An Intersectional Analysis of Multicultural Education Discourse: Neoliberalism, Racism, and Sexism in South Korea

Abstract

This study addresses the urgent need to approach multicultural education in South Korea through a social justice lens. It aims to tackle the unique structural and systemic oppressions and exclusions often overlooked in research. Using critical discourse analysis, we explore how the discourse on multicultural education intertwines with oppressive ideologies and perspectives in South Korea. The present study builds upon scholarship emphasizing the importance of considering the influence of neoliberalism and ethnocentric nationalism in the South Korean context when examining multicultural education. It addresses the unique structural and systemic oppressions and exclusions that have remained underaddressed by the current multicultural education practice and scholarship. We examine how the discourse on multicultural education, as represented in teacher interviews, intertwines with oppressive ideologies and perspectives. Informed by scholars working on Global Citizenship Education (GCE), particularly those challenging and addressing normalized neoliberal and neocolonial notions of globalization and development, we propose transformative possibilities offered by the lens of critical GCE in the field of multicultural education. This study emphasizes the importance of embracing and engaging with productive tensions as a critical starting point to foster equitable and humanizing multicultural education for all students while considering the intricate sociohistorical and political relationships entwined with the field.