Questioning Allegiance: Resituating Civic Education

Description

Education about living in society and in the world is a vital task of schools. Yet such civic education is not always critically examined, and few among us have been encouraged to reflect on our civic education experiences. Around the world, one’s civic education most often looks like a black box. How it works is unclear. When human harm, violence, and oppression can be seen in a wide variety of contexts, it is worth critically examining civic education. Could it be that civic education is not playing a helpful role in society? Can it be done differently and better? As one reflects on the contemporary social world, it is helpful to examine the assumptions surrounding education for living together, to think about current modes and possible alternatives. Otherwise, one might end up promoting allegiance to civic and partisan entities which are themselves black boxes (the ‘nation’, the ‘people’), failing to notice when and how what goes on in civic education is morally questionable. This book aims to elucidate some of the black box of civic education, and focuses on some of its main operations across contexts. Offering a new framework for students and academics, this book questions existing thinking and shifts the focus of attention from the right balance to strike between local, national, and global allegiances to the more fundamental question of what counts as ‘local’, ‘national’, and ‘global’, and what might be involved in cultivating allegiances to them. It looks at allegiance to not just transnational but also sub-global ‘civilisations’ and it problematises the notion of the ‘local community’ in new ways. This book is the 2020 AESA Critics' Choice Book Award Winner. Cover Half Title Endorsements Title Page Copyright Page Table of contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgements 1 The challenge of learning to live together Learning to live together The morality and cultural politics of civic education Outline of contents References 2 Civilisation and culture in education Civilisations Civilisation and education Problems Conclusion References 3 Patriotism and nationalism in education Patriotism and nationalism Nationalism and education Problems Conclusion References 4 Globalisation and education Globalisation Neoliberalism and cosmopolitanism Globalisation and education Problems Conclusion References 5 Localism in education Localism Localism in education Problems Conclusion References 6 Interpersonal relations in education Relations in education Problems Conclusion References 7 The individual in education Rational autonomy and emotional virtue The individual in education Problems Conclusion References 8 Media and civic education Media Media, civilisation, and nationalism Media, globalisation, and localism Media and education Conclusion References 9 Rethinking civic education Rethinking the educational challenge Civic education aims Civic education means Recommendations Conclusion References 10 Conclusion Rethinking learning to live together Ways forward References Index