An African Perspectives Based on the Current Status of Global Citizenship Education in Western Africa

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

Abstract

Education in colonial West Africa produced a western-oriented elite class who were more comfortable in Paris and London than in Accra, Dakar or Lagos. To the extent that a “global citizenship education” existed, it was Eurocentric, externally oriented and alienating for most Africans. Post-colonial education emphasized nationalism as tools of decolonization and nation-building. Global Citizenship was addressed in the curriculum, as a strategy for a pan-Africanist identity and solidarity against a global capitalist system. With the emphasis on nationalism also came increased authoritarianism and widespread human rights abuses. This paper will examine the record of selected West African countries to respond to domestic and international demands for more democratic transformations. To what extent have these created “global citizenship” among West Africans? What does a global citizenship education look like from an African perspective? How does it respond to the specific needs of the African for personal safety and security, civil and human rights, economic prosperity and human dignity?

Author

• Nuru Akinyemi, Kennesaw State University