Critical Citizenship Education for "Postmodern" Times

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Paulo Freire, Critical Pedagogy, and Emancipation Roundtable

Abstract

The pervasiveness of technology and media in civic discourse has further disoriented the role and nature of citizenship education. This paper examines the relevant theoretical frameworks of postmodernism, critical theory, and social constructionism to inform the conceptualization and practice of critical citizenship education within an increasingly interconnected, diverse, and divided society. Resisting moral relativism and fundamentalism, the paper examines the principle of universalism while maintaining a critical and differentiated stance. Utilizing the existing infrastructure of the Internet and integrating structured social constructivist debate within Freire’s (1970) model of praxis (theory, application, evaluation, and reflection), the paper prototypes a process in which citizens can consider institutional and perspectival barriers and take action to change existing conditions of oppression.

Author

• Grace Chen, New York City Department of Education