Civic education in migration societies - paradoxes of democracy from the perspective of critical race theory

Abstract

Contemporary democracies are characterized by the ambivalent relationships that go along with nationally encoded politics of belonging and virtues of democracy: within their universal normative claims, democracies are promising equality and justice for everyone, whereas along orders of national membership people are excluded, marginalized and disenfranchised. Migration including displacement is on the increase worldwide and reveals the ambiguous conditions of universal democratic claims in migration societies. This paper investigates the ambivalences and disavowals of democratic demands in the context of migration from the perspective of critical race theory. It analyzes how the social construction of race and racism is (historically and contemporarily) constituting nation states’ democracies and outlines implications for civic education reflecting on racism and racialized orders of belonging.