WP154 Superdiversity & discourses of conflict: Interaction in a literacy class

Discussions of superdiversity argue that rapid social change has generated major problems for linguistic, ethnic and cultural categorisation.? But what happens when these changes occur in a conflict-ridden society which struggles to preserve the boundaries between a national ?self? and ?other?? How do children from diverse backgrounds experience this emphasis on ethnic and cultural boundaries, and how are they socialised into the discourses of conflict that reproduce a dichotomous ?us? versus ?them?, with what implications?? This paper focuses on conflict-troubled Cyprus, and sets out to show how the tension between these two opposing forces ? the traditional discourses reproducing Greek-Turkish animosity and the new reality of ?superdiversity? ? is played out in literacy classrooms.