ERIC Number: EJ906055
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Nov
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1470-8477
EISSN: N/A
The Role of Transnational NGOs in Promoting Global Citizenship and Globalizing Communication Practices
Witteborn, Saskia
Language and Intercultural Communication, v10 n4 p358-372 Nov 2010
This paper engages with the concept of Global Citizenship and the role of transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in teaching awareness about global issues like health, education, and poverty. Specifically, the paper traces the logics of one transnational NGO, "Save the Children," as it teaches communication practices and values related to children's rights in developing countries. The paper illustrates how the NGO promotes Global Citizenship values and communication practices, which are taken to be universally applicable. For example, the NGO promotes self-expression and participatory decision-making to its client populations, practices which are grounded in individualistic notions of relating. These ways of communicating are not only different from but also sometimes conflict with sociocultural and political ways of acting and relating in particular locales. The paper argues that Global Citizenship is a vision choreographed by donor countries with moral and ideological implications. It calls on scholars, political decision-makers, and NGOs to reflect on who defines the concept, drives its implementation, and understand the impact of imported interaction values on local populations. (Contains 7 notes.)
Descriptors: Citizenship, Childrens Rights, Nongovernmental Organizations, Role, Global Approach, Communication Skills, Developing Nations, Participative Decision Making, Ideology, Intercultural Communication
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A