The TOLERACE project proposes a comparative analysis that focuses on the meanings of (anti-)racism and tolerance in different European contexts, exploring how they are shaped through the mediation of civil society organizations and public institutions and policies (at the European, national, regional and local level). Our working hypothesis is that public policies in Europe do not adequately take into account racism, resulting in precarious anti-racist measures and thus failing to question current approaches to integration and to challenge discriminatory social structures. We anticipate that this is related to the increasing relevance of the idea of tolerance in public political cultures and the prevalence of dominant conceptions of racism operated by public bodies and local mediation agents. New knowledge and European added value The TOLERACE project aims to achieve a contextualized comparative analysis of local/regional cases identifying racist structures and practices and to address the role of European framing of policies and organizations. On the one hand, the focus on semantics will allow to explore the extent to which the idea of (in)tolerance in European public political cultures is related to (anti-)racism. On the other, the focus on local mediation agents will allow to understand the re-definition of (anti-)racism within a set of complex ways of belonging and of governing difference, and thus related to multiple forms of discrimination (such as religious and linguistic). The project seeks to elaborate proposals regarding anti-racism policies within a multiple discrimination approach, jointly with public bodies and civil society representatives. Thematic research fields Academic narratives, public discourses and policies on racism/anti-racism and tolerance/intolerance. The analysis of the different meanings of these concepts and political processes within the academic production (e.g. history, sociology, political theory, anthropology and social psychology), and its interrelations to current public discourses and policies in the national and wider European contexts under study. Local policy responses, discrimination and employment. The empirical study of cases regarding employment, to analyze the role and effectiveness of local mediation agents (e.g. city councils, grassroots organizations) and to examine how the localization of (anti-)racist measures is shaping conceptions of racism and related discriminations. Difference and integration in education. The analysis of official policies and school responses to situations of complex cultural diversity (particularly, linguistic and religious). The empirical study of cases will be used to understand how questions of tolerance, integration and (anti-)racism are deployed in everyday discourses and practices. Public issues and denunciations. To examine the role of the media in the construction of racism as a public issue and thus as a key social and political problem. This will be achieved through the analysis of the framing of cases in each national/regional context.

Universidad de Sevilla