Religiosity and citizenship in China’s school curriculum

The aim of this paper is to reveal the representations of religiosity in China’s school curriculum. This study will draw on a framework based on the interface of ‘othering’ discourse in representing China’s diversity and the potential of religiosity for challenging “nation-state citizenship” (Turner, 2011, p. 233). The existing studies suggest that the diversity discourse in China’s educational curriculum establishes distinct, fixed boundaries for internal ethnic groups and external national differences for the purpose of promoting the unity of the nation-state. The rise of religious forces and values may provide an alternative way to challenge the ‘us’ and ‘them’ dichotomy in China’s diversity discourse. This study will adopt critical discourse analysis to examine the images of ‘religious people’ in the national curriculum guidelines and textbooks and the representations of religiosity that relate to ethnic and national distinctions. Six major subjects in social studies will be selected: The Chinese Language, English, Civics, History, Geography, and History and Society. We shall first select the texts and photos relevant to religiosity in the curriculum guidelines and textbooks and interpret the constructed meanings of the curriculum contents. Copyright © 2017 13th citized International Conference.