Locating Citizenship (Transnationally):Globalization, Place, and Migration in the Digital Age
Purposes and Standpoints
Ghosn-Chelala identifies
place-based challenges in digital citizenship education, using post-crisis
Lebanon as an example. She analyzes the Lebanese National Civics Curriculum
(LNCC), designed after the end of the civil war for the purpose of building a
social accord and national cohesion. She examines the equity issues inherent in
providing digital citizenship education in a post-crisis area, as well as the
“two lives” approach students lead – since they have little or no access to
digital services in their schools, students’ perceptions of digital citizenship
are formed outside the school. This, combined with the political cynicism
Ghosn-Chelala describes in post-crisis Lebanon, leads students to de-value the
aforementioned digital citizenship framework in favour of whatever best suits
their needs. Her response to these findings includes suggesting that the civics
curriculum be focused on competencies, not rote memorization
Khane, et al., define
“participatory politics” as groups of people attempting to influence issues of
public concern. Examples of this include social media posting, blogging,
petitions, etc. Citizens under the age of 18 cannot vote and are thus often
excluded from policy processes, leading to frustration with traditional systems
of governance; therefore, participatory politics is a means for these citizens
to engage in the political process outside institutional norms, through
creating their own spaces. Khane, et al. refer to these groupings of
extra-normative civic actions as “connected civics”, often brought about as a
result of a shared interest in “lifestyle politics” such as vegetarianism, gun
ownership, or other public political stances. The authors note an increased
prevalence of participatory politics but little in the way of recognition,
analysis, or support from traditional models of citizenship education. Their
solution to this, and the aforementioned issues, is to have students focus on
analyzing facts to avoid controversy, and to embed equity and diversity issues
into the civics curriculum.
Yu discusses the concept of guanxi
as a system of relationships in a group with shared connections, and how that
is reflected in the experience of migrant parents and teachers in China. Guanxi
in migrant schools has offered the 35 million migrant students in China not
only schooling but housing, child care, reduced fees, and community gathering
spaces. Yu notes that this system of activism cannot be called “oppressed”
because it is that oppression which allows it to function, and slowly shift the
collective identity of migrant students, parents, and teachers.
Dryden-Peterson outlines the
development of refugee education through the UNHRC in three phases: only
supported locally; centralized within UNHRC and focused on refugee camp schools
rather than community schools; and finally, establishing links between local
departments of education and the UNHRC to increase funding and integrate
refugee children into local schools. She notes that despite the doctrine of
citizenship, refugees are not citizens and use citizenship not as a goal, but
as a means to obtain recognition, legitimacy, and rights.
Theory and Evidence
Ghosn-Chelala conducted research at
17 public schools in 2015-2016, covering 4 of 8 geographic areas in Lebanon.
Her qualitative surveys included 156 students from Grades 6 – 9, and 184
students from Grades 10 – 12. Khane, et al., draw their evidence from the 2013
Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP) survey, which assessed over 2,300
students aged 15-27. They compared these findings with the Pew Internet
American Life surveys from 2008 and 2012, which had roughly the same number of
participants. Yu draws on longitudinal qualitative research in Beijing, using
ethnographic studies, interviews, observations, and her own guanxi
network from five communities across six districts from 2010 – 2016.
Dryden-Peterson bases her historical overview in part on the 2016 UNHCR &
Global Monitoring Report.
Application and “So What” ?
Ghosn-Chelala notes that the
civic engagement of students in post-Crisis Lebanon is often limited to
“posting and sharing” social media accounts of being a good citizen. Direct
engagement with concepts of good digital citizenship is lacking, due to, as the
author suggests, inequitable funding and access to technology in schools. Her
solution of making digital citizenship a cross-curricular concept is
interesting, but raises concerns about practicality and execution. It also
raises questions about the role of schools as transmitters of civic
responsibility – is it the purpose of the government-written curriculum to
reproduce existing systems of power? Is there space in the concept of citizenship
for speaking out?
This is in contrast to the
evidence I see of participatory politics at work with the students I teach,
although they may not identify it as “political” per se. Particularly in the
tumultuous labour environment brought on by the Ford government, my students are
constantly networking to discuss how cuts and strikes affect their education
and their future; several of my students participated in “walk-outs” in 2019,
that were all organized online. Whether or not I agree with these views and
actions, my employer makes it clear that I must remain neutral in the face of
their execution. Perhaps this is an area where civic education needs to partner
with NGOs who are not beholden to the same ethical guidelines as classroom
teachers. However NGOs have their own agendas and own sponsors to whom they are
beholden, which may or may not align with the needs of any particular student.
Here the idea of an informal guanxi-style community network could
mitigate any extraneous agendas held be external actors, assuming that a
grassroots community would have its own best interests in mind.
Comparison and Synthesis
Ghosn-Chelala’s findings seem to
run counter to the views offered by Khane, et al. While Ghosn-Chelala finds
that students in post-crisis Lebanon use digital access for superficial
attempts at citizenship, or piracy, Khane, et al. have a more optimistic view
of participatory politics as an incubator of students as change agents in their
own digital spheres. What strikes me is the common sense of disengagement that
youth feel from their governments. Students turn to their online worlds to
exercise new forms of power as citizens – either subversive, as with Lebanese
youth as IP pirates, or self-affirming, as with the lifestyle politics of
participatory politics. This suggests to me that youth have the desire, the
motivation, and the skills to be actively engaged citizens but are doing so in
a way that is more and more removed from traditional concepts of citizenship.
Both Yu and Dryden-Peterson examine
non-Western concepts of community and civic engagement, or lack thereof. The guanxi
networks Yu delineates could be compared to the online spaces carved out by
students identified in Khane, et al. but in a less public way. Dryden-Peterson
draws attention to those for whom citizenship is a goal in a very different
sense than what the Ontario civics curriculum discusses. Whether in local
schools or in segregated camps, refugees are forced to navigate differing
concepts of citizenship without being given the same supports or conceptual
frameworks offered to their peers who have citizenship. It is an interesting
and important reminder that the very notion of citizenship is not
absolute.
WORKS CITED
Dryden-Peterson, Sarah. (2016). Refugee Education: The Crossroads of
Globalization. Educational Researcher, 45(9), 473-482.
doi:10.3102/0013189X16683398
Ghosn-Chelala,
Maria. (2018). Exploring sustainable learning and practice of digital
citizenship: Education and place-based challenges [Lebanon]. Education,
Citizenship and Social Justice, 1-17. doi:10.1177/1746197918759155
Kahne,
Joseph, Hodgin, Erica, & Eidman-Aadahl, Elyse. (2016). Redesigning Civic
Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of
Democratic Engagement. Theory & Research in Social Education, 44(1), 1-35.
