Engendering cosmopolitanism on the ground through place-based and culturally relevant curriculum: the experiences of four teachers of World Literature in Hawai’i

Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite the historical purposes of World Literature and the inclusion of ‘global citizenship’ in many school mission statements, World Literature, in many high schools, remain reviews of British and American literature. The dominance of English language texts in World Literature reflects and perpetuates British and American political hegemony and may be inadequate in a globalized world defined by increased political, economic and cultural interactions between nations. While teacher preparation and a dearth of works in translations are cited as contributing to this problem, the experiences of teachers remain largely absent from discussion on internationalizing curriculum. This study presents the experiences of four high school teachers of World Literature in Hawai’i. Using cosmopolitanism on the ground, a theory of cosmopolitanism that investigates cosmopolitanism in education, this study draws from individual interviews, syllabi, textbooks and other material. The experiences of the teachers highlighted in this study illustrate ways in which teachers promoted cosmopolitanism in their classroom through culturally relevant and place-based curriculum, a counter-intuitive and seemingly oxymoronic approach to engendering cosmopolitanism.