From Freire to Levinas: Toward a Post-Humanist Global Citizenship Education

Abstract

Much attention has been given to the theory and practice of global citizenship education (GCE). In this article, drawing from an emerging body of literature that examines GCE through a postcolonial lens, we offer a Freirean critical reading of how GCE intersects with ideologies of globalization. We argue that GCE discourse privileges certain understandings of globalization that work to socialize students into the current global system, rather than giving them the capacity to challenge that system. To move beyond this limitation, we draw from Levinas and argue for a post-humanist approach to GCE, which would open up opportunities to cultivate individuals’ capacities to act within and against prevailing ideas and forces of globalization.

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the four anonymous reviewers for their critical and constructive feedback.

Notes

1 For anthropologists, questioning just what is “human” and how “humanity” has separated itself off from the larger sentient world—to the detriment of both—is a topic of current interest among anthropologists (e.g. Kohn, 2013); it is another important consideration for a fuller accountability in the process of coming to face the Other that we are proposing for GCE.