Abstract
The chapter describes how Anwar, the principal of a Muslim-profiled independent primary school, is negotiating and working to change the cultural meanings that define what is regarded as civil and anti-civil. The results show that Anwar’s narrative of strengthening children’s Muslim cultural and religious identities through schooling stands in stark contrast to core groups’ narratives on the Swedish school system. Occasionally, Anwar manages to link his urgent matters to core narratives and symbols. Thus, the analysis demonstrates that the line between being constructed as civil and anti-civil is very fine. In this context, the negative or positive outcome of Anwar’s social performances is determined by his ability to merge meaning systems and narratives “into chains of already powerful symbols”.
I met with the students in both the home and school environments. I saw that there was a problem there […]. They sort of had two roles […]. Understanding your religion and culture gives you pride and security, which are necessary if the students are to be open to society as well as bridge the divergences between their original culture and Swedish society.
(Anwar)
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Nilsson, H. (2020). To Construct Civility or Be Constructed as Anti-civil. In: Lund, S. (eds) Immigrant Incorporation, Education, and the Boundaries of Belonging. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36729-9_5
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