Zoekresultaten

Writing the self in global citizenship education

Higher education is tasked with preparing students for a culturally diverse and globalizing world. Additionally, western nations have an increasingly diverse student population and know the success of their students will depend in part on being able to navigate diversity. There is therefore good reason for institutions of higher learning to promote and facilitate the development of ‘global citizens’ – people who can work and relate across borders and boundaries, both real and perceived. However, teachers are not necessarily equipped to foster this learning. Many teachers are used to a reproductive way of teaching while the learning that is needed here is identity learning, directed at dialogue, internally as well as externally. This chapter proposes the potential of creative, expressive and reflective writing as a way in which personal development – a form of a reflexive internal dialogue – can be fostered to promote cultural healing and global citizenship. The writing method will be described and a case study on cultural healing in the context of Canada’s reconciliation efforts with Aboriginal people will be used to illustrate the learning process involved. The processes of writing the self and re-narrating identity has several promising benefits for both students and teachers in higher education. First it allows us to learn more about ourselves and what blocks our learning (i.e. promotes self-reflection). Second, it allows us to change our story and our identifications and therefore choose differently (i.e. self-direction). Third, it is a companion on the road of life where we literally learn to talk and listen to ourselves and articulate the tacit knowledge that can be unearthed through narrative, journal, and poetic writing. Fourth, the method is playful and creative and although tears are frequently shed in the process, students report a great enjoyment in writing and sharing their stories with others. It is a meaningful dialogue about experience and also has the potential of promoting cultural (Lengelle, Jardine, & Bonnar, 2018) healing in the context of a very diverse student body (Banks, 2015). It also has the potential for creating new bonds in the classroom and allows teachers in higher education to engage in the difficult work of facilitating global citizenship learning. The internal dialogue described here also allows us to ‘clean up’ judgements and become aware of the need to reach out to others. Not only the actual sharing of vulnerable writing in a class or online setting shows us we are not alone, but ‘writing the self’ focuses deliberately on where we have become fearful about our own and others’ identities and allows us a learning process to unearth those things, heal them in order to reach out to others.

Robert Schuman, principal architect of the European Union

A tangible proof of the meaning and scope of human flourishing that can change not only organizations but also entire societies, is given by Robert Schuman, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs who launched the Schuman Declaration (1950) that gave birth to the EU. His leitmotiv was to be a faithful instrument in the hands of God in whichever circumstances. A strong personal relationship with God characterized his entire personal and professional life and implied the heroic practice of virtues. He strove for peace on the continent and therefore for reconciliation between France and Germany - countries that had been archenemies since the Treaty of Verdun (843). He previewed a peace project on coal and steel, former instruments of war. Schuman pursued a policy of reconciliation from the moment he became a member of the French Parliament (1919) and even during his captivity during the Second World War. His coherence of life was acknowledged by friend and foe and recognized also professionally. His profound Catholic faith brought human flourishing that changed not only French-German relationships, not only Europe, but the entire world. Schuman’s Europe would strive towards political unification through economic cooperation – as a means! – at the service of man and his transcendence so that man could flourish. These days man seems to be an instrument of the economy and politics instead of the other way round. A good moment to revive the person and thoughts of the Father of Europe.

Mobiliseren rondom armoede in Amsterdam-Noord

Transitional justice in Angola

A critical reflection on the reconciliation process in Angola.

Public apologies in Angola, but for whom?

It was a landmark speech. On May 26, Angola’s president apologized and asked forgiveness for mass executions that occurred in 1977. He also announced the returning of victims’ remains to their families and the issuance of death certificates. But what does this mean for Angola’s wider reconciliation process? Other key demands and large groups of victims have still been left out, warn scholars Maarten van Munster and Joris van Wijk.

Writing the self for reconciliation and global citizenship

In this chapter, we propose that the democracy we wish to see out in the world is influenced by the quality of our own “inner democracies”—that is: the quality of the democracies among and between the selves or voices in the landscape of the self. We must find ways out of the I-prisons we experience and perpetuate. With this in mind, we propose that ”writing the self,” a method whereby creative, expressive, and reflective writing is used to cultivate an internal dialogue and construct a new identity narrative (Lengelle, 2014), can assist in reshaping our stories about ”the Other and ourselves” and can contribute to personal and cultural healing and reconciliation. The inner dialogue reconciled is foundational for the external dialogue at the heart of global citizenship within education. Indeed, as Schellhammer argues, we must cultivate the self in order to become inter-culturally competent, and this includes facing shadow aspects through truthful dialogues with the self and caring for the self. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62861-5_6 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reinekke-lengelle-phd-767a4322/