"Citizenship" in Troubling Times: Belonging, Exclusion, and Self-Determination

• In Event: 16.060 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 16.060-20 - Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Discussion (Roundtable) Session 2

Abstract

A goal of the citizenship component of our national curriculum in Australia posits that we ought to nurture our “common bonds” in order to further “social cohesion”; even as we recognize and celebrate our differences. However, we attempting this within complex and challenging regional and international contexts. With racial vilification; debates and protests around immigration policies; political and religious extremism; nationalistic resurgences; international military engagements; and, mainstream political debate around possible revocation of citizenship, a careful examination of these bonds, and how to nurture them, is very needed. We are attempting to examine democratic citizenship in our context by focusing on the question: “What, indeed, does it mean to ‘be an Australian’ and a ‘citizen’ in these times?”

Authors

• Marc Pruyn, Monash University

• Lisa Cary, Murdoch University