(EDU3) Challenging Hate: Fostering Human Flourishing

This session invited papers that draw on theoretical or empirical research to address the topic of challenging hate within educational institutions. We are interested in the work happening in educational institutions that seeks to promote just, democratic, and inclusive educational practices that centre on human flourishing and the success (in all aspects of the word) of students.  Cross-listed with the Canadian Association of Sociology of Education (CASE). Tags: Education, Equality and Inequality

Organizers: Cathlene Hillier, Crandall University, Maria Brisbane, University of Waterloo; Chair: Anastasia Kulpa, University of Alberta/Concordia University of Edmonton

Presentations

Mojtaba Rostami, University of Calgary

Hate in the Ivory Tower? Investigating Hate Incidents on Canadian University Campuses

This study investigates hate crimes on Canadian university campuses, focusing on the impact on marginalized groups. It identifies a gap in the literature and explores students experiences and campus climate perceptions through thirty qualitative interviews across Alberta, Canada. While overt hate crimes are rare, microaggressions and stereotypes persist, affecting marginalized students well-being and academic performance. Noting a decline in hate incidents compared to previous studies, the research examines university administration responses, reporting mechanisms, and support for victims. It underscores the importance of addressing cultural ignorance and improving institutional support, highlighting methodological considerations for future campus hate crime research.

Xinru FAN, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Unmasking Power Dynamics: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Education Policy in Ontario

Policy matters for those interested in inequalities because it shapes who benefits, for what purposes and who pays. Ontario has released its formal policy frameworks guiding and supporting Indigenous education in 2007: Ontario First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework. However, according to Wotherspoon, there exists a form of "democratic colonialism" in Canadian legislation, discourse and practice. This raises concerns about whether these policy frameworks inadvertently conceal unequal power dynamics. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, the study moves beyond a narrow focus on language features and considers how language is used to construct and perpetuate the disadvantage faced by Indigenous people in Canada.

Sarah Masri, McMaster University

Islamophobia and its Impacts on School Performance among Muslim Canadian Youth

Muslim adolescents’ academic engagement is negatively impacted when they experience bullying at school. Lowered academic engagement leads to lack of interest in studying, especially when students are exposed to anti-Muslim stereotypes in their school climates, which lead them to feel misunderstood, unsafe and even excluded. (Moffic, Peteet, Hankir, and Awaad 2019). While studies have focused on Muslim students in the United States, this phenomenon can be applied to Canadian Muslim students. My presentation will look at Muslim students in Toronto schools’ performances and the degree in which their academic performances are affected by their sense of belonging in school.

Esther Ignagni, Toronto Metropolitan University; Eliza Chandler, Toronto Metropolitan University; Kelly Flinn, Toronto Metropolitan University; Lokchi Lam, York University

Access, Interdependence and the Dynamics of Dissensus

In this presentation, we engage with disability justice frameworks that foreground access intimacy to explore how the turn to critical access and interdependence works to resist ableism and other forms of hate. Drawing on a series of design fiction workshops, we consider the possibilities of shared vulnerability in the dynamics of a generative dissensus that emerges when envisioning access in crip futures. We will also explore the limits of dissensus within relationships of interdependence and care, which sometimes require us to sustain rather than resist relationships we find ableist or otherwise marked by hate.