[Commlist] Call for Papers: Citizenship Teaching & Learning

Call for Papers: Citizenship Teaching & Learning


Special Issue: ‘Reconceptualizing and Reimagining Citizenship Education 
in Light of Youth Led Global Movements’


Abstract submission deadline: 15 June

Full article submission deadline: 15 October


Since the start of 2019, the world has witnessed startling 
anti-government mass demonstrations. From Sudan, where a dictator ruled 
the country for over three decades, to Hong Kong, where hundreds of 
thousands of protestors are demanding democracy and an end to police 
brutality. The mass movements, which are largely youth-led and involve a 
wide array of people who might have never been politically engaged 
before, are taking place in unprecedented numbers in Algeria, Bolivia, 
Catalonia, Chile, Iraq, Lebanon and more around the world. The 
protestors from across the globe, in spite of the varied contexts, have 
common calls and framings: the demonstrations are anti-institution, 
demanding socio-economic reforms with a clear lens of and for equality 
and the end of corruption and neo-liberal policies.


This mass mobilization is not only unprecedented in size and spread, but 
also in its ability to create spaces for expression that know no 
redlines or limits. From artistic expression – almost depicting events 
in real-time – to songs, dance and collective discussion where people 
from all backgrounds have a say. While largely leaderless, 
anti-institution and horizontal in power distribution, these mass 
movements have been organized and effective in making significant 
changes on the level of the people, particularly in their ability to 
reclaim space and shift narratives that have previously been limited by 
institutional dominance and official discourse. The change is yet to 
reach the level of the ruling elites, who devise education strategies, 
curricula and policies, including citizenship education (CE).


Proliferated globally, CE is taught in the majority of countries yet it 
does not speak to realities on the ground. The current institutionally 
led and dominated practices of CE can be critiqued for being 
depoliticized and nationalist, which often results in the 
marginalization and acculturation of many groups – primarily refugees 
and migrants. These groups are absent from the official narrative and 
are forced to adopt it though it ostracizes them from the ‘imagined 
community’ portrayed in national citizenship curricula. Being bound to 
the nation state, CE often adopts the ideology of the ruling party or 
class, sees through a naive and uncritical lens regarding the examined 
subjects and steers away from exploring and critiquing various ideologies.


With increasing mobilizations across the world, the state, equipped with 
water cannons, tear gas, mass arrests and, in some cases, live 
ammunition, is facing demonstrators. These acts of violence are 
punishment for practicing citizenship duties, implying that the state 
condemns such forms of civic participation.


This response raises several questions about CE, including whether the 
state is really interested in its citizens’ engagement in political 
life. Are there desired and less desirable forms of active citizenship, 
and how would youth in countries where mobilization is occurring imagine 
and envision CE?


Against this background, this special issue of CTL has several aims:

• It will seek to position CE within this fast-changing and highly 
politicized environment where youth are increasingly playing a major 
role in current mobilizations, be they socially, politically, 
economically or environmentally instigated.

• It will seek to initiate a critical conversation between the different 
manifestations and facets of mass social movements led by youth, and CE.

• It will seek to re-envision the meanings and conceptualizations of CE, 
inspired by the radical changes happening globally in reclaimed and 
imagined spaces by young people, as well as the impact of CE on 
political engagement beyond the traditional confines of nation states 
and institutions.

• It will seek to understand how youth perceive, formulate and practice 
active citizenship, and what kind of education young people seek to 
realize through their mobilization.

• It will seek to understand how young people express notions of 
citizenship in different modalities of expression, such as art, theatre, 
music, dance, reclaiming of public spaces, social media, etc.

• It will seek to highlight the perspectives of groups that suffer 
legal, social, political, economic and cultural violence and 
marginalization through citizenship education.


We call for contributions based on these six aims, which go beyond the 
limiting institutional definition and practice of CE within classrooms 
and schools only, for example, or through institutionally devised 
curricula that depoliticize and decontextualize CE. We also encourage 
articles that adopt an intersectional lens when researching youth 
mobilization. This call is for researchers, educators, activists, 
artists and other community members who are currently involved in social 
mobilization around the world.


We welcome two types of contribution in this special issue:

• Academic articles (8,000 words).

• Reflections and opinion pieces written by youth and activists (2,000 
words).


Please direct all submissions to the two guest editors’ emails and not 
through CTL’s standard online submissions system.


Read more here >> 
https://www.intellectbooks.com/asset/46899/1/Citizenship_Teaching_Learning_CfP_March2020.pdf


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