Skin color discrimination among primary school children

Journal title MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA
Author/s Margherita Cardellini1
Publishing Year 2018 Issue 2018/3
Language English Pages 21 P. 93-113 File size 258 KB
DOI 10.3280/MAL2018-003006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Several studies highlight that dark-skinned children are often victims of discrimination from adults and society, but few studies specifically focus on skin color discrimination among children. In this paper, some results of a research project are reported with the aim of investigating whether and how primary school children talk about skin colors, picking up any stereotypes or prejudices. Using focus group as methodology to stimulate the group dimension and interaction, several stories about skin color discrimination within their class-room or school have emerged. Based on the results, the worth of adopting an intercultural education perspective able to include an antiracist objective has been suggested, in the belief that diversity and plurality could really become elements of potential enrichment for humanity, starting from children.

Keywords: Colorism, experiences of discrimination, primary school children, skin color discrimination.

  1. Allen, W. (1992). The color of success: African-American college student outcomes at predominantly White and historically Black public colleges and universities. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 1, 26-45,
  2. Aluffi Pentini, A. (2018, in press). Pedagogia interculturale e pedagogia antirazzista: una sinergia necessaria. In S. Lorenzini & M. Cardellini (Eds.), Discriminazione tra genere e colore. Un’analisi critica per l’impegno interculturale e antirazzista. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  3. Anzieu, D. (1987). L’io-pelle. Roma: Borla.
  4. Barbiero, M. C. (1985). Noi e gli altri. Atteggiamenti e pregiudizi nel bambino. Napoli: Guida Editori.
  5. Barbujani, G., & Cheli, P. (2008). Sono razzista, ma sto cercando di smettere. Bari: Laterza.
  6. Bateson, G. (1973). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Balantine.
  7. Bhattacharyya, G., Gabriel, J., & Small, S. (2016). Race and power: Global racism in the twenty first century. London/USA: Routledge.
  8. Bolognesi, I. (2010). Le famiglie immigrate e i servizi per la prima infanzia: modelli di cura e strategie educative a confronto. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 5, 1, 1-21,
  9. Bolognesi, I. (2017). I principi della pedagogia interculturale. In I. Bolognesi & S. Lorenzini (Eds.), Pedagogia interculturale. Pregiudizi, razzismi, impegno educativo (p. 288). Bologna: Bononia University Press.
  10. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. USA: Rowman & Littlefield.
  11. Bottiani, J. H., Bradshaw, P. B., & Mendelson, T. (2016). Inequality in Black and White high school students’ perceptions of school support: An examination of race in context. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 6, 1176-1191,
  12. Brody, G. H., Lei, M. K., Chae, D. H., Tianyi, Y., Kogan, S. M., & Beach, S. R. H. (2014). Perceived discrimination among African American adolescents and allostatic load: A longitudinal analysis with buffering effects. Child Development, 85, 3, 989-1002,
  13. Caravita, S. C., Donghi, E., Banfi, A., & Meneghini, F. (2016). Essere immigrati come fattore di rischio per la vittimizzazione nel bullismo: uno studio italiano su caratteristiche individuali e processi di gruppo. Maltrattamento e abuso all’infanzia, 17, 1, 59-87, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2016-001004
  14. Cardellini, M. (2017a). Il “genere” nelle parole di bambine e bambini di scuola primaria in Italia: tra stereotipi ed esperienze. AboutGender, 6, 12, 74-101.
  15. Cardellini, M. (2017b). Le parole per nominare i colori della pelle: conversazioni con alunni di scuola primaria, tra 9 e 11 anni. Educazione Interculturale, 15, 1, 33-46.
  16. Cardellini, M. (2017c). Using photos in pedagogical and intercultural research with children. Images and research: Between sense and reality. Proceedings, 1, 9, 926, 1-10.
  17. Cardellini, M. (2018). Discorsi sul colore della pelle tra bambini di scuola primaria: parole, significati e pregiudizi. In M. Di Mauro & B. Gehrke (Eds.), Multicultural identities. Challenging the sense of belonging (pp. 185-206). Colle Val D’Elsa: Fondazione Intercultura ONLUS.
  18. Caronia, L. (2011). Fenomenologia dell’educazione. Intenzionalità, cultura e conoscenza in pedagogia. Bologna: FrancoAngeli.
  19. Contini, M. (2006). Categorie e percorsi del problematicismo pedagogico. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 1, 1, 51-65.
  20. De Oliveira, W. A., da Silva, J. L., Alves, R. Q., & Iossi, S. M. A. (2016). Experiences and perceptions of discrimination related to bullying among Brazilian students. Maltrattamento e abuso all’infanzia, 17, 1, 29-57, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2016-001003
  21. Demozzi, S. (2012). Forma Sostanza Differenza. Brevi cenni di “epistemologia batesoniana”. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 7, 1, 1-9,
  22. Donghi, E. (2016). Il fenomeno del bullismo discriminatorio: benessere psicologico e adattamento delle vittime. Maltrattamento e abuso all’infanzia, 1, 9-28, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2016-001002
  23. English, D., Lambert, S. F., & Ialongo, N. S. (2014). Longitudinal associations between experienced racial discrimination and depressive symptoms in African American adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 50, 4, 1190-1196,
  24. Fordham, S., & Ogbu, J. U. (1986). Black students’ school success: Coping with the “burden” of “acting white”. The Urban Review, 18, 3, 176-206.
  25. Franchini, R., & Guidi, D. (1993). Premesso che non sono razzista: l’opinione di mille modenesi sull’immigrazione extracomunitaria. Roma: Editori Riuniti.
  26. Giorgi, A. (2009). The Descriptive phenomenological method in psychology. A modified Husserlian approach. Pennsylvania: Duquesne University Press.
  27. Goff, P. A., Jackson, M. C., Di Leone, B. A. L., Culotta, C. M. & Di Tomasso, N. A. (2014). The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 4, 526-545,
  28. Gómez, C. (2000). The continual significance of skin color: An exploratory study of Latinos in the Northeast. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 22, 1, 94-103, DOI: 10.1177/0739986300221005
  29. Heidegger, M. (1927). Essere e tempo. Parigi: Gallimard.
  30. Hilberth, M., & Slate, J. R. (2014). Middle school Black and White student assignment to disciplinary consequences: A clear lack of equity. Education and Urban Society, 46, 3, 312-328, DOI: 10.1177/0013124512446218
  31. Hope, E. C., Skoog, A. B., & Jagers, R. J. (2015). It’ll never be the white kids, it’ll always be us. Black high school student’s Evolving critical analysis of racial discrimination and inequality in schools. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 1, 83-112, DOI: 10.1177/0743558414550688
  32. Hunter, M. (2013). The consequences of colorism. In Roland H. (Ed.), The melanin millennium (pp. 247-256). Dordrecht: Springer.
  33. Irvine, J. J. (1990). Black students and school failure. Policies, practices, and prescriptions. Westport: Greenwood Press.
  34. Landrine, H., & Klonoff, E. A. (1996). The schedule of racist events: A measure of racial discrimination and a study of its negative physical and mental health consequences. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 2, 144-168.
  35. Lorenzini, S. (2012). Famiglie per adozione. Le voci dei figli. Pisa: ETS.
  36. Lorenzini, S. (2013). Adozione e origine straniera. Problemi e punti di forza nelle riflessioni dei figli. Pisa: ETS.
  37. Lorenzini, S. (2017). Educazione interculturale per la pluralità nell’identità. Il colore della pelle è parte dell’identità. In I. Loiodice & S. Ulivieri (Eds.), Per un nuovo patto di solidarietà. Il ruolo della pedagogia nella costruzione di percorsi identitari, spazi di cittadinanza e dialoghi interculturali (pp. 152-163). Bari: Progredit.
  38. Lorenzini, S., & Cardellini, M. (Eds) (2018). Discriminazioni tra genere e colore. Un’analisi critica per l’impegno interculturale e antirazzista. Milano: FrancoAngeli
  39. Morin, E., & Ceruti, M. (2015). Insegnare a vivere: manifesto per cambiare l’educazione. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  40. Neblett, Jr. E. W., Philip, C. L, Cogburn, C. D., & Sellers, R. M. (2006). African American adolescents’ discrimination experiences and academic achievement: Racial socialization as a cultural compensatory and protective factor. Journal of Black Psychology, 32, 2, 199-218, DOI: 10.1177/0095798406287072
  41. Ogbu, J. U. (2003). Black American students in an affluent suburb: A study of academic disengagement. USA/London: Routledge.
  42. Palmer, M., Larkin, M., de Visser, R., & Fadden, G. (2010). Developing an interpretative phenomenological approach to focus group data. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 7, 2, 99-121, DOI: 10.1080/14780880802513194
  43. Pastori, G. (2010). Le nuove sfide identitarie dei bambini nella migrazione nelle parole di educatrici di scuola dell’infanzia. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 5, 2, 1-16,
  44. Peery, D. (2011). The colorblind ideal in a race-conscious reality: The case for a new legal ideal for race relations. Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, 6, 2, 473-495.
  45. Phillips, K. S., Kliewer, W., Tirmazi, T., Nebbitt, V., Carter, T., & Key, H. (2014). Perceived racial discrimination, drug use, and psychological distress in African American youth: A pathway to child health disparities. Journal of Social Issues, 70, 2, 279-297,
  46. Quiros, L., & Dawson, B. A. (2013). The color paradigm: The impact of colorism on the racial identity and identification of Latinas. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 23, 3 287-297, DOI: 10.1080/10911359.2012.740342
  47. Sagone, E. (2003). Pigotte bianche e nere. Una ricerca sull’ “ipotesi di contatto” e la categorizzazione sociale in scuole materne mono e multi-etniche. Annali della Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, 2, 235-244.
  48. Schmitt, M. T., Branscombe, N. R., Postmes, T., & Garcia, A. (2014). The consequences of perceived discrimination for psychological well-being: a meta-analytic review, Psychological Bulletin, 140, 4, 921.
  49. Tabet, P., & Di Bella, S. (1998). Io non sono razzista, ma…: strumenti per disimparare il razzismo. Roma: Anicia.
  50. Tabet, P. (1997). La pelle giusta. Torino: Einaudi.
  51. Tatum, B. D. (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 1, 1-24,
  52. Telles, E. E. (2014). Race in another America: The significance of skin color in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  53. UNESCO (2017). Preventing violence through education. A guide for policy-makers (-- disponibile online: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002477/247764e.pdf).
  54. UNICEF (2016). A fair chance for every child (p. VII) (-- disponibile online: https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/UNICEF_SOWC_2016.pdf).
  55. Walker, A. (1982). The color purple. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
  56. Wong, C., Eccles, J. S., & Sameroff, A. (2003). The influence of ethnic discrimination and ethnic identification on African American adolescents’ school and socioemotional adjustment. Journal of Personality, 71, 6, 1197-1232, DOI: 10.1111/1467-6494.7106012
  57. Zammuner, V. L. (2003). I focus group. Bologna: il Mulino.
  58. Zannoni, F. (2007). Stereotipi e pregiudizi etnici nei pensieri dei bambini. Immagini, discussioni, prospettive. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica, 2, 1-29, DOI: 10.1400/128306

Margherita Cardellini1, Skin color discrimination among primary school children in "MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL’INFANZIA" 3/2018, pp 93-113, DOI: 10.3280/MAL2018-003006