Communities of Shared Fate

• In Event: The Moral Implications of Critically Ambitious Social Studies Instruction

Abstract

In response to the violence of our era and the vast movement of people around the globe, a primary aim of social studies education should be to develop an understanding of ourselves as members of communities of shared fate. Through conceptual analysis, the paper supports arguments that citizenship education should be grounded in communities of fate, rather than a sense of shared identity as a member of a particular country. Shared fate is the idea that our lives are intertwined with others in ways we perceive and ways we cannot. Civility is elaborated as concrete strategies that support or make possible broad participation in the demos. Looking at citizenship through the lens of communities of shared fate changes how we think about belonging and our responsibilities to one another in our shared world. The author provides examples of early career educators’ moral commitment to teaching from a perspective of shared fate and as well as their concerns to link the conceptual work to concrete practices within elementary school classrooms.

The presentation outlines Williams’ (2009, 2003), Ben-Porath’s (2012, 2011) and Zembylas’ (2017) conceptions of citizenship education within “communities of shared fate.” These concepts are framed by Balibar’s (s001) conception of civility as an ethics required for collective participation in democracy that entails recognition of human rights and an understanding of ourselves as members of communities of fate (Van Gunsteren, 1998, in Balibar, 2001). Balibar asserts that we should not consider the choice between access to and denial of the rights of citizenship as a speculative issue: It represents a concrete challenge. For Balibar, civility is a set of initiatives which ensures and invites broad participation. Examples of early career educators’ moral commitment to teaching from a perspective of shared fate and as well as their concerns to ground my conceptual work on the moral dimensions of social studies education and to link the concepts to concrete practices within elementary school classrooms.

Author

• Martha RItter, Cabrini College