Poster #39 - Promoting Peace Through Global Citizenship? North Cyprus Fifth-Grade Textbook

• In Event: 77.059 - MTCC Tuesday Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: 77.059-6 - International and Domestic Politics of Education

Abstract

Around the world, we see many examples of history textbooks which have been used as an ideological tool of politics (Langewiesche, 2000). In the politically divided island of Cyprus, North (Turkish) and South (Greek) researchers have found similar ideological identity construction. History textbooks have highlighted ethnic differences between two communities further where it created isolation by “othering” each other (Latif, 2017). In contrast to the extensive scholarship about history education in Cyprus, there is limited research on an insignificant analysis which highlights the impact of the citizenship education taught through social studies textbooks at the elementary level of teaching. Therefore, this paper focuses on the current 2017-2018 academic year fifth-grade elementary level Social Studies textbooks in North Cyprus using Gaudelli’s (2009) five discourses of global citizenship: neoliberal, nationalist, Marxist, world justice/governance, and cosmopolitan. This paper further looks at how these discourses of citizenship, as manifest in the textbook, promote or work against peace.

Author

• Simge Engelkiran, Kent State University