ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on a study that was conducted over two school terms between 2013 and 2014 in a multicultural high school in Oslo, Norway. Four classrooms in total – three first-year classes and one final-year class – constituted the locus of study (ninety-one students in total). The school has approximately 650 students enrolled in general studies and vocational training. Drawing upon ethnographic methodology, the teacher-as-researcher method was salient in yielding rich and triangulated data gathered through classroom observations, excursions, parent-teacher meetings and biannual meetings with students. Employing theories of ethnic boundary making, ‘stigma’ management (Goffman 1963) and the construction of multi-layered alternatives, or third space identities, the study explored the manner in which students negotiate mainstream discourses of cultural standardisation and homogenisation, transvaluating the stigma of difference into a discourse of empowerment. Furthermore, students’ strategies of identity making are considered through the lens of belonging, defined as a process of freely choosing unassigned forms of membership and a shared sense of solidarity underpinned by this sentiment of belonging.
