Mette Buchardt

When ‘Muslim‐ness’ is pedagogised. ‘Religion’ and ‘culture’ as knowledge and social classification in the classroom

The article presents a curriculum‐sociological study of ‘religion’ in the classroom. More specifically, it is a study, inspired by Bernstein, Foucault and Bourdieu, that examines various forms of identity politics tied to ‘religion’ and ‘culture’ as these concepts unfold in the classroom in relation to knowledge production and social classification. Categories such as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Danish’ are tentatively broken down in a study of the classroom as a locus for knowledge production and the production of social difference. What knowledge of religion is produced? What spaces for subjects? What ways to be a pupil? And in what ways do ‘Muslim‐ness’ and ‘Danishness’/‘Christian‐ness’ figure in the social economy of the class? The classroom is studied as a micro‐political arena for relations and politics concerning minorities and majority. In this sense, ‘religion’/‘culture’ may be seen partly as knowledge clusters and partly as subject‐producing technologies colouring and shaping bodies. These knowledge clusters, in turn, are coloured by the social economy associated with the agents’ bodies, making it a productive and potent part of social classification. Categories such as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Danish’/‘Christian’ are in themselves to be understood as processes of social classification and distribution. Hence, ‘religion’ may be understood as a class‐producing practice as the latter is transformed and produced in the pedagogical field of practice.

Pedagogical transformations of “religion” into “culture” in Danish state mass schooling from the 1900s to the 1930s

Particularly after the Danish political system changed to parliamentarism in 1901, a growing interest in, and expanded meaning of, culture as a pedagogical category developed in relation to state schooling, on the road to a comprehensive school system for “the whole population”. This article elaborates on the role played by theological scholars in particular in transforming “religion” into a pedagogised category of ‘culture’, hence addressing what were to become central welfare state challenges: creating social cohesion, and thus defusing class conflict while maintaining social difference. The article examines two liberal theologians involved in the educational question, namely Aage Bentzen (1894–1953), Old Testament scholar and proponent of so-called biblical criticism, and one of his liberal–theological predecessors, Edvard Lehmann (1862–1930), founding father of Comparative Religion Studies and liberal theology as a movement in Denmark. A manifold understanding of “culture” appeared in their work which aimed at civilising, creating belongingness and establishing a common but differentiated relation to labour. In this endeavour, and in addition to scientific ideas of the Bible and Christianity as “culture” and “history”, inspiration from – for instance – fascist and anarchist ideas on labour, state and society appear to fit well with inspiration from American pragmatism. The article argues that the theological pedagogisation of culture can be understood as a sacralisation of the state, aiming at governing the population through state schooling in a double sense: by creating cohesion while maintaining and producing social differentiation.

Wenn ‚Religion’ und ‚Kultur’ im Klassenraum zur ‚Erfahrung’ werden

Was geschieht, wenn der gesellschaftliche Fokus auf ‚Muslime‘ mit den Ansprüchen der Schule, die Erfahrungen der Schüler mit einzubeziehen, verwoben wird? Wie formt sich in diesem Zusammenhang der Fokus der Gesellschaft auf ‚dänische Kultur‘ und ‚muslimische Kultur‘, der in diesen Jahren die öffentliche Debatte in Dänemark kennzeichnet? Ich präsentiere hier eine curriculum-soziologische Studie des Religionsunterrichts auf der Ebene des Klassenraums in der dänischen Folkeskole. Grundlage dafür ist meine Dissertation (Buchardt 2008), die theoretisch von Bernstein, Foucault und Bourdieu beeinflusst ist. Darin werden Kategorien wie ‚Muslim‘ und ‚Dänisch‘ in der Form untersucht, wie sie im Religionsunterricht vorkommen. Wie wird Wissen über Religion produziert? Welche Positionen finden sich darin für Schüleridentitäten? Und wie gehen ‚Muslimsein‘ und ‚Dänentum/Christsein‘ in die soziale Ökonomie des Klasseraums ein? Was ist der Zusammenhang zwischen dem im Klassenraum produzierten Wissen und den Sachverhalten, die in der Bildungssoziologie seit den 1970er Jahren im Blick auf die Reproduktion der gesellschaftlichen Arbeitsteilung und der sozialen Strukturen der Gesellschaft untersucht wurden? In der vorliegenden Arbeit führe ich aus, wie in der pädagogischen Praxis der Folkeskole mit den Kategorien ‚muslimisch‘ und ‚dänisch‘ umgegangen wird. Grundlage dafür sind Daten aus der empirischen Klassenraumforschung. Ich konzentriere mich darauf, wie gesellschaftliche Vorstellungen über ‚Kultur‘ und ‚Religion‘ im Religionsunterricht ihren Ausdruck finden. Was ist der Raum der Möglichkeiten‚ SchülerIn zu sein bzw. SchülerIn in der Kategorie ‚muslimisch‘ zu sein? Wie wird mit den Kategorien ‚Religion‘ und ‚Kultur‘ umgegangen?

The “Culture” of Migrant Pupils: A Nation- and Welfare-State Historical Perspective on the European Refugee Crisis

Culture seems to function as a central explanation when refugees and other migrants are framed as a risk and a challenge in European and national politics across the member states, including educational politics. Based on the case of Denmark during the 1970s, the article unfolds how education historically has been an arena for the internal bordering of the nation in the context of a welfare state model by means of the category of culture.