Browsing by Author "Jodayri Hashemizadeh, Ayda"

Previous studies have shown that the importance of diversity is to encounter a person with multiple characteristics, where intersectionality affects them by taking into account the factors that produce differences and their mutual relationships (Kulttuuria kaikille, 2023; Olive, 2015). Otherness is a complex phenomenon (Dervin, 2015), where the diversity of the Other is not seen. The Other is not seen as an independent and versatile actor, but rather placed in the position of an object (Dervin & Keihäs, 2013). The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine discourses of othering in opinion pieces related to early childhood education. I study the topic with the help of the following subproblems: what kind of discourses of otherness appear in opinion pieces and who is defined as an Other in opinion writings. The theoretical background of the research is built from studies dealing with diversity, intersectionality, and otherness. The thesis was carried out using a qualitative research method and the research material was produced through opinion pieces from newspapers including Kaleva, Turun Sanomat, Aamulehti, and Helsingin Sanomat. Opinion pieces were collected from between the years 2017–2021 and from pieces in which othering related to early childhood education and care appeared. After a critical examination, the research material consisted of a total of 41 opinion pieces and discourse analysis was used to analyze the material. The discourses expressing othering were disadvantage, segregation and immigration back-ground, the child's individual need for support, minority religions and worldviews, a foreign-language, special diets, gender roles, parents' weak labor market position and the conflict between the supply and demand of early childhood education services. Along with the dis-courses expressing otherness, I also answered the latter subproblem, who is defined as an Other in opinion pieces dealing with early childhood education. The research results revealed direct othering and the perspective of an awareness of otherness, in which something was recognized as discriminating or othering. Structural otherness also appeared in the research results. Judging from the research results, the factors embodying otherness are spread over a wide area and thus, from the point of view of intersectionality, create new categories embodying otherness.