The construction of the racialized Other in the educational sphere: The stories of students with immigrant backgrounds in Montréal
This paper presents the results of an empirical study of social relations from a critical race theory perspective crossed with the sociology of the life course. The objective of our study was to understand how social relations in Quebec’s educational sphere, specifically in high school, construct fixed categories of racialized students in university. With the aim of discovering the underlying process of racialization of the students of racial backgrounds in educative sphere, the study analyzes the self-reported relational experiences of 10 university students with immigrant backgrounds in Montréal. Based on a narrative inquiry, the analysis of the retrospective life story interviews allowed to explain the complexity of the process of racialization in two categories of “complete racialization” and “incomplete racialization.” In the “completed racialization” category, negotiating domination relationships results in the construction of a racialized Other. In the “incomplete racialization” category, the construction process is in progress. Our study has shown that social relations in high school contribute to the construction of fixed Black and Latinx racialized groups. Interpersonal relationships at school play a role in the racialization of students with immigrant backgrounds, and, although limited in scope, persistence in school may be a reversal strategy for their experiences of racism.
Abawi, Z. (2021). Race (ing) to the Top: Interrogating the Underrepresentation of BIPOC Education Leaders in Ontario Public Schools. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies, 2(1), 80-92.
Abbott, A. (1995). Sequence Analysis : New Methods for Old Ideas. Annual Review of Sociology, 21(1), 93–113. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000521
Beck, U., Giddens, A., and Lash, S. (1994). Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order. Stanford University Press.
Berger, P. L., and Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Anchor.
Bertaux, D. (2010). Life Stories. Paris, Armand Colin.
Bessin, M. (2019). Troublé, affecté, transporté : les émotions au principe de l’événement (Troubled, Affected, Transported: The Emotions at the Heart of Events). In L. Amiotte-Suchet and M. Salzbrunn, L’événement (im)prévisible : Mobilisations politiques et dynamiques religieuses (The (Un)predictable Event: Religious Political and Dynamic Mobilization) (p. 47–77). Dédales. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03007708
Bilge, S. (2020). Précision conceptuelle sur la suprématie blanche (Conceptual Clarity on White Supremacy). https://profsirmabilge.medium.com/. https://profsirmabilge.medium.com/pr%C3%A9cision-conceptuelle-sur-la-supr%C3%A9matie-blanche-4ca4746bfd01
Breton, C. (2012). Priming National Identity and its Impact on Attitudes towards Immigration and Multiculturalism [Research report]. British Columbia University.
Breton, C. (2015). Making National Identity Salient : Impact on Attitudes Toward Immigration and Multiculturalism. Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue Canadienne de Science Politique, 48(2), 357–381. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423915000268
Bruner, J. (1987). Life as Narrative. Social Research, 54(1), 11 32.
Buckner, E., Lumb, P., Jafarova, Z., Kang, P., Marroquin, A., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Diversity without race: How university internationalization strategies discuss international students. Journal of International Students, 11(S1), 32-49.
Connelly, F. M., and Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2–14. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X019005002
Darchinian, F. (2018). Les parcours d’orientation linguistique postsecondaire et professionnelle : L’expérience de jeunes adultes issus de l’immigration à Montréal (Postsecondary and Vocational Linguistic Career Paths: The Experience of Young Adults of Immigrant Background in Montréal) [Doctoral thesis, Université de Montréal]. https://papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1866/20057/Darchinian_Fahimeh_2018_these.pdf
Darchinian, F., and Kanouté, F. (2020). Parcours postsecondaires et professionnels et rapports de pouvoir au Québec : Discours de jeunes adultes issus de l’immigration (Postsecondary and Career Orientation Paths and Power Relations in Quebec: Discourses of Young Adults from an Immigrant Background). Revue des sciences de l’éducation (Journal of Educational Studies), 46(2), 69–92. https://doi.org/10.7202/1073719ar
Darchinian, F., and Magnan, M.-O. (2020). Boundaries Through the Prism of Post-secondary and Professional Orientation : The Views of Young Québec Adults of Immigrant Background. Journal of Ethnics and Cultural Studies, 7(2), 50–67.
Dei, G. S. (2013). Reframing Critical Anti-Racist Theory (CART) for Contemporary Times. Counterpoints, 445, 1-14.
Dervin, F. (2016). Discourses of Othering. In F. Dervin, Interculturality in Education (p. 43–55). Palgrave Pivot. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54544-2_4
Dhamoon, R. (2009). Identity/Difference Politics : How Difference Is Produced, and Why It Matters. UBC Press.
Dhamoon, R., and Abu-Laban, Y. (2009). Dangerous (Internal) Foreigners and Nation-Building : The Case of Canada. International Political Science Review, 30(2), 163–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512109102435
Donnor, J. K. (2021). White fear, White flight, the rules of racial standing and whiteness as property: Why two critical race theory constructs are better than one. Educational Policy, 35(2), 259-273.
Dorais, G. (2020). Racisme anti-noir et suprématie blanche au Québec: déceler le mythe de la démocratie raciale dans l’écriture de l’histoire nationale (Anti-Black Racism and White Supremacy in Quebec: Exposing the Myth of Racial Democracy in the Writing of National History). Bulletin d’histoire politique (political history bulletin), 29(1), 136–161. https://doi.org/10.7202/1074210ar
Galland, O. (2017). Sociologie de la jeunesse (Sociology of Youth) (6th ed.). Gallimard.
Ferris, E. (2019). Lessons of Policing and Exclusion. Journal of Culture and Values in Education, 2(3), 25-43.
Hall, S. (1997). The Spectacle of the Other. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation : Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (p. 223–290). SAGE Publications.
Hesse, B. (2007). Racialized Modernity : An Analytics of White Mythologies. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(4), 643–663. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701356064
Jay, M. (2003). Critical Race Theory, Multicultural Education, and the Hidden Curriculum of Hegemony. Multicultural Perspectives, 5(4), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327892MCP0504_2
Johnson, C. S., and Hinton, H. (2018). A Morality of Inclusion : A Theoretical Argument for Culturally Consonant Character Education. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 20(1–2), 73–87.
Kamanzi, P. (2012). L’emprise des titres scolaires sur l’emploi chez les membres de minorités visibles : Comparaison entre le Québec et l’Ontario (The Impact of Educational Titles on Employment Among Visible Minorities: A Comparison Between Quebec and Ontario). Recherches sociographiques (Sociographic Research), 53(2), 315–336. https://doi.org/10.7202/1012403ar
Magnan, M.-O., Collins, T., Darchinian, F., Kamanzi, P. C., and Valade, V. (2021). Student Voices on Social Relations of Race in Québec Universities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2021.1890564
Mc Andrew, M., Balde, A., Bakhshaei, M., Tardif-Grenier, K., Audet, G., Armand, F., Guyon, S., Ledent, J., Lemieux, G., Potvin, M., Rahm, J., Vatz Laaroussi, M., Carpentier, A., and Rousseau, C. (2015). La réussite éducative des élèves issus de l’immigration : Dix ans de recherche et d’intervention au Québec (The Educational Success of Students with Immigrant Backgrounds: Ten Years of Research and Intervention in Quebec). Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal.
McAll, C. (1999). L’État des citoyens et la liberté du marché (The State of Citizens and Market Freedom). Sociologie et sociétés (Sociology and Societies), 31(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.7202/001486ar
McDaniel, S., and Bernard, P. (2011). Life Course as a Policy Lens: Challenges and Opportunities. Canadian Public Policy, 37 (Supplement 1), S1–S13. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.37.suppl.s1
Mills, C. W. (2008). Racial Liberalism. PMLA, 123(5), 1380–1397. https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2008.123.5.1380
Mills, C. W. (2014). The Racial Contract. Cornell University Press.
Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (department of education and higher education). (2017). Policy on Educational Success: A Love of Learning, a Chance to Succeed. Gouvernement du Québec. http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/PSG/politiques_orientations/politique_reussite_educative_10juillet_A_1.pdf
Morales, J., & Bardo, N. (2020). Narratives of Racial Reckoning: Oppression, Resistance, and Inspiration in English Classrooms. Journal of Culture and Values in Education, 3(2), 138-157.
Punti, G., & Dingel, M. (2021). Rethinking Race, Ethnicity, and the Assessment of Intercultural Competence in Higher Education. Education Sciences, 11(3), 110.
Ricoeur, P. (1985). History as Narrative and Practice. Philosophy Today, 29(3), 213 222. https://doi.org/10.5840/philtoday1985293/44
Smith, A. N. (2020). Critical race theory: Disruption in teacher education pedagogy. Journal of Culture and Values in Education, 3(1), 52-71.
Tremblay, S. (2012). Frontières ethniques, citoyenneté et écoles religieuses « séparées » : Une cartographie des enjeux théoriques (Ethnic Boundaries, Citizenship and “Separate” Faith Schools: Mapping Theoretical Issues). Social Compass, 59(1), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768611432127
Vallières, P. (1971). White n- of America. McClelland and Stewart.
Van Manen, M. (2016). Researching Lived Experience : Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy. Routledge.
Veith, B. (2004). De la portée des récits de vie dans l’analyse des processus globaux (The Impact of Life Histories in the Analysis of Global Processes). Bulletin de méthodologie sociologique. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology, 84, 49–61.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.