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Transforming the Identity of the Enemy in Pre-school Children. A Case Study in a Greek Kindergarten

Year 2019, Volume: 3 Issue: 5, 39 - 46, 01.01.2019
https://doi.org/10.31458/iejes.465925

Abstract

The formation of young children’s national identity usually happens in early childhood.  The family and social environment, the school and the national festivals play an important role and have a particular effect on the formation of a child’s national identity and on the identity of the national ‘other.’ Research has shown that kindergarten students have already form a strong national identity, in favour of the dominant national identity. This is combined with stereotypes and prejudiced opinions against the non-dominant national identities.  For the majority of Greek students, the national enemy is usually represented by the citizens of Turkey. In this article is presented an action research which took place in a Greek kindergarten; its aim was to transform the children’s view of the neighbouring ‘other.’  The individual activities aimed to help the children to transcend the stereotypical image of the Turk as the enemy of Greece and to discover cultural similarities between the two peoples. The research showed that after the completion of the activities, the young students formulated significantly more positive views than their initial ones about this particular national ‘other.’

References

  • Argyrou, V. (2006). How greek thinks: about turks, for example. South European Society and Politics, 11 (1), 33-46.
  • Barrett, M. (2000). The development of national identity in childhood and adolescence. Paper presented at the University of Surrey, March 2000.
  • Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education (7th edition). New York: Routledge.
  • Cutts Dougherty K., Eisenhart M., & Webley, P. (1992). The role of social representations and national Identities in the development of territorial knowledge: A study of political socialization in Argentina and England. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 809-835.
  • Eco, U. (2012). Inventing the enemy (4th ed). U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Frangoudaki, A. & Dragonas, Th. (1997). “What is our country?”. Ethnocentrism and education. Athens: Alexandria [in Greek].
  • Gerring, J. (2004). What is a case study and what is it good for?. American political science review, 98(2), 341-354.
  • Jahoda, G. (1964). Children’s concept of nationality: a critical study of piaget stages. Child Developmental, 35, 1081-1092.
  • Katz, L., Chard, C., & Kogan, Y. (2014). Enanging children’s minds. The project approach (3rd edition). California: ABC-CLIO
  • Kirkine, Ε. (2014). Festivals in kindergarten. The national and religious dimension. An ethnographic research. Phd Thesis. Department of Early Childhood Educaiton. University of Thessaly [in Greek].
  • Levin, D. (2003). Teaching young children in violent times. Washington DC: National Association for the Education of the Young Children.
  • Μagos, Κ. (2006) Teachers from the majority population – Pupils from the minority: Results of a research in the field of Greek minority education. European Journal of Teacher Education. 29 (3), 357 – 370.
  • Magos, K. (2013). The neighbor’s folk tales. developing intercultural competence through folk tales and stories. Bookbird, 56 (2), 28-35.
  • Magos, K. (2015). “…and they lived happily ever after!” The use of narrative in researching Greek and Turkish student teachers’ perceptions of the ethnic other. Journal of Teacher Education and Educators, 4 (2), 188-205.
  • Magos, K., Tsilimeni, T. & Spanopoulou, K. (2013). Goodmorning alex-kalimera maria: digital communities and intercultural dimension in early childhood education, Intercultural Education, 24 (4), 366-373.
  • Mertan, B. (2011). Children's perception of national identity and in-group/out-group attitudes: Turkish-Cypriot school children. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8 (1), 74-86.
  • Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult. Core concepts of transformation theory. In J. Mezirow and Associates (Ed.), Learning as Transformation. Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. NJ: John Willey and Sons, Inc., 3-34.
  • Mezirow, J. (2003). Transformative learning as discourse. Journal of Transformative Education, 1, 58-63.
  • Paida, S. (1999). The enemy’s image in pre-school children. Educational Community, 49, 32-34.
  • Piaget J. & Weil, A. (1951). The development in children of idea of homeland and of relations with other countries. International Social Science Bulletin, 3, 561-578.
  • Rampton, B., Charalambous, P. & Charalampous, C. (2014). De-securitising Turkish: Teaching the language of a former enemy and intercultural language education. Working Papers in Urban Languages and Literacies, 137, 1-20.
  • Rosanis, S. (1998). Fascism, racism, xenophobia and language. In Citizens’ movement against racism (Ed). Six texts on racism (pp.11-17). Athens: Paraskinio [in Greek].
  • Robson, C. (2002). Real world research. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Spyrou, S. (2006). Constructing “the Turk” as an enemy: The complexity of stereotypes in children’s everyday worlds. South European Society and Politics, 11 (1), 95 – 110.
  • Tajfel, H. Jahoda, G. Nemeth, G. Campbell, J.D. & Johnson, N. (1970). The development of children’s preference of their own country: a cross-national study. International Journal of Psychology, 5, 245-253.
  • Vanderbroek, M. (1999). The view of the yeti. bringing up children in the spirit of self-awareness and kindredship. Brussels: Bernard van Leer Foundation.
  • Willig, C. (2013). Introducing qualitative research in phycology. Berkshire: Open University Press.
  • Woolf, D. (2006). Of nations, nationalism, and national identity. In Q. Edward Wang & Franz Fillafer, (Eds) The many faces of clio cross-cultural approaches to historiography (pp. 71-103). New York: Berghahn Books.

Transforming the Identity of the Enemy in Pre-school Children. A Case Study in a Greek Kindergarten

Year 2019, Volume: 3 Issue: 5, 39 - 46, 01.01.2019
https://doi.org/10.31458/iejes.465925

Abstract

The formation of young children’s national identity
usually happens in early childhood.  The
family and social environment, the school and the national festivals play an
important role and have a particular effect on the formation of a child’s
national identity and on the identity of the national ‘other.’ Research has
shown that kindergarten students have already form a strong national identity,
in favour of the dominant national identity. This is combined with stereotypes
and prejudiced opinions against the non-dominant national identities.  For the majority of Greek students, the
national enemy is usually represented by the citizens of Turkey. In this
article is presented an action research which took place in a Greek
kindergarten; its aim was to transform the children’s view of the neighbouring
‘other.’  The individual activities aimed
to help the children to transcend the stereotypical image of the Turk as the
enemy of Greece and to discover cultural similarities between the two peoples.
The research showed that after the completion of the activities, the young
students formulated significantly more positive views than their initial ones
about this particular national ‘other.’

References

  • Argyrou, V. (2006). How greek thinks: about turks, for example. South European Society and Politics, 11 (1), 33-46.
  • Barrett, M. (2000). The development of national identity in childhood and adolescence. Paper presented at the University of Surrey, March 2000.
  • Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education (7th edition). New York: Routledge.
  • Cutts Dougherty K., Eisenhart M., & Webley, P. (1992). The role of social representations and national Identities in the development of territorial knowledge: A study of political socialization in Argentina and England. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 809-835.
  • Eco, U. (2012). Inventing the enemy (4th ed). U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Frangoudaki, A. & Dragonas, Th. (1997). “What is our country?”. Ethnocentrism and education. Athens: Alexandria [in Greek].
  • Gerring, J. (2004). What is a case study and what is it good for?. American political science review, 98(2), 341-354.
  • Jahoda, G. (1964). Children’s concept of nationality: a critical study of piaget stages. Child Developmental, 35, 1081-1092.
  • Katz, L., Chard, C., & Kogan, Y. (2014). Enanging children’s minds. The project approach (3rd edition). California: ABC-CLIO
  • Kirkine, Ε. (2014). Festivals in kindergarten. The national and religious dimension. An ethnographic research. Phd Thesis. Department of Early Childhood Educaiton. University of Thessaly [in Greek].
  • Levin, D. (2003). Teaching young children in violent times. Washington DC: National Association for the Education of the Young Children.
  • Μagos, Κ. (2006) Teachers from the majority population – Pupils from the minority: Results of a research in the field of Greek minority education. European Journal of Teacher Education. 29 (3), 357 – 370.
  • Magos, K. (2013). The neighbor’s folk tales. developing intercultural competence through folk tales and stories. Bookbird, 56 (2), 28-35.
  • Magos, K. (2015). “…and they lived happily ever after!” The use of narrative in researching Greek and Turkish student teachers’ perceptions of the ethnic other. Journal of Teacher Education and Educators, 4 (2), 188-205.
  • Magos, K., Tsilimeni, T. & Spanopoulou, K. (2013). Goodmorning alex-kalimera maria: digital communities and intercultural dimension in early childhood education, Intercultural Education, 24 (4), 366-373.
  • Mertan, B. (2011). Children's perception of national identity and in-group/out-group attitudes: Turkish-Cypriot school children. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8 (1), 74-86.
  • Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult. Core concepts of transformation theory. In J. Mezirow and Associates (Ed.), Learning as Transformation. Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. NJ: John Willey and Sons, Inc., 3-34.
  • Mezirow, J. (2003). Transformative learning as discourse. Journal of Transformative Education, 1, 58-63.
  • Paida, S. (1999). The enemy’s image in pre-school children. Educational Community, 49, 32-34.
  • Piaget J. & Weil, A. (1951). The development in children of idea of homeland and of relations with other countries. International Social Science Bulletin, 3, 561-578.
  • Rampton, B., Charalambous, P. & Charalampous, C. (2014). De-securitising Turkish: Teaching the language of a former enemy and intercultural language education. Working Papers in Urban Languages and Literacies, 137, 1-20.
  • Rosanis, S. (1998). Fascism, racism, xenophobia and language. In Citizens’ movement against racism (Ed). Six texts on racism (pp.11-17). Athens: Paraskinio [in Greek].
  • Robson, C. (2002). Real world research. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Spyrou, S. (2006). Constructing “the Turk” as an enemy: The complexity of stereotypes in children’s everyday worlds. South European Society and Politics, 11 (1), 95 – 110.
  • Tajfel, H. Jahoda, G. Nemeth, G. Campbell, J.D. & Johnson, N. (1970). The development of children’s preference of their own country: a cross-national study. International Journal of Psychology, 5, 245-253.
  • Vanderbroek, M. (1999). The view of the yeti. bringing up children in the spirit of self-awareness and kindredship. Brussels: Bernard van Leer Foundation.
  • Willig, C. (2013). Introducing qualitative research in phycology. Berkshire: Open University Press.
  • Woolf, D. (2006). Of nations, nationalism, and national identity. In Q. Edward Wang & Franz Fillafer, (Eds) The many faces of clio cross-cultural approaches to historiography (pp. 71-103). New York: Berghahn Books.
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Studies on Education
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Konstantinos Magos 0000-0002-5940-5243

Publication Date January 1, 2019
Submission Date September 30, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2019 Volume: 3 Issue: 5

Cite

APA Magos, K. (2019). Transforming the Identity of the Enemy in Pre-school Children. A Case Study in a Greek Kindergarten. International E-Journal of Educational Studies, 3(5), 39-46. https://doi.org/10.31458/iejes.465925

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