Democratic Citizenship and Education: Comparative Politics of Pluralism, Polarization, and Justice

This course addresses contrasting politics and practices of education for democracy and democratization, in state-funded schooling and the lives of youth, focusing on theories and cases in Canada and the USA in comparative transnational context. Participants will examine what shapes and constrains how democratic citizenship may be taught, learned, and changed, in challenging contexts of pluralism, polarization, and demands for justice. Themes include local and transnational political agency in relation to social conflicts and social structures; participation, dissent, and peacebuilding through political institutions; territorial and ecological authority amidst climate change; and public dialogue around inter-identity relationships, rights, community and justice.