We, the non-global citizens: Reflections on the possibilities and challenges of democratic global citizenship education in higher education contexts

Abstract

This article examines the possibilities and challenges of democratic global citizenship education in higher education contexts. The paper contrasts liberal, poststructuralist and postcolonialist theory with data deriving from a small empirical ethnographic project. A small group of undergraduate students studying education met weekly for a period of 3 months. Data was collected through field notes, course work and participants’ diaries. Results suggest that the global citizen-subject, for these participants, is conceptualized as the cosmopolitan elites who do not identify themselves as national citizens. Global citizenship is constructed as an identity students initially do not hold but they aspire to gain. These findings pose some questions to democratic approaches to global citizenship education.