Constructing Modern Asian Citizenship

In many non-Western contexts, modernization has tended to be equated with Westernization, and hence with an abandonment of authentic indigenous identities and values. This is evident in the recent history of many Asian societies, where efforts to modernize – spurred on by the spectre of foreign domination – have often been accompanied by determined attempts to stamp national variants of modernity with the brand of local authenticity: ‘Asian values’, ‘Chinese characteristics’, a Japanese cultural ‘essence’ and so forth. Highlighting (or exaggerating) associations between the more unsettling consequences of modernization and alien influence has thus formed part of a strategy whereby elites in many Asian societies have sought to construct new forms of legitimacy for old patterns of dominance over the masses. The apparatus of modern systems of mass education, often inherited from colonial rulers, has been just one instrument in such campaigns of state legitimation. This book presents analyses of a range of contemporary projects of citizenship formation across Asia in order to identify those issues and concerns most central to Asian debates over the construction of modern identities. Its main focus is on schooling, but also examines other vehicles for citizenship-formation, such as museums and the internet; the role of religion (in particular Islam) in debates over citizenship and identity in certain Asian societies; and the relationship between state-centred identity discourses and the experience of increasingly ‘globalized’ elites. With chapters from an international team of contributors, this interdisciplinary volume will appeal to students and scholars of Asian culture and society, Asian education, comparative education and citizenship.

1. Introduction, Edward Vickers and Krishna Kumar Part I: Education for modern citizenship in Asia – historical perspectives 2. Education and Modernity in Rural India, Krishna Kumar3. A Civilizing Mission with Chinese characteristics? Education, colonialism and Chinese state formation in comparative perspective, Edward Vickers Part II: Schooling, curriculum and textbooks in state projects of citizenship formation 4.Going Global? National versus post-national citizenship education in contemporary Chinese and Japanese social studies curricula, Caroline Rose 5.Making of a Reflective Citizen: India’s new textbooks for Social and Political Life, Latika Gupta 6. Education, National Identity and State Formation in the Modern Philippines, Mark Maca and Paul Morris Part III: Religion, ethnicity and the construction of modern citizenship in the Islamic societies of Western and Central Asia 7.Constructing Modern Turkish citizens: from Ottoman times to the 21st century, Filiz Keser Aschenberger 8. The making of the Pakistani Citizen: Civic Education and State Nationalism in Pakistan, Rubina Saigol Part IV: Beyond the school gates – extra-curricular vehicles for citizenship formation 9. Constructing Civic Identity in Shanghai’s Museums: heritage, ideology and local distinctiveness, Jiang Lei and Edward Vickers 10. Education for Active Citizenship: youth organisations and alternative forms of citizenship education in Hong Kong and Singapore, Christine Han Part V: Civic attitudes of young Asians 11. Citizenship, Participation and Elite Students in Singapore, Jasmine Sim 12. Education, Youth and Civic Attitudes in Post-Socialist Mongolia, Myagmarsuren Damdin and Edward Vickers 13. Identifying with a ‘Rising China’: overseas Chinese student nationalism, Rowena He

Edward Vickers is Associate Professor of Comparative Education at Kyushu University, Japan. Krishna Kumar is Professor at the Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi, India.