Being a good citizen in a postcolonial context

Justice-oriented citizenship implications of Nigerian teachers’ civic education ideologies

Bibliographic Data

ID11070458
AuthorsAdaobiagu N Obiagu (0000-0002-8591-0489, University of Nigeria, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume52
Issue2
Pages273-311
Publication date2024-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTheory & Research in Social Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0093-3104 • E-ISSN: 2163-1654
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00933104.2024.2305463
OpenAlexW4391845528
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited83

Drawing on a Nigerian example and framed around postcolonial theory, this study explored teachers' conceptions of a good citizen and civic education ideologies in postcolonial hybrid-identity contexts, using qualitative data collected from 21 civic education teachers. Results revealed that personally responsible and participatory citizenship ideologies, along with a communitarian perspective, dominate teachers' beliefs about good citizenship and civic education, with participation in traditional African sociopolitical systems omitted. Justice-oriented citizenship was rarely emphasized. Teachers' reference to social change as a civic education goal emphasized individuals' responsibilities with limited consideration of structural impediments. Lessons learned include that civic education is used to maintain power structures; ethnocentrism, violence, and government's non-accountability limit teachers' engagement with critical citizenship; structural violations are excluded from human rights classroom discourses; active participation is centered at national spaces; and teachers frame leadership as the only efficient avenue for meaningful active participation. Consequently, the author recommends a rethinking of critical civic education to incorporate Indigenous civic practices and the realities of challenging asymmetric structures to better position the subject for justice-oriented citizenship and democracy development

Accountability · Citizen journalism · Citizenship · Civic engagement · Civics · Context (archaeology · Economic Justice · Ethnography · Good citizenship · Ideology · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Power structure · Sociology · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Law · Peace and Human Rights Education

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