The Relational Connectivity of Local-Global in Community Activism: What Does “Being Local” Mean?

• In Event: Rearticulating Student Voice and Activism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to 1) discuss the meaning of locality in community activism in terms of a relational connectivity to the larger context and 2) think about its implication for diversifying the discourse of citizenship education. To this end, I examine this issue relating to minority young people’s community activism, because 1) community activism provides concrete examples of civic praxis in the communities, 2) community activism s inevitably interacts with larger levels of society, beyond a given geographical area, and 3) despite its significance in citizenship education, this community activism has been understudied. Discussions are drawn from a case study of one community organizing group that was fighting against gentrification in the Chicago inner city.

Author

• Chaebong Nam, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign