Thursday, January 9th, 2025
12:30 pm – 2 pm, in PCN 2012
6445 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Presenter: Keenan Manning
Many societies which purport to value social cohesion and social harmony project a façade of ethnic / cultural unity; particularly when this sense of shared cultural heritage is foundational to the notion of political legitimacy. In this context, ethnic minorities are relegated, marginalised, or excluded to preserve the myth of homogeneity. In a (post-)colonial context such as Hong Kong, this is further complicated by vestiges of a colonial past, such as racial, social, and class hierarchies, as well as institutions built to control a colonised populace. One of the most significant of these institutions is the educational system, which not only reflects, but also reproduces notions of the citizen which are grounded in these same racial, social, and class hierarchies. Official and scholarly discourse which surrounds such a system often uncritically adopts these notions which both further entrench existing prejudices and disenfranchise minorities. This research aims to de-centre these governing meta-narratives regarding citizenship, identity, and belonging within the Hong Kong educational system by focusing on how minority students themselves conceptualise them.