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Religious education, antisemitism and the curriculum in Norway
Author(s): Thomas, Paul; Alhassan, Abdul-Razak Kuyini
Date: 2019
Topics: Curriculum and Schoolbooks, Religious Education, Schools: Non-Jewish, Schools: Primary / Elementary, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Antisemitism: Education against, Holocaust Education, Main Topic: Education
Abstract: Using a content analysis, this study critically explores the religious education (RE) curriculum for primary and secondary school in Norway with a view towards highlighting references to antisemitism and the Norwegian holocaust, especially in relation to the teaching of Judaism. The study focuses on inclusive education from the perspective of the religious education curriculum. The findings reveal that while aspects of the history of Christianity are taught employing a local lens, this does not extend to Judaism. We argue that this statutory omission is problematic given the historical contours of antisemitism which found its apotheosis in the Norwegian holocaust and the contemporaneous recrudescence of antisemitism. Given the historical conflation of religion and ethnicity in regard to Jews, it is argued that the RE curriculum should include pedagogical measures that aim at combatting antisemitism. Commensurate with a contrapuntal pedagogy that aims at counteracting antisemitism, we posit some examples for the consideration of RE teachers.
Exploring Anti-Semitism in the Classroom: A Case Study Among Norwegian Adolescents from Minority Backgrounds
Author(s): Thomas, Paul
Date: 2016
Topics: Antisemitism, Antisemitism: Education against, Attitudes to Jews, Interviews, Main Topic: Antisemitism, Schools: Non-Jewish
Abstract: This study explores high school students’ views of Jews in one minority-dominated school in Oslo, Norway. Employing a qualitative approach, semistructured interview guides and classroom-based discussions teased out attitudes toward Jews drawing on questions from a nationwide research conducted by The Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities (2012). The findings are analyzed through the conceptual prism of anti-social capital and the literature on anti-Semitism with a focus on Jean-Paul Sartre’s (1948) analysis. This study warns that failure to pay attention to the increasing fragmentation of the educational landscape in Norway along ethnico-religious lines will serve to undermine teachers’ efforts to combat anti-Semitism.