Modern and Postmodern Racism in Europe: Dialogic Approach and Anti-Racist Pedagogies

In this article, Ramón Flecha discusses the growth of racism in modern-day Europe and the challenges it poses for education and educators. The author distinguishes between two kinds of racism: an older, modern racism and a newer, postmodern racism. The former is based on arguments of inequality and the existence of inferior or superior ethnicities and races. The latter holds that ethnicities and races are neither inferior nor superior; they are merely different. It emphasizes the impossibility of equitable dialogue among different races and ethnicities to establish common rules for living together. Although a tradition of anti-racist education exists in Europe, educators often do not have the intellectual and educational tools to combat this form of racism. Flecha suggests that educators have tried to combat racism by developing anti-racist pedagogies that use the relativist approach advocated by contemporary thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. He argues that this approach challenges modern racism but actually promotes postmodern racism. Drawing from works of dialogic theorists such as Paulo Freire and Jürgen Habermas, Flecha recommends instead that educators use the dialogic approach, which emphasizes the need for equal rights among all people, to develop effective anti-racist pedagogies that can deal simultaneously with both forms of racism.