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Disrupting the Master Narrative: Global Politics, Historical Memory, and the Implications for Naturalization Education
Author(s) -
Gordon Daryl M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
anthropology and education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1548-1492
pISSN - 0161-7761
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1492.2010.01064.x
Subject(s) - naturalization , citizenship , refugee , sociology , agency (philosophy) , narrative , democracy , politics , ideology , gender studies , immigration , ethnography , political science , social science , law , anthropology , linguistics , philosophy , alien
Dramatic increases in immigration pose challenges for democratic citizenship education to involve national members with different historical memories and current experiences of national belonging. The article draws on ethnographic research with Laotian refugees, who were the target of U.S. violence during the Vietnam War and later became naturalized U.S. citizens. The author contrasts the narrative of citizenship that informs naturalization education with complex ideologies of citizenship articulated by refugees. She argues that a nuanced understanding of citizenship can lead to more meaningful naturalization education, which is necessary to produce citizens with a full sense of national membership and agency in the democratic process. [naturalization, national belonging, citizenship education, refugees]