Hannah Arendt and Norwegian Muslim children’s schooling: in pursuit of democratic practices

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to consider whether Hannah Arendt’s (1996) [Arendt, H. (1958/1998). Vita Activa. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago] concept of ‘public space’ is a potentially useful and creative way of thinking about aspects of Muslim children’s experiences within the context of education. Following a terror attack in 2011, when 77 people were killed, the then Norwegian prime minister stated that ‘our answer to this violence is more openness and more democracy but not naivety’. Accordingly, this paper draws on data so as to put concepts drawn from Arendt to work. In so doing, we indicate possibilities for ‘more openness and more democracy’ where Norwegian children can have Islam as an important element within their lives in ways that avoid the charge of naivety.

KEYWORDS:

• Muslim
• public space
• democracy
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Katrine Giæver is a PhD student at the Research Centre for Child and Youth Competence Development, Lillehammer University College (Norway). Until August 2016 she was Assistant Professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education and Care at Oslo and Akershus Univeristy College, and prior to this, advisor at the National Centre for Multicultural Education and at the Norwegian Ministry of Education. Katrine's research interests include multiculturalism and bilingual education.

Liz Jones was appointed Research Chair Professor to the Education University of Hong Kong in April, 2015. Prior to this she was Professor of Early Childhood at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) where she led the Centre for the Cultural Studies of Children and Childhood for over ten years. Liz's research interests include identity, power and affect. Her methodological interests include poststructuralism and, more recently, post-humanism.