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Curriculum and national identity: exploring the links between religion and nation in Pakistan
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 09:09 authored by Naureen Durrani, Mairead DunneMairead DunneThis paper investigates the relationship between schooling and conflict in Pakistan using an identity-construction lens. Drawing on data from curriculum documents, student responses to classroom activities, and single-sex student focus groups, it explores how students in four state primary schools in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan, use curricula and school experiences to make sense of themselves as Pakistani. The findings suggest that the complex nexus of education, religion, and national identity tends to construct 'essentialist' collective identities¿a single identity as a naturalized defining feature of the collective self. To promote national unity across the diverse ethnic groups comprising Pakistan, the national curriculum uses religion (Islam) as the key boundary between the Muslim Pakistani 'self' and the antagonist non-Muslim 'other'. Ironically, this emphasis creates social polarization and the normalization of militaristic and violent identities, with serious implications for social cohesion, tolerance for internal and external diversity, and gender relations.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Journal of Curriculum StudiesISSN
0022-0272Publisher
RoutledgeExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
42Page range
215-240Pages
25.0Department affiliated with
- Education Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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