Article Contentsp.272p.273p.274p.275p.276p.277p.278p.279p.280p.281p.282p.283p.284p.285p.286p.287p.288p.289Issue Table of ContentsBritish Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 249-362Front MatterEditorial [pp.249-251]Obituary: Professor Raymond Wilson [pp.252-254]Intellectuals or Technicians? The Urgent Role of Theory in Educational Studies [pp.255-271]Religious Education's Representation of 'Religions' and 'Cultures' [pp.272-289]The Myth of the Learning Society [pp.290-304]Teachers and Values: Courage Mes Braves! [pp.305-317]Policy Shifts concerning Special Needs Provision in Mainstream Primary Schools [pp.318-332]Reviewsuntitled [pp.333-334]untitled [pp.334-336]untitled [pp.336-337]untitled [pp.337-339]untitled [pp.339-341]untitled [pp.341-342]untitled [pp.342-344]untitled [pp.344-345]untitled [pp.345-346]untitled [pp.346-348]untitled [pp.348-349]untitled [pp.350-351]untitled [pp.351-353]untitled [pp.353-356]untitled [pp.356-358]untitled [pp.358-360]List of Books Received [pp.361-362]Religious Education's Representation of 'Religions' and 'Cultures'Author(s): Robert JacksonSource: British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Sep., 1995), pp. 272-289Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Society for Educational StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3121984Accessed: 25/12/2008 09:50Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected] for Educational Studies and Blackwell Publishing are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to British Journal of Educational Studies.http://www.jstor.orgBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, ISSN 0007-1005 VOL. XXXXIII, No. 3, SEPTEMBER 1995, PP 272-289 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION'S REPRESENTATION OF 'RELIGIONS' AND 'CULTURES" by ROBERT JACKSON, Institute of Education, University of Warwick ABSTRACT: Multicultural education (of which 'multifaith' RE in England and Wales is sometimes regarded as a subset) was attacked by antiracists in Britain in the 1980s. Although it is arguable that not all of the criticisms were valid, the debate raises questions about the efficacy of religious education in countering racism. The paper argues that a lack of analysis of the concepts 'religions' and 'cultures' in British RE has led to a representation of religious traditions which essentialises them, playing down their internal diversity, and which assumes a 'closed' view of cultures. A more flexible approach is suggested, drawing on work in ethnography and other social science disciplines, which might better combine with antiracist stances than earlier approaches. The work of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit is introduced briefly as an example of an attempt to address some of the above issues in terms of an integrated approach to theory, the study of religions in the community and the development of religious education curriculum materials. Keywords: religions, culture, religious education, racism, multicultural education 1. CHANGING ATTITUDES THROUGH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION? When an eminent sociologist of religion sat in on a seminar of British and Norwegian religious educators in 1994, he said at the end, commenting on the passion with which we all discussed our subject, 'the most interesting thing about you people is that you assume that what you do in schools actually makes a difference'! It needs the perspective of a sociologist to make us stop and think about some of our assumptions. Hence this preamble on the limitations of religious education [RE] as a means to change attitudes. Although I am going to argue for a flexible treatment of concepts such as 'religion', 'religions' and 'culture' which might be more 272 @ Blackwell Publishers Ltd. and SCSE 1995. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USAREPRESENTATION OF 'RELIGIONS' AND 'CULTURES' relevant to the needs of rapidly changing religiously and culturally plural societies than those generally given in the British religious education literature, I do not think that any approach can solve the problem of deep seated racism. However, I do think that having an understanding of the religious culture of people in our societies might be a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition for reducing racial and cultural prejudice (Jackson, 1987). 2. MULTICULTURALISM AND ANTIRACISM The complex changes taking place in Europe following the collapse of orthodox communist regimes and reflecting economic recession have exacerbated racist activity in many European countries. Racism is by no means a new phenomenon in the United Kingdom, and, of course, Britain's particular situation gets its character largely from its colonial past. Most black and Asian British citizens are descendants of colonized peoples and popular and media attitudes still tend to be conditioned and influenced by memories of a perceived cultural and racial superiority (Said, 1981). I say 'cultural' as well as 'racial' for, during the 1980s, there has been a marked increase in what some writers refer to as 'new racism' based on supposed incompatibility of cultural traditions rather than 'biological' superiority (Baker, 1981). A good example of this as far as religious education is concerned is the following statement from a member of the British House of Lords during a debate in 1988 on