Since the 1990s, ethnic studies and other components of multicultural education have been criticized by neo-conservative and assimilationist scholars who maintain that school diversity initiatives weaken national identity and fail to help students attain the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function effectively in the national mainstream…

In this article, the authors argue for examining more deeply the ways that youth from Muslim transnational communities are defining and engaging (or not engaging) in active citizenship practices, articulating a sense of belonging within and across national borders, and frequently developing and acting on critical perspectives on the politics of…

In this essay, the author examines how two groups of undergraduates, from Australia and the United States, negotiate their national and global identities in the context of studying abroad. In doing so the author demonstrates the nuances of "global citizenship" as it is actually experienced. Drawing on Craig Calhoun's (2002) scholarship…

This article explores the issues of citizenship, diversity and national identity in the context of the introduction of citizenship education in the UK. It considers the historical context of national identity in the UK and notes that the "British national identity has historically implied diversity". It also analyses the views of British…

In the current period of international migration there is no consensus among analysts regarding the relationship between immigrant transnationalism and civic engagement in the United States. Focusing mainly on the transnational behaviors of Latin American migrants, three views predominate: critics argue that immigrant transnationalism hinders…

In this article, I argue that it is now particularly pertinent to examine the implications for diversity of different conceptions of citizenship, given the current socio-political climate globally, as well as the current national context in the United Kingdom. I have categorised conceptions of citizenship into four main…

This paper explores the notions of globalization as embodied in Japanese educational reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. Modern institutional discourses of educational reform in Japan have shifted over time and all of these reform movements have been constructed by particular social and historical trajectories. Generally speaking, it has been…

Although the United States has had a language requirement for citizenship (through the naturalization process) since the first decade of the 20th century, very little research and discussion has taken place in academic circles about this requirement, which has been enforced for the past two decades through a test and testing practice to which…

This article discusses how the media and schools are used as disciplinary apparatuses to resist and work against globalisation in Singapore. Aihwa Ong calls the deployment of state ideological apparatuses, such as the media and schools, acts of "reassemblage", when technocrats resort to assemble institutions, diverse Government practice…

The idea of an American "paideia" (an ideal national public culture) is implicit in U.S. civic education and citizenship training. The role of schools in producing a particular type of character capable of sustaining the democratic regime has long been recognized and democratic principles have long guided civic education policy. This paper…

In this article I consider whether there is a process of repression occurring in definitions of citizenship and frameworks of citizenship education, which involves a forgetting of history. By focusing on recently troubled countries I identify how the force of history comes to play, and from that I consider how, in relatively stable liberal…

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance may be the core civic ritual in the United States and the most common--core because it extracts a personal promise of some sort and most common because it is widely required in schools and concludes the naturalization ceremony for new citizens. While many people have recited and memorized the pledge, few have…

This paper examines the politics and practice of education in Malaysia within the context of ethnicity and nation building. Public education in Malaysia--particularly, but not exclusively, at the pre-university level--is promoted as a nation-building tool, seeking to inculcate a sense of Malaysian-ness and patriotism. Simultaneously, however,…

This position paper asserts that citizens must reclaim responsibility for and power over public affairs. The New Citizenship calls on all people to reassert common agency and to repossess democratic institutions through popular sovereignty that is the root of democracy. The volume includes the following chapters: (1) "Background"; (2) "Call for a…

Examines Indonesian culture and society which, although consisting of many variations spread across many islands, are nationalistic in character. Discusses the sources of Indonesian cultural values, focusing on Pancasila, the five basic principles of Indonesian society, and how it relates to the individual. (AEM)