Falling prey to the dominant culture? Demystifying symbolic violence against ethnic minority students in Nepal

Nepal’s multicultural society is hierarchical and divided along the lines of caste, ethnicity and language and its school system, including curriculum and pedagogy, is influenced greatly by the dominant language and culture. In this context, this article analyses the difficulties and struggle ethnic minority children experience as they move between the cultures of home and school. Drawing upon a narrative case analysis, this article argues that ethnic minority students are subjected to what Bourdieu terms symbolic violence with illustrations of how such violence is reproduced in schools’ everyday interactions, practices and dispositions. In particular, schools’ symbolic violence against minority students has been reproduced and manifested in various guises of language, peer culture and pedagogy. Given the problematic nature of schooling for such children in the majority of schools in Nepal, this article underscores the need for culturally responsive school policies to embrace the linguistic and cultural diversity of students as well as tapping into the cultural resources each student brings to the school.