Challenges for Interethnic Relations, Language, and Educational Equity in Asia

Abstract

This chapter takes a bird’s-eye view of the insights from preceding chapters by interrogating some of the overarching issues shaping the relationship between ethnic minorities, language education, and educational equity internationally and their implications for the future. It details the worldwide rise in interethnic conflict and argues that academic scholarship, notably from the USA and Europe, has historically dominated thinking about the relationship between ethnic minorities, language, and educational equity. It compares how and why different paradigms and approaches – multiculturalism and interculturalism – have developed in each region and contrasts these with the radically different conditions in Asia. In devising a way forward for societies in Asia, the chapter argues that a key intellectual challenge remains the “category conundrum,” illustrating its manifestation in language policies for ethnic minorities in Asia. Noting the additional influences elaborated by other contributors such as racism, the chapter considers two directions for future research, policy and practice: facilitating “rootedness or belonging” among ethnic minorities and the development of policies and practices framed in terms of the “distinctive social and political contexts, and cultural heritages and traditions within Asia”.