Banks, James A., ed. Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives. The Jossey-Bass Education Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. 488 pp. ISBN 07879966517, $40.00.

BINAYA SUBEDI

Ohio State University

Subedi.1@osu.edu

James A. Banks’ edited volume Diversity and Citizenship Education makes a timely contribution to the field of education on the state of citizenship education in North America and in the world. This volume remains one of the few books in the field of education that has been able to cogently address the relationship between citizenship education and diversity. The contributors address how race, ethnicity, political, religious and economic factors impact how citizenship is conceptualized and practiced in educational settings around the world. In what follows, I describe three key ideas that are emphasized in the book, especially on the context in which specific nation-states approach citizenship education and multicultural issues.

A recurring theme within the chapters is the narrow ways in which nation-states define ideas of citizenship and how this negatively impacts various marginalized communities’ right to equal educational opportunity. This is because nation-states are often imagined as homogenous entities, and which include as well as exclude segments of population from enjoying the full benefits of citizenship. Frequently, as the contributors point out, approaches to citizenship education place emphasis on the importance of national identity while deemphasizing social differences such as ethnic/racial diversity and economic inequalities. And, to illustrate how nation-states have become diverse overtime, contributors of the book provide extensively analysis on how historical factors and conditions such as colonialism have changed the racial, ethnic and religious make-up of various countries. For example, in the United States, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, etc, people of European descent were defined as citizens to be given priority in being properly educated, and the rights of people of color to gain equal rights to education was disenfranchised. The articles in the book similarly address contemporary issues such as how the migration of people from various parts of the world has transformed the ethnic and racial make-up of countries such as Israel, Japan, England, the United States and Canada. Likewise, the practice of how one obtains a legitimate citizenship status or identity, especially by birth-only or via purity of ancestry, has come under scrutiny as noted in discussions about Japanese and German approaches to citizenship. The contributors of the book seem to agree that political, cultural and economic interests shape how diversity is talked about, which are elaborated in a variety of cases such as excessive governmental influences in China, narrow interpretations of what it means to be “Japanese” in Japan and the myths regarding the mainstream societal celebration of hybrid identity in Brazil.

Another critical theme the contributors articulate is how the political aspect of knowledge influences how schools teach citizenship education. Thus, the emphasis on dominant interpretation of knowledge influences what students should learn in relation to national histories, cultures and experiences as well as how values should be instilled through education. A common concern many of the authors share is how citizenship education and multicultural education are not viewed as inter-related processes but how they are often constructed as oppositional educational practices. For example, as Ladson-Billings and Joshee point out, ways of preparing students for citizenship in the United States and in Canada continue to place emphasis on dominant values and have deemphasized the struggles of people of color for equal rights and justice. Similarly, the politics over what counts as knowledge in citizenship education, particularly via textbook, similarly remains contested as explained in the context of Palestine, Russia and India. The debate over what counts as knowledge in various nation-states helps us recognize the common challenges faced by educators in the world.

The collected writings also help us understand the utility of examining citizenship and diversity debates in comparative frameworks, an argument that Parker develops in his essay. This is particularly significant in understanding on how issues such as race, economic, and religious discourses influences how citizenship is defined. For example, there are similarities across the United States., Australia, Brazil, Canada and South Africa citizenship debates since they are influenced by racial/ethnic factors and which influences schooling experiences of non-white population. Similarly, we can also see the parallels between how economic factors, particular the market-place rationale, that influence how citizenship ideas are talked about in schools. As noted in the cases of India, the United States, Germany and Russia, the market-place approach reduces citizenship education to the need to prepare students for workforce thereby marginalizing the importance of learning critical issues such as respecting cultural differences and working towards social change. Similarly, we have much to learn from nation-states that have recently changed political systems, especially those that are now facing new challenges in developing equal educational opportunity for all students as illustrated in discussions on Russia, Palestine and South Africa. Also, the articles on Israeli and Indian context of citizenship education help us understand how various religious entities influence educational discourse such as curriculum development.

Overall, James Banks’ edited book provides thought provoking articles on the complex configuration of citizenship education in the global context. Graduate students who are interested in multicultural and international education would immensely benefit from the book since it emphasizes extensive research in the fields. Although most of the articles do not develop linkages between gender and its relationship to citizenship education, the book opens up spaces to further research on how gender and sexuality issues influence citizenship and diversity debates in various nation-states. Since global context of diversity issues are marginalized in educational research, this important book provides a much needed dialogue on the topic.