This abstract deals with the need to adopt a critical glance within multicultural and peripheral educational contexts - typical of some large Italian cities - in the process of building a solid educational community by first identifying the available literature concerning the topic area. The theoretical framework is that of critical pedagogy, with references to engaged and decolonial pedagogy which encourages scrupulous research on the power structures that shape society enriched by an intersectional perspective. It is essential, when interacting with people who come from marginal conditions and socioeconomic and/or cultural deprivation, to consider the internal and external power dynamics within educational institutions, identifying the hegemonic processes where the unequal relations of power and privilege remain hidden. The implementation of this vision, first, passes through the analysis of the general framework surrounding the educational contexts under study. A specific focus on the social and political macro-areas allows us to 'put back at the centre' the marginality of some structural phenomena such as access to the right to citizenship, school dropout and the transition to the job market of young people with a migrant background. This translates into the need to carefully observe and study the multiple axes of oppression and discrimination that often manifest themselves simultaneously and that a person from a marginalized community can suffer, fueling systemic discrimination phenomena such as the dynamics connected to racialization processes. Proceeding to the in-depth analysis of the question, the aim is to have a clear overview of studies carried out in multicultural and peripheral contexts in Italy and Europe, with a look also at recurring themes emerging from researches conducted in the rest of the world.

To identify the main theories, concepts, and the academic research gaps, a scoping review was carried out through the EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases by applying the PRISMA method. The keywords used in this research were a combination of terms related to the concepts of ‘critical pedagogy’, ‘intercultural education’, ‘multicultural context’, ‘educational community’ with clear reference to the European and Italian contexts. Specific criteria of exclusion and inclusion have been applied, particularly those relating to coherence with the researched topic, non-accessible studies or those vague and lacking in detail. At the European level, specific studies have been conducted on issues related to ‘diversity’ and ‘cultural-linguistic heritage’. At the same time, in the process of building a solid educational community, the findings highlight a substantial ‘knowledge gap’ concerning the study and analysis of the social dichotomy between oppressed and oppressors and its educational repercussions in the European and Italian contexts. In contrast, numerous studies have been carried out in countries of the so-called ‘global South’. Frequent themes that appear in the global South studies relate to intercultural approaches oriented towards social justice, ‘ethnoeducation’ as an integral part of decolonial pedagogy, and epistemological pluralism. The aforementioned gap could be narrowed through detailed research in peripheral and multicultural contexts, such as those of some large Italian and European cities, where ‘educational poverty’ often proliferates, through and intercultural, critical and intersectional perspective.

Keywords: Educational Community, Interculture, Critical Pedagogy, Decolonial Pedagogy, Mapping Review.