Becoming Citizens in an Era of Globalization and Transnational Migration: Re-imagining Citizenship as Critical Practice

Abstract

This article examines how the perspectives and experiences of Arab American youth from immigrant communities can help educators think about what it means to teach young people to become active participants in the social, civic, and political spheres within and across the boundaries of nation-states. Arab American youths' perspectives are reflective of the transnational nature of their life experiences, as well as the unfortunate ways they have been positioned as enemy-outsiders to the United States in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Listening closely to the experiences and perspectives of these young people yields concrete implications for designing citizenship education that reflects the changing nature of belonging and citizenship. This article proposes that we stop thinking about citizenship primarily in relation to national identifications and begin to see it as a set of critical practices—practices that give young people the tools to work for social change within and across the boundaries of nation-states.