Coercive concern
Subtitle: nationalism, liberalism, and the schooling of Muslim youth
By: Reva Jaffe-Walter
Series: Anthropology of policy; Anthropology of policy (Stanford, Calif.)
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 215
ISBN-13: 9780804796217; 9780804798426
Subjects: Immigrant youth; Children of immigrants; Muslim youth; Cultural assimilation; Muslims; Education; Nationalism; Liberalism
Description: Many liberal-minded Western democracies pride themselves on their commitments to egalitarianism, the fair treatment of immigrants, and the right to education. These environments would seem to provide a best-case scenario for the reception of immigrant youth. But that is not always the case. Coercive Concern explores how stereotypes of Muslim immigrants in Western liberal societies flow through public schools into everyday interactions, informing how Muslim youth are perceived by teachers and peers. Beyond simply identifying the presence of racialized speech in schools, this book uncovers how coercive assimilation is cloaked in benevolent narratives of care and concern. Coercive Concern provides an ethnographic critique of the "concern" that animates integration policy in Danish schools. Reva Jaffe-Walter focuses on the experiences of Muslim youth at a public school where over 40% of the student body is of immigrant descent, showing how schools operate as sites of governance. These efforts are led by political leaders who promote national fears of immigrant take-over, by teachers in schools, and by everyday citizens who are concerned about "problems" of immigration. Jaffe-Walter exposes the psychic and material costs immigrant youth endure when living in the shadow of social scrutiny, but she also charts a path forward by uncovering the resources these youth need to attain social mobility and success.--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : ethnographic journeys through concern; title: Imagining the Danish nation in relation to Muslim "others"; title: Integration and immigration : creating ideal liberal subjects; title: Liberalizing Muslim girls; title: Negotiating relationships to hostlands and homelands; title: Somali by nature, Muslim by choice, Danish by paper : narrating identities; title: Teachers' counter-narratives and comparative sites of possibility; title: Conclusion : interrogating liberal blind spots and silences.