Children defining and experiencing racism in 21st century Britain

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Children defining and experiencing racism in 21st
century Britain

• Ruth Woods
• Department of Applied Social Sciences
• Canterbury Christ Church University

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Outline

• How have researchers working with young children
  defined racism?
• How do children themselves define it?
• Behaviours that manifest racism
• Attributes upon which racism is based
• Implications for childrens experience

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Researchers definitions of racism in children

• Behaviours
• Name-calling (Olweus, 1991)
• Name-calling / exclusion (Verkuyten Thijs,
  2002)
• Bullying (Eslea Mukhtar, 2000)

• Bases
• Skin colour / race (Olweus, 1991)
• Ethnic background (Verkuyten Thijs, 2002)
• Name, skin colour, religion, language, clothes,
  food (Eslea Mukhtar, 2000)
• So how do children themselves define racism?

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Research site

• Woodwell Green Primary School, west London
• 2001-2003
• Multicultural area
• Interviews with 26 year 4 children What is
  racism?
• Plus discussion groups, questionnaires to
  parents, participant observation

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Childrens definitions behaviours

• 15 dont know
• 27 racism as general nastiness
• It means rudeness.
• 58 racism as direct verbal insults
• Taking the mick out of peoples culture.
• Like someones swearing about your colour of
  your skin.

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• Year 4 ? year 5
• Discussion groups on other topics
• Spontaneous reference to racism as discrimination

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• Zak Miss I was playing for Woodwell football
  club and theyre racist, and theres one way I
  know theyre racist. You know Lee yeah Well
  Lee yeah, whenever I score he starts to cry. Then
  Lees dad, hes the manager yeah, he takes me
  off.
• RW Why do you think thats racist though?
• Zak Because he always takes me, Sandeep and
  Sufyan off yeah, and puts Lee, Alex and Sam on.
• RW I didnt get it, tell me again.
• Zak You know the manager, he subs me for Lee, he
  subs Sandeep for Alex, and he subs Sufyan for
  Sam. Miss isnt that racist yeah, he takes us all
  off and were the best players! Just cos his son
  always cries when I get a goal.

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• Year 4 Racism as name-calling
• Connolly Keenan (2002), Troyna Hatcher (1992)
• Year 5 Racism as discrimination
• More subtle than name-calling
• Not noted in literature
• Adults as protagonists

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Childrens definitions bases

• Traditional definitions race / skin colour
  (Dennis, 1996 Olweus, 2001)
• Woodwell Green children
• 15 dont know
• 27 No basis mentioned
• 50 skin colour
• 50 religion
• 23 place of origin / culture / clothing

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• If you say to other people, youre brown. It
  looks like this, if you see a brown banana, you
  say Youre like a brown banana. If there was a
  white person, you could be racist to them as
  well.
• When somebody doesnt believe in your religion
  and they say something rude about it.
• Taking the mick out of peoples colour skin,
  religion, God, or of their features.

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Racism as based on religion at Woodwell Green

• Year 6 class is discussing the Bradford race
  riots of 2001
• Miss Lock continues, All that stems from racism.
  Its hoped that you, coming from a multicultural
  school, growing up with children of different
  backgrounds, you develop an understanding, and a
  respect, for different backgrounds. She says
  that racists are ignorant, mentioning a school
  anti-racism poster. Leon calls out, It couldve
  happened with Ireland Miss. Miss Lock at first
  denies that this is racism, saying that its to
  do with religion. Racism tends to be related to
  the colour of skin. But then she adds, It is a
  typeyou could say its a type of racism.

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A new definition of racism?

• Head teacher Racism based on skin colour,
  religion language
• Broad definition
• Connolly Keenan (2002) Troyna Hatcher (1992)
• Woodwell Green children are embracing religion
  but not language / accent
• Religion as significant marker of different
  tension in contemporary Britain
• Second language as normal advantageous at this
  school
• Accent-based teasing usually from and to Asian
  children

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2nd language as advantageous

• In a game of Red Rover among boys and girls in
  year 5, the girls chant for Amandeep to come
  over. Farah shouts Come on you budha, are you a
  wimp? and the Indian girls shriek with laughter.
  I ask Nisha, who is standing with me watching the
  game and laughing, what budha means and she
  replies, Old man.
• Miss Chahal notices Mohamed calling something in
  Urdu to Faizel across the class. She calls him up
  and asks him what he said. He keeps replying, I
  was only joking. Miss Chahal eventually says
  that if he doesnt tell her hell get a
  detention. He mutters something in Urdu, and Miss
  Chahal tells him off. Seemingly he called Faizel
  a fat black dog. Mohamed protests that they all
  say it to each other and theyre only joking.

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Accent based teasing among Asian children

• Maria (Pakistani, Christian) joined year 4 class
  from Pakistan 10 weeks previously.
• Kiran (Indian, Sikh) and a few other children
  complain that Maria, who has beautiful
  handwriting, is the only child in the class
  permitted to write in pen. A couple of them
  comment that she talks funny. Miss, why are
  they jealous? says Maria to me. Simran (Indian,
  Sikh) says, Youre jealous, imitating Marias
  accent, and Ayesha (Pakistani, Muslim) and Sohaib
  (Pakistani, Muslim), either side of Simran,
  laugh.

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Who are the victims of racism?

• If racism is based on skin colour religion at
  Woodwell, then children of certain skin
  colourreligion combinations may be particularly
  at risk
• Participant observation of 13 racist incidents at
  school
• Questionnaire responses from 36 parents
• Skin colour
• Black gt Asian gt white
• Religion
• Muslim gt Sikh, Hindu, Christian nonreligious

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Conclusions

• Childrens researchers definitions differ
• Implications for methodology prevalence figures
• 9 year olds can define racism as discrimination
• Are schools geared up for this?
• Religion is as important as skin colour in racism
  definitions
• New generations reconstructing racism?
• Active process of construction language resisted
• Children representing certain skin
  colourreligion combinations may be particularly
  vulnerable