A Reflection on the Types of Approaches to Ethnicity in Iran and its Effects on the Educational System

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Education, Faculty of Education and psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies, Instructor in Farhangiyan University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Objective: The phenomenon of ethnicity and multiculturalism has long been one of the main issues of Iranian society. The purpose of this research is to analyze different approaches to ethnicity in Iran and its effects on the Iranian educational system.
 Materials and Methods: This paper follows a qualitative research method which utilizes a descriptive-analytical method. The data have been collected and analyzed in a documentary way and interviews. Thus, at the beginning, some of the most important sociological paradigms and perceptions related to ethnicity are examined, Then, each of the cultural and security approaches in the field of ethnicity was defined and analyzed. In the research, in order to answer the research question, the views of individuals towards the phenomenon of ethnicity were shown in a continuum. In the next phase of the research, the characteristics, effects and outcomes of each approach were examined and analyzed from the perspective of the interviewees. Participants in this research were Ph.D. students of Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran. They were selected through a purposeful sampling method, among them were people from different ethnicities, religions, and other regions of Iran and studying in different fields of human sciences at Ph.D. degree.
Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of this research, the outcome of the rule of the cultural approach are as follows: attention to cultures, freedom, equality, respect for the rights of individuals, hearing the voice of all. Accordingly, the result of the security approach to ethnicity in society is domination, dictatorship, repression, and monologue, and this leads to the formation of resistance among subcultures, which in the field of education, this resistance appears as the emergence of the underground curriculum. Also, based on this study, with the rule of the integrated security-cultural approach, conservative thoughts prevail in society.

Keywords

References

Ahmadi, H. (2000). Ethnicity in Iran. Tehran: Ney Publications (Persian).
Althusser, L. (2007). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. Translation by Roozbeh Sadrara, Tehran, Sarcheshmeh Publication (Persian).
Aragiyyeh, A., Fathi Vajargah, K., Barzgar, N. & Moradi, S. (2012).The Development of Human Resources in Higher Education through Respecting Cultural Diversity of the Students. Biennial Journal of Management and Planning in Educational Systems.4 (7), 85-99.
Archer, L., Francis, B. (2007). Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement in Schools: Race, Gender, Class and ‘Success’, London, RoutledgeFalmer.
Barber, B.R. (1992). An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics of Education and the Future of America, New York, Oxford University Press.
Bashirieh, H. (2004). Marxist Ideas. Tehran: Publishing Ney, (Persian).
Castells, M. (2001). The Age of the Information (Identity Power). Translation by Hassan Chavashian. Tehran: New Design (Persian).
Cohen, R. (1978). Ethnicity: problem and focus in anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology.
Cole, J.W. and Wolf, E. R. (1974). The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley. New York: Academic Press.
Fathi Vajargah, K. (2017a). Key lecture, ethnicity tension - nationality in Iran: the place of citizenship education in preserving national integrity. The fifteenth Annual Conference of the Iranian Studies Curriculum Association on Citizenship Education, Zanjan, Iran (Persian).
Fathi Vajarkhah, K. (2017b). What is curriculum. Second edition. Tehran: Mehraban Publications (Persian).
Fathi and Vahjargah, K. (2018). A Reflection on the concept of cultural occupation and the concept of shadow or underground curriculum.Journal of Curriculum Studies. Year 9 (17) (Persian).
Giddens, A. (1989). Sociology .Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gillborn, D. (2008). Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London, Routledge.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections From the Prison Notebooks, London, Lawrence and Wishart.
Hawley, W.D. and Nieto, S. (2010). ‘Another inconvenient truth: Race and ethnicity matter’, Educational Leadership , 68 (3), 66–71.
Maleševic, S. (2004).The Sociology of Ethnicity.London: SAGE Publication.
Mellor, A. (1992) .Discipline and Punish: Cultural Studies at the Crossroads. Media, Culture and Society, 14: 663-70.
Moiedfar, S , Rezaei, A (2009) .An Analysis of the Situation of Ethnic Identity in Iranian Society, A Case Study of Tehran University Students. Political Studies, No. 3, pp. 13 to 40 (Persian).
Phinney, J., & Rosenthal, D. (1992). Ethnic identity formation in adolescence: Process, context, and outcome. In G. Adams, T. Gulotta, & R. Montemayor (Eds.), Adolescent identity formation (p p. 145–172). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Rex, J. and Mason, D. (eds) (1986). Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Rezapour Ghoshchi, M. Nandari, M. (2014). Globalization and Ethnic Pluralism in Iran, Challenges and Opportunities. Journal of Strategic Studies of Globalization, 5(14), (Persian).
Sarfaraz, H. (2009) .Cultural Study, Critical Project. Tehran .The Journal of Culture.
Smelser, Neil J., William Julius Wilson, and Faith Mitchell, eds. (2001). America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences, vol. 1. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Strinati, D. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. New York and London, Routledge.
Tomlinson, S. (2008) Race and Education: Policy and Politics in Britain, Milton Keynes, Open University Press.
Willers, M. (2012). Tackling inequalities suffered by Gypsies and Travellers, Travellers Advice Team (TAT) news, Newsletter Spring 2012, Traveller Advice Team part of Community Law Partnership.
Walters, S. (2012). Ethnicity, Race and Education: An Introduction, London, Continuum.
Zelinsky, W. (2001). The Enigma of Ethnicity: Another American Dilemma. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics