Spontaneous Change: Applying Zhuangzi’s Concept of Hua (化) to Global Citizenship

Abstract

AbstractIn the modern globalised world, there is a growing realisation that global awareness and transnational efforts are required to address global challenges. One attempt to foster this is through global citizenship and education. However, to be truly global, global citizenship education must draw on diverse traditions beyond Western-European paradigms. This article adds to this endeavour by drawing on Zhuangzi’s philosophy of hua—change or transformation—to develop an account of global identity that is both familiar and innovative. It begins with an overview of global ‘citizenship’ understood as a figurative form of citizenship orientated towards ethical and educational values. This is followed by an introduction to the concept of hua in Daoism, especially in the Zhuangzi, whereby all things are seen as changing according to their own nature and environment. Such an understanding of hua guides us toward “spontaneous” and “noncoercive” actions that reflect the true nature of an entity and its changing circumstances. These ideas are then applied to global citizenship (GC) and global citizenship education (GCE) via two sets of examples: first, they are applied at the local level in diverse contexts (such as schools and cultural groups) to illustrate the utility of Zhuangzi’s dynamic approach; and second, the article explores examples that highlight when it is “noncoercive” to implement or fail to implement GC. In sum, this article utilises Zhuangzi’s concept of spontaneous change to develop some suggestions of how to foster GC identity in a way that responds meaningfully to the dynamism and complexity of the modern globalised world, and that looks beyond the voices that have traditionally dominated the discourse.