Resistance, erasure, and the life & politics of coloniality in Norwegian schools

This article examines institutional responses to racism in Norwegian schools, highlighting the colonial structures influencing education policy and practice. We conduct a colonial discourse analysis of media coverage and verdicts from the Lillesand case, where three sisters faced racialised violence, yet the school and municipality denied the racism. Using a decolonial theoretical lens, we identify four discourses that obscure racism by framing it as bullying in this case: Denial of racism through insisting on conflict, Equality as Sameness and Whiteness, Strong and difficult girls, and Continued Mistrust. We argue that the denial of racism is perpetuated by substituting it with a discourse of bullying, supported by policies rooted in modern/colonial principles of individualised equality, thus masking the dehumanisation caused by racism.