Racism-critical political education

What is this episode about?
Political education is for everyone - which is why it cannot avoid dealing with issues of exclusion and discrimination. In this piece, we therefore look at the question of how political education that is critical of racism can succeed. What is its task and what pitfalls arise in this context?

Before we get started:
This episode of Evening School is a wee bit longer than average (40 mins), but it is very easy to understand and the arguments in it are very clear.

The central questions are:
Why is it so hard to talk about racism? What is racism anyway? What is criticism of racism and what does it all mean for political education?

Who am I listenting to?
The author of this episode is Prof. Dr. Paul Mecheril, a proven expert in racism-critical education and professor of educational science with a focus on migration at Bielefeld University. You can find out more about him here.

Literature for further reading:

Dirim, İnci/ Mecheril, Paul (2017): Heterogeneity discourses, language(s), school education. Bad Heilbronn.

Doğmuş, Aysun/ Karakaşoğlu, Yasemin/ Mecheril, Paul (2016): Pedagogical skills in the migration society. Wiesbaden.

Leiprecht, Rudolf (1992): Among Others - Racism and Youth Work. Duisburg.

Mecheril, Paul (1997): Psychology and racism. Reinbek near Hamburg.

Mecheril, Paul/ Castro Varela, Maria do Mar/ Dirim, İnci/ Kalpaka, Annita/ Melter, Claus (2010): Migration education. Weinheim/ Basel.

Mecheril, Paul (2014): Subject formation. Interdisciplinary analyses of the migration society. Bielefeld.

Self-assessment tasks

For users of the evening school, we provide self-assessment tasks for each lecture. These tasks can be used to rethink the contribution, to deepen your thoughts or - if you want to acquire a certificate of further education - to prepare for the course exam.

Question 1: The play explains very well why it is difficult to talk about racism. In regards to the and its considerations, explain your own behavior in addressing the topic and describe two examples that you have experienced yourself that illustrate the challenges.

Question 2: Paul Mecheril says that the central task of political education that is critical of racism is to create spaces in which racism can become a topic. These spaces should be structured in such a way that a) further damage is avoided and b) learning becomes possible. Outline how you would implement this mission and what precautions you would take to avoid arrogance and lecturing at the same time.

Question 3: Paul Mecheril says: "An education critical of racism is wary of understanding the given social conditions as the realization of democracy." What consequences does this sentence have for political education from your perspective? What will change if we really take this seriously?

Question 4: Using a specific example, describe the difficulties that arise in an educational program that you have designed from a racism-critical perspective and explain what Paul Mecheril might have noted or done differently in this context.

The self-assessment tasks are to be understood as opportunities for reflection and do not generally test knowledge. They are always strongly related to the corresponding lecture and therefore differ significantly.

You can find the manuscript for the lecture here.