Speaking as Democratic Subjects: Transnational Youth, Democratic Discussion, and Learning Citizenship for the 21st Century

• In Event: Language, Identity, and Citizenship in International/Transnational Contexts

Abstract

Growing linguistic and cultural diversity in schools and declining levels of youth civic engagement pose challenges to traditional ideas of citizenship and civic education in the US. Increasingly, students’ ability to participate in democratic deliberation is seen as vital for participation in public life. Democratic deliberation is promoted as building tolerance and as an effective participatory pedagogy. Less is known about what kinds of speech acts garner recognition as ‘effective’ democratic practice, or how speech acts evoke specific places, histories, or values. Drawing on qualitative data collected from a three-month study of two New York high schools, this roundtable discussion explores the enabling and constraining aspects of this pedagogical approach, focusing particularly on the cultural production of democratic youth subjects.

Author

• Nancy L. Lesko, Columbia University, Teachers College