A North American Perspective Based on Grassroots Global Citizenship Education in the United States

• In Event: Anti-Diversity, Repression and Neo-Mercantilism : Can Global Citizenship Education Survive?

Abstract

In the United States, neoliberal and nation-centric narratives have long dominated GCE policy and curriculum intentions. Although advocacy for GCE based on equality and social justice continues to gain visibility in academic scholarship, the current administration’s anti-DEI policies, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and moves to stifle academic freedom have sidelined such gains. Today, education priorities remain committed to enhancing American economic competitiveness while promoting uncritical views of global interdependence. This paper focuses on university-community collaborations to foster GCE through non-formal education and community-based research. Data from interviews of teacher educators, teachers, and community leaders reveal empowering discourses to counter dominant rhetoric and policies. These include principles of social justice drawn from cultural minority communities’ struggles for civic inclusion and a growing transnational solidarity based on decolonial consciousness. The paper employs theories of advocacy-based globalization from below (Torres, 2017) to illustrate democratic, ground-up efforts for societal and global transformation amidst challenges to GCE.

Author

• Theresa Alviar Martin, Kennesaw State University