School success of Moroccan youth in Barcelona: theoretical insights for practical questions

Abstract

This article addresses the relationship between ethnic identity and school performance of Moroccan youth living in Barcelona (Spain), particularly in cases of academic success. The bulk of the article makes reference to examples from ethnographical research to pinpoint the strategies used by some of these youths and their families to transcend the cultural, linguistic, and social barriers they face both in school and in their wider community. In so doing, we shift our gaze from John Ogbu's immigrant/ involuntary typology to the patterns of variability along ethnic, class and gender lines that exist within this minority group. Results from recent ethnographic research points out that high academic performance does not necessarily entails neither rejection of ethnicity nor simple conformity. Rather, some of these Moroccan youth adopt an instrumental view of education that promotes the development of new and proactive cultural identities inside and outside the school arena.