This paper is part of my doctoral project, in which I study the phenomenon of school segregation and marketization in Sweden through the notion of racial capitalism. I build primarily on the work of Majsa Allelin (2019), Nihad Bunar (Bunar, 2010; Bunar et al., 2021), Ove Sernhede and León Rosales (Sernhede et al., 2019), among others, to understand and build upon their research and theorization of school segregation from various organizing principles (such as neoliberalism, urban contexts, marketization of public institutions). The aim is to study school segregation in Sweden from the perspective of racial capitalism. This theoretical strand originates in the tradition of black radical Marxism, to study neoliberal economy and policy’s racial implications and underpinnings. Thinking with Cedric Robinson (Robinson, 2020), Gargi Bhattacharyya (2018), Diana Mulinari and Anders Neergaard (Mulinari & Neergaard, 2017, 2022), among others, I engage in a productive discussion of these concepts to discuss the Swedish racial capitalist regime, a merge of the perspectives brought up by these authors in order to study the particular articulation of racialization and capitalism, conjuncturally in Sweden. The research question guiding the study is:

How do teachers, students, and parents conceptualize and navigate school segregation, and in what ways do their experiences of racial capitalism and resistance shape our understanding of what education and schooling could look like?

I draw on educational philosophy, especially theories on the pedagogical relations (Mollenhauer & Friesen, 2013), and how education, formation, upbringing and schooling share characteristics, while parents are usually not included in the main conceptualizations of education, such as the pedagogical triangle. Parents ought to stay away from the pedagogical context, according to thinkers defending the authoritative role of the teacher. From a sociological perspective, an analysis of schooling and parent’s involvement let us see the way the walls of the school are not impermeable, but rather porous: social realities seep through (Dussel, 2021). Empirically, the doctoral project involves conducting study circles with teachers, interviews and focus groups with students and parents to explore how school segregation, racisms, and questions of social justice and inequality pervade the pedagogical encounters, as well as the aims and goals of education.

In this particular paper, I engage with the notion of parental enegagement and existing research regarding how this relation (parents and school) is perceived both by parents and teachers (Bouakaz, 2007). Research conducted shows that parents are met differently at schools, depending on their class background, country of origin if they have migrated to Sweden (Behtoui & Neergaard, 2016). Furthermore, important differences are found regarding parents’ school choice patterns, how they are met by educational authorities, and even by teacher’s unions (Sjögren, 2024).

In this presentation, I discuss interviews conducted up to date. I follow a group of parents who, through migrant organizations, have contacted a social centre to discuss and produce research on how they are met by the school staff their children attend. In this case, I have worked with two other researchers to conduct 5 focus groups interviews, with over 20 participants in total. The parents all reside in a city area which is stigmatized by majority society and discuss engagement in the schools, as well as their experience of racism. I have also conducted individual interviews with parents whose children attend schools in various areas, in order to reflect upon what engagement looks like, and how they make meaning of experiences of racism in school. 

In the presentation, I look forward to sharing central sections of the interviews, as well as theoretical analyses and think with the audience about the meaning of these experiences. 

The partial study presented here consists of qualitative, in-depth interviews (individual and focus groups) with parents. Some of them are minoritized, racialized as non-white and with experience of migration, and some are majoritized as Swedish white. The interviews focus on on how they perceive that schools interact, welcome or refuse their engagement. The study is conducted in two ways. Firstly, I participate in a research project established between Malmö University and a social center in the city, where parents meet and discuss in focus groups their experiences of engagement in school and expectations about how this ought to happen. Secondly, I conduct interviews with parents (approached through snowballing, aside from the social center) to build on their perspectives and focus on the problem of school segregation and racisms. Fundamentally, I aim to explore their understanding of the pedagogical relation, of what educational aims and goals are and what hinders and possibilities they encounter in the Swedish context. This empirical work is based interviews with special focus on my research position, and I explore notions of epistemic injustice, desire-led research and embodied ways of knowing (Fricker, 2007; Khawaja et al., 2023; Tuck, 2009). I explore critical perspectives in research as I conduct said empirical work. In this paper, I will present preliminary analysis and results of the empirical work as well as theoretical and methodological considerations and challenges.

This paper, and the dissertation in general, aims to explore and learn about how school segregation is conceptualized by the people who are strongly connected with education on an everyday basis: teachers, students and parents. It ascertains that the problem of segregation has historical roots that require a specific analysis, for which the notions of racial capitalism and racial regime are used. The main goal is to consider the futures of education with consideration to the past, and in what way our histories not only inform our present but also ought to be present in shaping our practices forward. An expected outcome is to engage in a productive discussion with the theoretical perspectives, the current trends in educational research, to broaden the knowledge and understanding of minoritized parents’ engagement in their children’s school/ing and what practices can be identified. Furthermore, the study will contribute with parents’ experiences and conceptualizations of racisms, segregation, as well as examples of agency and resistances. Importantly, these actions will inform the theoretical perspectives to further work on applicable concepts, such as what an act of engagement, and an act of resistance is constituted by in an educational context.

Allelin, M. (2019). Skola för lönsamhet : om elevers marknadsanpassade villkor och vardag / Majsa Allelin. In: Arkiv förlag. Behtoui, A., & Neergaard, A. (2016). Social Capital and the Educational Achievement of Young People in Sweden. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(7), 947-969. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=7174af92-b25d-379c-ac78-cd42182bb76f Bhattacharyya, G. (2018). Rethinking Racial Capitalism : Questions of Reproduction and Survival. In (1st ed.): Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated. Bouakaz, L. (2007). Parental involvement in school : what hinders and what promotes parental involvement in an urban school/ Laid Bouakaz. Lärarutbildningen, Malmö högskola. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=bbaf644b-114c-3d1a-ae1d-dea8d3de7861 Bunar, N. (2010). Choosing for Quality or Inequality: Current Perspectives on the Implementation of School Choice Policy in Sweden [Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative]. Journal of Education Policy, 25(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930903377415 Bunar, N., Hagström, M. a., & Rojas, C. a. (2021). Barn och ungdomar i stadens olikheter : om segregation, gränser och möjliggörande interventioner i det uppdelade urbana rummet / Nihad Bunar, Mirjam Hagström, Carlos Rojas. In (Första utgåvan. ed.): Natur & Kultur. Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice [electronic resource] : power and the ethics of knowing / Miranda Fricker. In: Oxford University Press. Khawaja, I., Christensen, T. W., & Lerche Mørck, L. (2023). Dehumanization and a psychology of deglobalization: Double binds and movements beyond radicalization and racialized mis-interpellation. Theory & Psychology, 33(2), 249-265. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543221138541 Mollenhauer, K., & Friesen, N. (2013). Forgotten Connections : On Culture and Upbringing. In (1st ed.): Taylor & Francis Group. Mulinari, D., & Neergaard, A. (2017). Theorising Racism: Exploring the Swedish racial regime. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 7(2), 88-96. https://doi.org/10.1515/njmr-2017-0016 Mulinari, D., & Neergaard, A. (2022). The Swedish Racial Welfare Regime in Transition. In F. Perocco (Ed.), Racism in and for the Welfare State. Robinson, C. J. (2020). Black marxism : the making of the Black radical tradition (Third edition, revised and updat ed.) [Bibliographies Non-fiction]. The University of North Carolina Press. https://proxy.mau.se/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib,cookie,url&db=cat05074a&AN=malmo.b2924460&lang=sv&site=eds-live&scope=site Sernhede, O., León Rosales, R. a., & Söderman, J. m. a. (2019). "När betongen rätar sin rygg" : Ortenrörelsen och folkbildningens renässans : från stigmatisering till kunskapssökande och social mobilisering / Ove Sernhede, René Léon Rosales & Johan Söderman. In: Daidalos. Sjögren, H. (2024). Unruly customers?: How parents’ (in)actions trouble civil servants and local school choice systems. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 68(7), 1382-1394. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2023.2250355 Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409-428. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=735b79f8-4c0f-3f37-906c-0b3108b2e717