Förskolan och mångfalden: En etnografisk studie på en förskola i ett multietniskt område.

The object of this study is to establish broad understanding of the multicultural kindergarten as a phenomenon and to elucidate the complexity and the processes found inside the kindergarten and outside the kindergarten in the local area and in society. From this perspective the study will investigate how child carers relate to and deal with multicultural tasks at a multicultural kindergarten. The study also aims at examining what identification possibilities are offered to children at a multicultural kindergarten and how these are articulated.

The study shows that work with language and culture is a question of dealing with situations in which children are vulnerable. The results show that child carers typically relate their multicultural work to the child with a non-Swedish ethnic background. This means that carers make multicultural work a goal for “the other children” instead of a goal for the whole group of children. On the other hand, in relation to the group as a whole, the carer emphasises stories of equality and treating all children in the same way. This means that the cultural background does not become a possible identity for the child as it is hidden in the pedagogical work with the group of children as a whole.

The data collection comprises field notes, observations and conversations at a daycare centre with 19 children, where the majority of parents, children and child carers have a foreign background. Furthermore interviews were conducted with two parents, a municipal employee and an unspecified number of child carers.

Lunneblad, J. (2006). Förskolan och mångfalden: En etnografisk studie på en förskola i ett multietniskt område. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.