Contradictions of inclusion: Cultural-historical legacies and the struggle for inclusive education

This paper examines how cultural-historical legacies, sociopolitical ideologies, spatial and economic arrangements organize educational responses to human differences at the intersection of disability, race, culture, and language. Drawing upon cultural-historical activity theory, we examine systemic contradictions within the inclusive education system in two national contexts: Ukraine and South Korea. The first case investigates how post-Soviet legacies of conformity and deficit-based professionalization continue to mediate inclusive practices in Ukrainian schools. The second study interrogates how monoethnic nationalism, postcolonial ideologies, and deficit discourses shape the identification and schooling of students with disabilities from multicultural families in South Korea. Despite the presence of progressive policies, both cases reveal how deeply rooted exclusionary structures and historical ideologies constrain the transformative possibilities of inclusive education. We argue that inclusive education is far from being a neutral, universal construct divorced from its social and cultural contexts. Rather it requires a reframing of inclusive education as a cultural-historical system, constituted through histories, artifacts, and relations of power. Such a reframing is essential for unpacking systemic contradictions and for reimagining the sociopolitical, institutional, and cultural shifts to re-mediate educational systems and advance equity for all students.