PhD project exploring how racialized students and their families in Nordic schools experience and negotiate belonging and identity within educational settings.
This ethnographic case study explores how racialized students aged 10–12 and their families experience and negotiate belonging and identity in Nordic schools. It critically examines the role of institutional structures, multicultural practices, and researcher positionality in shaping these experiences.
Through ethnographic fieldwork, photo-elicitation interviews, and autoethnographic reflection, the study contributes to understanding how racialization and whiteness operate in everyday school life and how students and researchers navigate these dynamics.
Drawing on a methodological framework that combines critical ethnography, mini-ethnographic case study, photo-elicitation interviews (PEI), and autoethnography, the study critically examines the gap between inclusion policy frameworks and the lived experiences of racialized children.
By foregrounding students’ voices, the research aims to provide nuanced insights into their everyday experiences of (non)belonging and othering—both within and beyond the classroom and school context.
Research question
How do racialized students and their families experience and negotiate belonging and identity in Nordic schools, and in what ways do educational practices and researcher positionality shape these experiences?
Contribution to the field
This study advances Nordic educational research by amplifying racialized students’ perspectives and interrogating the disconnect between policy and practice. By centering students’ narratives, it fosters critical reflection and dialogue on educational justice, diversity, and equity—particularly within teacher education and childhood studies.
Shpresa Basha's publications (nva.sikt.no)
Supervisors
- Thor-André Skrefrud, University of Inland Norway
