Racism remains a pervasive issue in European educational institutions, affecting the lived experiences of students, educators, and communities (e.g. Alemanji, 2017; Buchardt, 2018; Mirza, 2006; Vertelyte & Li, 2024; Wekker, 2016). This symposium explores how race and racism function as structural dimensions within European education systems, shaping social fabrics and influencing individual trajectories. The European context—with its colonial past, diverse migration histories, and contemporary challenges—provides a critical lens to examine the persistence of racial inequalities and exclusion (Ball, Stefens and Niedlich, 2022).

Race is a historical constructed hierarchy that has no inner content but serves to legitimize forms of oppression (Mbembe, 2017). Race therefore exists in and through practices that separate human beings based on a variety of intersecting characteristics such as ancestral background, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, skin color that co-construct race (Ball, Stefens and Niedlich, 2022). Race and racism in Europe need to be understood in the context of this multiplicity and their specific intersections (Lutz, 2015). In addition, - taking into account the context of the nation state, from its specific history of racism and colonialism to the current institutional arrangements of education - is important to understand how racism in education is experienced as oppression in everyday life (Essed, 2002, e.g. Yuval Davis, 2011). Furthermore, those actors calling attention to intersectional experiences of racism tend to be met with critique, resistance and contestation (Ahmed, 2012). Despite growing pluralism in European nation states, whiteness continues to be the norm (Ball, Stefens and Niedlich, 2022). Against this background, it is both timely and important to understand lived experiences of racism in education in European contexts and societies.

Grounded in social justice and intercultural education, the symposium brings together empirical and theoretical work to interrogate how colonial amnesia (Wekker, 2016) and white innocence  (Wekker, 2016) perpetuate racism in education. Concepts like epistemic violence (Clark, K., & Vertelyté, 2023; Sullivan & Tuana, 2007), which highlights the marginalization of non-dominant knowledge systems (Fricker, 2007; Walker, 2019), will be central to our discussions. Drawing on Chakrabarty's call to historicize and contextualize (Chakrabarty, 2009), and intersectionality as a framework(Collins & Bilge, 2016; Lutz et al., 2011; Yuval-Davis, 2011), we aim to uncover how race intersects with class, gender, and migration in shaping educational experiences of students.

The symposium will address the following research questions:

1. What are the lived experiences of racism in educational settings across different European contexts?
2. How can these experiences be understood in relation to broader historical and structural dimensions of European societies?

By focusing on lived experiences and racialization processes, the symposium highlights the pressing need to confront racial inequalities in education. Empirical contributions utilize ethnographic, participatory, and historical approaches, offering insights from various European countries. Together, these papers illustrate the material and epistemological impacts of racism, while proposing pathways for fostering equity and social cohesion in education.

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