Book review: Global Citizenship Education in the Global South: Educators’ perceptions and practices, edited by Emiliano Bosio and Yusef Waghid
Leiden: Brill, 2022, 316 pp.; ISBNs: 978-90-04-52173-5 (hbk); 978-90-04-52172-8 (pbk); 978-90-04-52174-2 (ebk)
The book Global Citizenship Education in the Global South: Educators’ perceptions and practices, edited by Emiliano Bosio and Yusef Waghid, engages with the current academic discourse surrounding global citizenship education (GCE) within the Global South. The aim of the book is to offer alternative realities for GCE emerging from the Global South and, as such, to expand contemporary conceptualisations of the field that are predominantly based on Western ideologies, primarily those of North America and parts of Western Europe. By introducing case studies from the Global South, the book provides theoretical and empirical insights into educators’ understanding of the knowledge, skills and values associated with GCE. Bosio and Waghid’s work is both timely and crucial, addressing the gap identified in recent studies (Chee, 2020; Howard and Maxwell, 2023; Reid, 2022).
The book comprises 14 chapters, grouped into three themes. Each theme provides varied approaches and examples from different regions of the Global South, such as the Caribbean, Africa and China. These chapters enable readers to develop both theoretical and practical insights into GCE. In Chapter 1, particularly, the editors of the book highlight the need for perspectives focusing on decolonial, caring ethics, ecocritical considerations and empowerment of humanity, when discussing GCE for the development of critical consciousness, both in the Global South and beyond. These views can bolster GCE learners in shaping a future anchored in social justice and sustainability, which can be utilised in subsequent research. The authors of Chapter 2 promote a GCE that encourages both nationals and migrants to take actions that encompass recognising everyone’s rights, activism for social justice and participating in democratic processes. Chapters 3 and 4 challenge the prevailing Northern epistemologies in GCE and advocate for a Southern perspective to enhance research collaborations beyond those based solely in the Global North. Adopting a postcolonial stance, Manisha Pathak-Shelat and Kiran Vinod Bhatia, in Chapter 5, suggest that GCE in the Global South should understand how the legacy of colonial trauma influences forms of meaning making and practice. The chapters in the first theme contend that Northern or colonial viewpoints on GCE have affected the Global South across various educational levels (such as migrant and doctoral education). They stress the need for a critical reflection to embrace Indigenous insights from practices in the Global South.
Theme 2, covering Chapters 6 to 10, sees various authors exploring issues of equality and diversity in GCE policy and practice. For instance, Jonathan J. Felix, in Chapter 6, underscores that GCE offers nations the chance not only to thoughtfully address social issues within their realms, but also to reposition themselves globally. In Chapter 7, Simon Eten Angyagre delves into a university case study in Ghana, shedding light on both students’ and teachers’ viewpoints and experiences on GCE learning and teaching. Chapter 8 offers valuable research from Egypt and Mexico, where school teachers deal with ‘glocal’ conflictual issues that are culturally relevant to their respective contexts, and teach their students democratic skills by employing dialogic strategies. Yi Hong, in Chapter 9, investigates the availability of critical pedagogy of GCE and discusses school leaders’ efforts in delivering GCE to children of migrant workers in the Chinese context. Chapter 10 posits that gender disparities and violence against women are grave impediments to GCE’s goals of working towards ‘equality and democracy amid diversity and global peace and planetary well-being’ (198).
The final section, titled ‘Defamiliarisation, ukama and active protest in global citizenship education’, comprises four chapters advocating that GCE should incorporate local ethics and traditions of knowledge to champion humanity. Notably, in Chapter 11 Zayd Waghid examines student-centred pedagogies aiming to steer curricular changes from neoliberal to critical GCE, particularly integrating a decolonial perspective. Joseph P. Hungwe, in Chapter 12, argues that GCE in Zimbabwean higher education should be context-specific to challenge biases and stereotypes that students might have against people from varied cultural and social backgrounds. Chapter 13, set in Malawi, suggests that achieving GCE hinges on the ‘protests of the poor’ (265). Lastly, in the conclusion, the editors of the book reiterate and expand the core arguments, proposing a GCE rooted in post/decolonial theory, embracing systems and insights beyond Western-centric and Global North perspectives on GCE knowledge and values.
As a researcher from a Global South country, China, I am delighted to encounter a book that centres on the research and discourses from scholars of the Global South regarding various facets of GCE. The editors successfully emphasise the need to challenge prevailing Northern epistemologies of GCE in favour of a Southern perspective, so as to genuinely comprehend and elucidate GCE practices. While the book offers an extensive array of examples, delving into GCE practices across various regions of the Global South, educational professionals may find it a touch challenging to discern consistent, straightforward solutions and ideas. This potentially stems from the book’s somewhat ambiguous target audience. For example, some of the chapters (such as Chapters 1 and 14) have a potential audience of students, while others (such as Chapters 3 and 4) provide suggestions to GCE teachers. The chapters with a common target audience are informative, but the ideas presented in the chapters also seem to be slightly dispersed, and the research contexts are quite diverse. For instance, one chapter (Chapter 9) thoroughly investigates the leadership aspects of GCE in Chinese secondary schools, while another (Chapter 7) pivots to examine GCE’s intricacies within Ghana’s higher education framework. Such breadth, while informative, can occasionally lead to a disjointed reading experience. Hence, it might be beneficial for the discussions to centre more on consistent sectors or themes from the Global South. By adopting such a method, the book might shed clearer light on how these countries confront and steer through challenges familiarly posed by dominant narratives from the Global North. This refined approach could make the authors’ appeal for increased awareness, and their suggested strategies, notably more compelling and relevant.
In conclusion, Emiliano and Yusef’s book is a read about the multifaceted aspects of GCE research in the Global South. Not only GCE students and teachers, but also the broader public, can find topics or perspectives that pique their interest, fostering sociopolitical insight and a sense of empowerment. Sometimes the chapters span a wide range of topics and so I would suggest that readers can be selective according to the table of contents and their personal interests. I welcome this publication and consider it a much-needed work for the field of GCE in the Global South and beyond. I eagerly anticipate hearing more ‘Southern’ academic discourses on GCE in the coming times.