Enabling Students' Voices and Identities

Book excerpt: One of the challenges that educational systems are facing worldwide is enabling children's voices from silenced, marginalized, and excluded groups to be heard in communities of philosophical inquiry. Children from unprivileged socioeconomic sectors or minorities, and whose narrative is not in accord with that of the dominant mainstream narrative, often feel uncomfortable expressing their feelings, experiences, and mostly their authentic philosophical questions during communities of philosophical inquiry. They prefer not to raise the questions from their identity perspective. Even if they are friendly, such communities of inquiry are governed—even if implicitly—by the hegemonic meta-narrative. This book addresses the challenges of authentic inclusion of these children and their identities/narratives. The book will analyze how discourse about multiple identities and narratives can enrich the theoretical foundations of Philosophy for/with Children as opposed to the sterile banking and normalizing education. It analyzes the challenge of various identities and their uniqueness within childhood in order to offer theoretical and pedagogical-educational solutions within Philosophy for and with Children. This book furthers our understanding of dialogical inquiry, particularly within a pluralistic environment that explicitly promotes democratic culture.