School Spaces and the Construction of Ethnic Relations: Conceptual and Policy Debates‪.‬

ABSTRACT/RESUME This article discusses, on the one hand, the nature of ethnicity, a concept that is often taken for granted in education, but which is the subject of many debates in social psychology, anthropology and the sociology of ethnic relations, and, on the other hand, the role of education in the maintenance and transformation of its boundaries. In the first part, given the current delegitimisation of essentialism as a system of explanation for the production of ethnicity, the author reviews the strengths and limits of various constructivist perspectives, which put a different emphasis on social determinism or individual freedom, and argues that a further step is needed: a manifold perspective that better reflects the complexity of the process at stake. In the second part, the specific consequences of each of these conceptions on educational policies, programs, and practices, whether adopted or promoted by the State, school authorities, or minority groups themselves, are discussed in light of the two social functions traditionally performed by schooling: selection and cultural re/production. Finally, in a perspective that recognises that the desirable equilibrium between equality, the maintenance of pluralism, and the development of harmonious interethnic relations cannot be defined a priori, the author illustrates, with three specific examples, the complexity of the debates concerning various school policies and practices, as well as the necessity of context specific analyses in this regard.