Global and civilisational knowledge: eurocentrism, intercultural education and civic engagements

Abstract

This article cites the problems of citizenship education in three different countries: Bosnia, England and Japan, partly because of the way in which these nations are defined, as well as the way in which knowledge within the official school curriculum is selectively developed. In most countries, the curriculum is derived from a narrowly based understanding of the nation. The article suggests that during the period of globalisation it might be possible to devise an intercultural understanding of knowledge from across cultures and civilisations to obviate a clash of civilisations. The first universalist phase that the paper considers is from fifth century BC to seventh century AD when the great religions of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam existed in tributary regions. The second phase in Andalusia in the eleventh century was the interaction between Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars, which was part of the development of the Renaissance. These developments contributed to scientific and secular knowledge during the Enlightenment and led to the affirmation of the universal. The French and the American revolutions were informed by these ideas. The fourth phase was the development of the ideas of socialism to establish societies based on the basis of equality, but the states which espoused these ideologies failed to deepen ideas of shared values and inclusive citizenship in democratic contexts. The fifth phase of universalist development was the end of the colonial regimes in the middle of the twentieth century. The development of the Non-Aligned Movement following the 1955 Bandung Conference was the highlight of this phase of human development, but like many other phases of human history also failed in many ways.

Keywords:

• knowledge
• Eurocentrism
• intercultural
• global
• civilisational

Notes

This article is dedicated to my very good friend and colleague P.L.B (Bev) Woodroffe.

1. OFSTED stands for the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. It is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools in England.