Examining the Potential of Citizenship Education in Fostering Active Citizenship in Postsocialist Croatia: Teacher Perspectives

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Citizenship Education: Paradoxes, Processes, Struggles, Possibilities of Implementation at Local, National and International Levels

Proposal

Citizenship education (CE) has been defined as an important educational approach to fostering students who are critical thinkers and active participants in expanding democratic societies locally and globally (Bickmore et al., 2017). However, dominant CE frameworks mostly theorize their objectives, curricula and pedagogies from within the contexts of liberal and capitalist Western societies (Andreotti, 2015). Such frameworks depend on generalized concepts that are meant to be equally applicable in different contexts but fail to consider how teachers, in their local environments, negotiate global narratives, national policies, local histories, their positionalities, and lived experiences. Therefore, this study analyzes the experiences of women teachers involved in CE in post-socialist Croatia and contributes to the inclusion of traditionally ignored voices of postsocialist women in local and global CE discussions (Todorova, 2021).

Croatia’s politics, nation formations, and ways of understanding citizenship depended heavily on its relationships with other countries from the Global North, South and East. These relationships continue to contribute to the Croatian people’s strained response to the Western/European notions of citizenship (Todorova, 2021). Nevertheless, Croatian society has been historically shaped by collective civic action that fought injustices in imperialism, socialism, and democratic capitalism. More specifically, women, educators, or students have led the most recent and most successful citizenship initiatives.

To better understand the power interplays of global frameworks and complex local contexts concerning generating collective action, this study focuses on the experiences of women educators involved in citizenship education in post-socialist Croatia. Specifically, the study is guided by the following questions: According to the women teachers, what is the role of citizenship education in the struggle for a more just Croatian society? What pedagogical approaches do women teachers use to foster participatory citizenship? How do they navigate relationships of power with their students, colleagues, and state?

To answer these questions, this qualitative study uses data gathered through semi-structured, personal interviews with 15 self-identified female educators involved in CE in Croatia. The postsocialist and transnational feminist literature on democracy, power, and participation guided the method of analysis. Transnational feminisms seek to map the intersection of hegemonic power relations and shed light on multidirectional power flows by examining existing counter-hegemonic efforts (Chandra, 2003; Grewal & Kaplan, 1994). Therefore, it offers an excellent theoretical and analytical framework for examining non-dominant conceptions of CE that materialize as CE theory meets complex histories, asymmetrical power flows, and social differences. The findings provide insight in teachers’ conceptions of CE and relate them to dominant CE discourses. Further, findings map teachers’ conformity as well as agency in relation to the state, and looks at how these power dynamics manifest in relationships with their colleagues and students.

This research contributes new knowledge by critically examining CE and its potential to foster collective action through previously ignored yet highly relevant theoretical paradigms - transnational feminisms and postsocialism. The study enriches CE discourse and encourages transnational solidarities by focusing on teacher practices in countries shaped by ideological ruptures, cultural and economic transformations, and violence related to social differences.

Author

• Nana Gulic, O.I.S.E. University of Toronto