Citizenship transformations in a global world

Chair: Professor Vanessa de Oliveira, Univeristy of Oulu (vanessa.andreotti[at]oulu.fi)
Coordinator: Annica Moore, UniPID, University of Jyväskylä (annica.moore[at]jyu.fi)
Room: 505 (Thursday & Friday)

Drawing inter alia on critical pedagogy, post-colonial analysis and hermeneutic interpretation this UniPID workshop seeks to analyse and problematize the theory, practice, and policy of development and global citizenship education. Contributors are invited to study how education can and should bring about social change while connecting with theory at the level of cultural impact and policy implications. How can and does education form social belonging and membership in a global community? What kind of normative registers does development and global citizenship education promote for how people should act? What kind of citizenship constructions does this education take for granted? And how and by whom are the best practices for this type of education decided?  The aim of this workshop is to seek pluralised possibilities for development education and global citizenship education in ways that address ethnocentrism, ahistoricism, depoliticisation and paternalism in educational agendas, educational research, policy and pedagogy. Papers are invited to critically approach and re-evaluate education policy and practice in this regard. Moreover, further analysis is invited about the role of development and global citizenship education at a time when there is an intense drive to «internationalize» higher education. In this way, we invite epistemological pluralism in addressing development teaching in higher education and hope to gain valuable insights into political and ontological questions that need to be considered in introducing alternative epistemologies and future trajectories into global higher education agendas.

PRESENTATIONS

(1) Combining practice and theory to promote social change
Marianne Nylund, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (marianne.nylund[at]diak.fi)

This paper discusses the English Bachelor of Social Services degree program at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The aim of the paper is to give an example how a multicultural student group produces theoretical and experiential knowledge together. The degree program emphasizes on community development work and user participation in the context of social work and social services in a global context. Many of the students have earlier university degrees or experience from development work as a paid worker or a volunteer. They have high expectations to work in the field of development work in the future. The challenge in teaching is how to combine the Finnish social services (practice, legislation) to global issues of community development work, political and economic crises, human rights and labor issues. How does earlier experiences from different contexts change during the 3,5 years degree program? What kind of pedagogical methods are needed in teaching a multicultural student group to combine theoretical and experiential knowledge? How to keep up students’ spirits for social change in community development work? Some students have found their own solutions by starting a non-governmental organization that promotes social change.

(2) Intercultural education, development and global citizenship education: regrettable misencounters?
Fred Dervin, University of Turku (freder[at]utu.fi)

Intercultural education is said to be experiencing turbulences at the moment, especially in terms of how the ‘intercultural’ is conceptualized (Piller, 2011; Dervin et al., 2011). Some subcomponents of this complex field have already taken on critical aspects that have been supported by development education such as social justice, engagement, interdependence, sustainability, etc. Yet there remain many branches that do not really take these elements into account. Surprisingly this seems to be the case of a subfield of applied linguistics called language and intercultural education. This field has some importance as this is where e.g. international students follow courses on the ‘intercultural’. My paper examines if and how the most recent literature from this subfield (2010/2011, around 10 books) urges researchers and practitioners to look for ways to better equip e.g. students to understand inequality in our world and thus critically review global issues, create a more just and equal world and reflect on changing forms of citizenship. My paper ends on a discussion on the potential misunderstandings on these aspects identified in this literature and how potential regrettable misencounters between this field (which is struggling to renew its methods) and development and global citizenship education could be fixed.

(3) Global citizens education as a counterbalance to neoliberal wisdom in education
Katarzyna Jasikowska, Jagiellonian University, Poland (k.gilarek[at]uj.edu.pl)

Post modernity and globalization opens up discussion on fundamental issues concerning education. In different contexts probably every community/society has to answer similar questions as: what is the aim of education/learning; who is in a position to decide on the directions, and what needs to change, if at all? In the West there are many readymade answers to these questions. However, with the prevailing neoliberal assumptions concerning relations between the state, markets and society they have to be carefully reconsidered in face of reemerging global crisis. Proposed paper examines critically ongoing debate on the impact of global citizenship education on national systems of education. For instance, it is widely assumed that the role of the nation-state, desired outcomes of education and recognized methods to reach them have to be defined anew. However, the array of opinions on that issues range from acknowledging necessity of a partial internationalization of education systems, via their profound transformation to forecasting the end of national education per se as not adequate to the requirements of competitive markets. The major argument of the paper is that global citizenship education oriented towards reconstruction of both citizenship and nationhood with new focus on “others” (culture, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, etc.)  and mutual responsibilities brings the value added to community/society because it is about human specious being sustainable and, as such, may also work as an alternative to the overwhelming marketization, privatization, and effectiveness approach within education.

(4) Is there room for ethics in natural resource curricula?
Javier Arevalo and Blas Mola-Yudego, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, and David Gritten, RECOFTC, The Center for People and Forests, Thailand (javier.arevalo[at]uef.fi)

Important changes in natural resource education have occurred over the last years. These are attempting to reflect, among other trends, the growing concern of our societies over environmental and sustainability aspects, the complexity of interrelated regional and international organisations and governance institutions, and the pressing demands for better engaging all stakeholders through participatory approaches. While the need for higher education courses that cover global citizenship and ethical aspects is apparent to many academicians, so as to effectively deal with issues such as nature resource based conflicts, only few higher education institutions are reacting to this need. In this paper, we discussed the role of ethics in higher education programmes in the area of natural resources under the framework of theoretical conceptualisations such as global citizenship education, critical education and educational worldview. Within this discussion, we analyse data reflecting the views that students as well as other higher education stakeholders from various continents have on the importance of ethics and governance in forest-related curricula. On the basis of these views and on the conceptual discussions, recommendations to higher education institutions are outlined.

(5) Comparing Civic Roles of Media Education in the Global North and Global South
Leonardo Custódio, National Doctoral School of Communication Studies, University of Tampere (leonardo.custodio[at]uta.fi)

This paper is an analysis of how “media education” is conceptualized and implemented in the Global North and Global South. In the growing literature about youth civic engagement, mass media – especially television – are listed as one reason for the general disinterest in political matters. After the rise of Internet, scholars from developed societies have believed new media are potential platforms for youth civic and political actions. In these arguments, media education plays a preparatory role: young people learn to be critical about mass media, develop competences for deliberation and participate in different forms of late modern civic actions in/through Internet. However, these debates tend to ignore the low living conditions in the Global South. In contexts of socioeconomic inequality, deprivation of formal education and limited Internet access, media education plays a transformative role: scholars and non-governmental actors promote critical consciousness and teach technical skills for young people to act for local social change through media. This paper indicates that more North-South dialogue is needed for avoiding Western-centrism and promoting global forms of media education and youth citizenship.

(6) Constructing the others as masses and threats – a hindrance to global citizenship education
Pia Mikander, University of Helsinki  (pia.mikander[at]helsinki.fi)

The Finnish school curriculum promotes key concepts such as democracy, human rights and equality as the underlying values for education. Yet on a more detailed level, a worldview where Westerners appear more valuable than “others” tends to emerge. My research is a discourse   theoretical analysis inspired by Laclau & Mouffe, using Finnish school text books in social sciences (Geography, History and Social science) as material. Theoretically, my inspiration comes from postcolonial theory, critical theory and curriculum studies. In this presentation I focus on the description of worldwide population increase and urbanization as themes where othering occurs. Big cities might be described in positive words, as dynamic and bustling places, if they are situated in the West. Meanwhile, cities in the global South tend to be described as “suffocating” or as growing “uncontrollably”. These kinds of constructions contribute to a form of hegemony where certain types of lives are more valuable than others, thereby undermining the key concept of equality, dividing the world into an “us” and a “them”.  I see the worldview portrayed in the books as relevant to the possibility of a global citizenship education, and the construction of a superior West as a hindrance to this.

(7) Non-formal education towards participation and social inclusion in a reception center
Mervi Kaukko, EDGE, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu (mervikoi[at]mail.student.oulu.fi)

Previous studies show that social and political participation among immigrant youth in Finland is weak. Participation can be especially challenging in reception centers, where the activities of the residents are highly restricted. Reception centers can legitimately be defined as “waiting-rooms” to enter society, or to be deported. There are no proper integration programs for asylum seekers; not all of the children even attend school. However, during the long and frustrating waiting time the children get their first view of Finnish society, with its rights and responsibilities. In this presentation I discuss the possibilities of participation and social inclusion of child-asylum seekers living in a group home of a Finnish reception center. Fragile developmental phase of the children, as well as lack of parental care, emphasize the importance of reception center as an institution of non-formal education for child-asylum seekers. Using critical pedagogy as a theoretical frame work, I examine how the structural factors, educational practices and also the views of the staff may effect a culturally sensitive education for participation. Challenges in a multi-lingual, cross-cultural adult-child-dialogue, diverse views of desired levels of participation, and the restrictions of reality are discussed. The data are collected during a diagnostic period of a participatory action research project in the reception center, including observation and interviews.