White and monolingual: How can school ensure participation in an immigration society?
Channel: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Date: 04/02/2019

In his new book "Deconstructing Race: Multicultural Education Beyond the Color-bind" Prof. Jabari Mahiri (UC Berkeley) questions one-dimensional constructions such as ethnicity, origin or "race" that deprive children and adolescents of their individual identities. Mahiri refers to such complex and fluent identities as "Microcultural Identities". 

The deconstruction of ethnic and racial attributions goes hand in hand with the dismantling of institutionalized racism in schools and educational institutions, since especially children and young people from marginalized or socially less privileged classes rely on education as the only way for political, cultural and economic participation and social advancement. 

Following the book presentation, Prof. Jabari Mahiri and Prof'in Maureen Maisha Auma, discuss the importance of deconstructing such attributions and categorizations, so that people can accept their "authentic identities" and unfold. 

Furthermore, they underline the role of education as imperative to understand the complexities and contradictions of how race and difference are enacted in societies, regarding the similarities and differences in educational pathways in the US and Germany. 

They demand new approaches to engage diversity beyond the "color-bind" that current narratives of race are often trapped within.

Video in German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6QdJy4eM24&t=3s

More Information on the event in German: https://calendar.boell.de/de/event/weiss-und-einsprachig