminist theories as well as from recent research on intercultural education and communication.
Authors: Anna-Leena Riitaoja, Fred Dervin
Institution: University of Helsinki
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2069164089