Editorial introduction : postcolonial perspectives on citizenship education debates in Europe

Abstract

This special issue discusses how under-representation, misrepresentation, dislocation, equity and equality challenges have been part of the reasonings and argumentations of critical postcolonial debates on citizenship education in contemporary Europe. It grows out of new, interdisciplinary and methodologically pluralist research and collaboration, made possible by financial support from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 16211 Reappraising Intellectual Debates on Civic Rights and Democracy in Europe (RECAST), funded by the European Union (EU) Framework Programme Horizon 2020. Between September 2017 and September 2021, the RECAST network – comprising scholars from various disciplines as well as social and political practitioners – aimed at enhancing the relevance of intellectual debates on civic rights and democracy in Europe, arguing that this was compromised in terms of informing policy due to theorisation from largely unrelated spheres as opposed to responses produced by joint approaches in the humanities and the social sciences. The RECAST project sought to bridge the gap between the study of politics and policy action and to develop new insights about the links (theoretical, political and institutional) between civic rights and democracy in Europe. [excerpt]