Human Rights Education and Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Theoretical Considerations and Their Application in Differing Socio-cultural Contexts

作者：Audrey Osler (Professor, Buskerud and Vestfold University College, Norway and University of Leeds, UK)

摘要：

This paper explores some of the challenges of implementing human rights education, characterised as a cosmopolitan project, within the national framework of public schools, which rarely conceive of the nation as cosmopolitan. It focuses on two human rights concepts, universality and recognition, concepts which need to be revisited if we are to develop a theory and practice of human rights education (HRE) which meets the needs of contemporary societies which are increasingly recognised as diverse, which continue to be characterized by asymmetrical power relations and by anti-democratic and extremist political movements. The paper argues that human rights education is one in which teachers and learners need to understand that human rights and democracy may be fragile and need to be constantly renewed and refreshed if they are to be guaranteed.  Accordingly, an evolving theory and practice of human rights education needs to embrace the concept of recognition, extending it beyond that expounded in key human rights instruments. Human rights education needs to build on the experiences of leaners, drawing on their narratives. In particular, it needs to confront the traumatic past if it is to contribute to greater social justice in the present.  The paper concludes with some principles which might inform debate and practice in human rights education in different socio-cultural contexts.   

Keywords
cosmopolitanism, universality, recognition, narrative, traumatic past, diversity

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