Children’s national identity in multicultural classrooms in Costa Rica and the United States

Abstract

The development of healthy national identifications in children and youth has important implications for the construction of democratic citizenries in culturally and linguistically diverse societies. In this comparative qualitative case study of two multicultural public schools—one in the United States and one in Costa Rica—I examined children’s understandings of national identity formation. I conducted individual and focus group interviews and ethnographic observations for 12 weeks in each school. I found that children conceptualized national identity using both concrete and abstract elements. In addition, children in each school deployed particular types of narratives to talk about national identifications. Although children in both schools reported ideas of “civic nationality,” children in the US school were more likely to express ideas of “ethnic nationality” (Hoyos et al., 2004). Further, children in the US school reported more cosmopolitan perspectives toward national identity than the children in the Costa Rican School. Based on the findings, I suggest expanding research to study the “national identity maps” of children in multicultural contexts.