Högre seminarium i pedagogik och barn- och ungdomsvetenskap med Aslı Kandemir, School of Education, University of Birmingham, England.

Title of Talk: ‘British Values’ from the perspective of British-Turkish youth

Synopsis:

“Tolerance and Symbolic Borders: British-Turkish Identity, Values, and Community Cohesion” explores the narrated subjectivities of British-Turks, with a special focus on British-Turkish youth. It uncovers how Britishness, British values, and community cohesion are un-made and re-made in the pursuit of racial equality. In 2011, Conservative-led coalition government revised critical policies on community cohesion known as the Prevent Strategy, claiming that the previous government ‘failed to confront the extremist ideology’. As part of this strategy,

Fundamental British Values (FBVs) of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of faiths and beliefs were promoted and instrumentalised in UK education policy and practice to discipline ethno-religiously minoritised youth, particularly Muslims. Although educators responded to the potential negative effect of FBVs discourse by curating display boards on British Values that uphold British cultural markers, these practices were not sufficient to disassociate value teaching from Prevent. These concerns underlie the need for a bottom-up approach centring the voice of Muslim youth in defining British values before delivery. Therefore, I conducted a case study on an ethno-religiously minoritised British-Turkish community group living in the North-West of England following a review of 45 policy-related texts on FBVs, published under New Labour and Coalition governments. I interviewed

22 participants consisted of a government official, four third sector representatives, ten British-Turkish parents of seven young British-Turks between the ages of 13 and 18. Through vignette methodology, I co-generated a bottom-up approach centring the voice of British-Turkish youth in defining Britishness, values, and cohesion supported by the non-formal education of communities. Drawing on my research findings, this book argues that young British-Turks see

themselves equally British, thus de-politicise British values, and emphasise value plurality and universality to challenge disciplinary power of FBVs. Indeed, they promote convivial everyday relations through inclusive British values of equality, good character, and friendship complementing FBVs for a cohesive society.

Biography:

Dr Aslı Kandemir is a critical sociologist and an interdisciplinary researcher. She is currently working in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham on a study examining freedom of expression in English schools. Dr Kandemir holds a PhD in Sociology from Liverpool Hope University and researches about ‘race’/ethnicity and immigration, education policy, and intersectional inequalities. Dr Kandemir also works on equitable mentoring and volunteers as an academic mentor to university students, academics and professionals. She is a former radio DJ and an avid capoeirista.