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Affective Citizenship and Education in Multicultural Societies: Tensions, Ambivalences, and Possibilities

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The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education

Abstract

This chapter focuses on discussing the concept of affective citizenship and its potential contribution to citizenship education discourses, especially in the context of multicultural societies. The chapter synthesizes the literature on affective citizenship and identifies examples that show how the ideal of the “affective citizen” is promoted in schools internationally. The discussion focuses in particular on two widespread emotional injunctions in multicultural societies: the calls for “embracing the other” and “coping with difference.” The analysis examines the underlying assumptions invoked by these emotional injunctions in relation to discourses of citizenship education. Possible tensions and ambivalent obligations are identified and discussed. The chapter concludes that more attention to the implications of the notion of affective citizenship is needed in citizenship education particularly in relation to goals aiming at instilling more criticality in students’ understandings of and feelings about citizenship.

This chapter is based on previously published material from my article, “Affective citizenship in multicultural societies: Implications for critical citizenship education,” Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 9(1): 5–18

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program of Educational Studies, Open University of Cyprus, Latsia, Cyprus

    Michalinos Zembylas

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  1. Michalinos Zembylas
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Correspondence to Michalinos Zembylas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University , Canterbury, United Kingdom

    Andrew Peterson

  2. School of Education, University of South Australia , Mawson Lakes, South Australia, Australia

    Garth Stahl

  3. School of Education, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, Australia

    Hannah Soong

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© 2018 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Zembylas, M. (2018). Affective Citizenship and Education in Multicultural Societies: Tensions, Ambivalences, and Possibilities. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_2-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_2-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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