Belonging and Otherness: Teachers of Ethiopian and Russian Origins in Israeli Schools

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter investigates minority teachers’ experience in light of the power relations in society and their expression in schools. The study population included 20 teachers from an Ethiopian background and 34 Russian-speaking teachers in Israeli schools. The teachers responded to an online questionnaire about what made them work at their school, and about feelings of otherness and belonging toward it. The analysis revealed similarities in the issues that contributed to a sense of belonging in both groups, while the issues that contributed to a sense of otherness were different. Teachers described their sense of belonging on three levels: national belonging (e.g., holidays, war times), organizational belonging (professional merit, roles at school, care for students, and school events), and personal belonging (comradeship and team spirit). When it comes to otherness, Russian-speaking teachers noted cultural gaps, slight school involvement, and professional gaps, while teachers of Ethiopian origin emphasized prejudice and feeling patronized. It is noteworthy that all the sources of belonging and otherness are determined by the minority’s resemblance to the majority demonstrating the power relations between minorities and the hegemony. The differences in the symbolic assets that each of the minority groups import, point to the “diversity of diversity” among Israeli minorities. We conclude that the hegemonic group use symbolic assets that minority groups have difficulty acquiring fully (language, Jewishness, skin color), and that construct teachers’ experiences.