Global Citizens and Olympic Branding: Mega-Events, Neoliberalism, and the Effects of Educational Discourse

• In Event: Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: Popular Culture and Public Curriculum: Critical Questions in Nontraditional Spaces

Abstract

This paper explores the manner in which discourses of ‘global citizenship’, uncritically reproduced within educational sites, are superseding the boundaries of education to appear in diverse cultural forms. One such form is in efforts by Olympic boosters to endorse the ‘peace-making’ and ‘global citizenship-enhancing’ capacities of the Games for young people. Drawing on educational research that examines citizenship education through critical, feminist, and anti-racist perspectives, the paper troubles mainstream educational and Olympic claims about an apolitical global citizenship that disguises class, race, and gender disparities. Drawing on ongoing qualitative research, the paper contrasts these claims with the lived experiences of low-income youth within Olympic host cities, looking specifically at the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Author

• Jacqueline Kennelly, Carleton University