Managing the Symbolic Power of Halal Meat in Swedish Preschools: Food for Thought in Discussions on Diversity

The study investigates how kindergarten teachers understand and relate to the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity in kindergarten related to serving or not serving halal meat, in light of the curriculum.   

The results indicate that cultural and religious differences related to food and food preferences lead to dilemmas and conflicts. The kindergarten teachers used avoidance strategies or tried to change the parents’ views. In addition, the results show that the kindergarten curriculum provides little guidance and that the kindergarten teachers must therefore develop their own strategies for dealing with the expectations and demands of children and parents, often by using the children as intermediaries. 

The data material consists of focus group interviews with 41 kindergarten teachers from 33 kindergartens in two districts in Stockholm. The group of kindergarten teachers had a varied background, most of whom were born outside Sweden, were bilingual or multilingual and engaged in intercultural communication with children, parents and colleagues.

Stier, J. & Sandström, M. (2020). “Managing the Symbolic Power of Halal Meat in Swedish Preschools: Food for Thought in Discussions on Diversity”. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 20(1):92-106.