If not CS, then what? Alternative actions to CS
Why do we need to look for alternatives to child sponsorship? Because child sponsorship does not address global injustices and, in fact, can be seen to do more harm than good. Research shows that child sponsorship neither works towards global justice nor is “better than nothing.”
Working towards global justice requires developing critical thinking, challenging our privileged positions and finding practical actions centred on equity, justice and solidarity. Based on the interviews with participants, alternative actions to child sponsorship are presented in this tackle box drawer. Some of them might require further reading and education. However, you can choose those actions that suit you best, and you can take one step at a time towards being a responsible global citizen.
Research Voices on Alternative Actions to Child Sponsorship
Challenge raising money as the way to end global poverty, and challenge the decisions you make as a ‘good person’.
“…there must be other ways I can do that without using a child… without the person needing to have a picture of a child on their fridge door and saying they’re part of our family”
“Yeah, I think when you say how do we educate ourselves, how do we change? I think this is mindset and that’s why I think we must stop doing certain things, which is stop being the expert; stop trying to localize for our benefit in the North, the Global North; downsize and give the power really to local people and that, the decision-making power, which can happen… because I don’t think a lot of people really understand the privilege, or the white privilege. You know what I mean? But when people start being told about… and stories contextualize, people will start thinking about ‘Oh, yeah, you know, yes, I do have this privilege. Yes, I would like to say help communities’, but there must be other ways I can do that without using a child… without the person needing to have a picture of a child on their fridge door and saying they’re part of our family, and I think they do understand that, it is a changing, changing world. And these discussions are happening much more often in public. But it’s a challenge because as I said, in my articles, these discussions never happened internally. It’s only a year or so that they’re starting to happen… I believe, partly due to some charges of racism existing within INGOs and the aid system and the impact from the Black Lives Matter movement which has triggered discussions and reflection.”
“sometimes you need to be a little bit uncomfortable before you re-examine your own personal position […] because these issues are complex and because they’re sometimes uncomfortable”
“The idea of being generous, the idea of helping your neighbour, the idea of equity comes out of the Scriptures and out of the teachings of Jesus. And so, that is not a surprise that we would […] talk about that with North American audience, with Canadians. I still think that, you know, there are times when people are caught unaware or disturbed. And sometimes actually that might be our aim— not to overwhelm people, but to get people [to understand that] sometimes you need to be a little bit uncomfortable before you re-examine your own personal position […]. We find that there’s a certain segment of society that is quite ready to listen and that is already quite aware of the discrepancies between the Global North and Global South, and these are the folks that are the core of our supporters. So, sometimes we do struggle to get beyond that core and to reach out to new folks, because these issues are complex and because they’re sometimes uncomfortable.”“…this lack of a development philosophy fulfills a fundamental goal for these organizations. And that is allowing the raising of money to be seen as a good act, in and of itself. […] one of the key teachings in international development is often that money flows more from the Global South to the North, than vice versa. […] the lack of seeing that systemic perspective allows—it allows these organizations to both imagine that they are doing good, and publicize themselves as doing good simply because they raise money”
“…this is a critique of development organizations that use child sponsorship, from my book. And part of that critique is that— and I mentioned this in the book, I don’t know if you remember reading about this—but my impression of many of these organizations is they lack a fundamental philosophy of development. Like I interviewed people who work for these agencies— and it’s possible that, you know, because it was a research project, where I use interviews, so maybe I didn’t get the core, but it wasn’t published— they don’t, in my understanding, have a cohesive idea, and one that’s shared among the employees and shared among the public, about why global poverty exists. It’s just, it just is, right? And as you can already see what we talked about, it’s a very superficial way of thinking about things. Because it just is, it just is a problem. But this lack of a development philosophy fulfills a fundamental goal for these organizations. And that is allowing the raising of money to be seen as a good act, in and of itself. And this is a little complicated argument, and again I get at it more in depth in my book, but I align, again, to go back to our developmentality, the idea of doing good in the world, international development, with organizational development: how these organizations raise money. And, ethically speaking, they do good in the world by raising money. And the more money they raise to give overseas, the better a development organization they are. You know, and it’s not that there’s not any accounts of what they provide, and all this kind of stuff with that money, but they see that as their fundamental job. Also, because this division, right, their job as a national office is to raise money, it’s not to set development priorities, it’s not necessarily to educate, some of them will say that they do that, right, but they don’t see that as their core job. And the reason is, because it’s this distribution of money, transferring from the north to the south, which is seen as the route to poverty alleviation. Just like we can’t see official development assistance, right, where Canada sends money overseas, as the solution to global poverty; it is part of the solution. But it ignores the underlying connections. Like one of the key teachings in international development is often that money flows more from the Global South to the North, than vice versa. And it does this in all sorts of ways. But it does this, you know, for example, in the products that get created in factories overseas, where the profits of those products go to northern corporations, and the wages are depressed in these places, right. So again, it gives them job opportunities, but the real money isn’t in the work. We all know that; in a capitalist society, the real money is in the profit, which flows to the north, and sometimes in the design of products, which also, with the designers being located in the north, flows to the north, right? So, the money is flowing more in one direction. So even if we send money overseas, it’s like trying to empty our boat with a hole in it with a little bucket. The water is pouring in, you’ve got to patch that freaking hole to empty the boat, right? But what this idea allows— and the lack of seeing that systemic perspective allows—it allows these organizations to both imagine that they are doing good, and publicize themselves as doing good simply because they raise money; the more sponsors they can attract, the better they’re doing. And they never asked themselves, in my mind— or at least I didn’t see this; hopefully, they are asking themselves this right—what’s the purpose of this money within a broader systemic perspective? What are we doing? And if, you know, it’s perfectly acceptable to say, well, we can’t do all of it. But what we can do is make our sponsors aware of these systemic issues. And I think that’s the fundamental problem. Not that they aren’t educating right, but they don’t see that as their primary responsibility.”
Resources
No More Heroes. Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality (book)
“In this marvelous, enormously instructive book, Jordan Flaherty explores how we too often allow the struggle for change to be undermined by would-be saviors—and how today’s grassroots social movements, led by communities on the frontlines of crisis, are charting a far more powerful path forward.”
Flaherty J. (2016). No more heroes. Grassroots challenges to the savior mentality. AK Press.
Access it here
WE Charity and the White Saviour Complex (article)
“The white saviour complex constructs poverty as natural, hiding the histories and neocolonial structures that produce suffering in the global south, including displacement, exploitation of labour and land, debt, unfair trade policies, neoliberal austerity programs, and ecocidal development projects.”
Jefferess, D. (2020). WE Charity and the white saviour complex. Canadian Dimension, August 12, 2020.
Access it here
On Saviours and Saviourism: Lessons From the #WEscandal (article)
“The white saviour is defined by their paternalistic attitudes towards suffering others, their lack of meaningful knowledge or skills… and, significantly their belief that providing aid or care will provide self-fulfilment” (p. 423)
Jefferess, D. (2021). On saviours and saviourism: Lessons from the #WEscandal. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19(4), 420-431.
Access it here
Me And White Supremacy (book)
“Me and White Supremacy leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.”
Saad, L. (2020). Me And White Supremacy. Sourcebooks.
Access it here
Education Resources Collection (SCIC) (online resources)
Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation. (n.d.). Education Resources Collection.
Access it here (retrieved 23 November, 2021)
Working Through the Smog: How White Individuals Develop Critical Consciousness of White Saviorism (article)
“One step that can be taken to work toward eliminating white saviorism is to support white individuals in becoming more effective in their racial justice efforts, particularly with regard to changing the structures and systems upholding current power imbalances.” (p. 4)
Willer-Kherbaoui, J. (2019). Working through the smog: How White Individuals Develop Critical Consciousness of White Saviorism. Community Engagement Student Work. 29.
Access it here
Invest time in civic engagement, education, and advocacy through a global citizenship lens.
Reflecting on global inequity and poverty requires perceiving yourself as a global citizen (your actions impact people in other parts of the world; see Drawer 3!). Therefore, you can engage with activities and conversations within your own community that support global justice.
One way to shape those conversations is voting with a global citizenship lens.“It’s important not just to support the work that grassroots organizations do in the south, in their home countries, but to act on our location in Canada [taking] the opportunity that we have to shape Canadian conversations, policies and laws.”
During elections, you can learn how candidates perceive global solidarity and their position on international issues that might affect countries in the Global South. By asking them questions on global issues, you would keep them accountable. In 2021, for example, KAIROS prepared a document with questions for the candidates in the federal election (see “Federal Election Resource 2021” in the list of resources). Apart from bringing crucial global topics to the table, this resource provides the opportunity to ask candidates about their commitments and perspectives on global issues.“I really think that political advocacy in Canada aimed at shaping the foreign policy and the decision-making of Canada is more important and has more potential impact in the South than all of the money that Canada gives or Canadians give through NGOs. […] we have to see ourselves as the people who pull the strings on a really big actor that acts in the world, and helping to have an influence on those actions is really important.”
Kathleen Nolan: “… one of the issues with child sponsorship is that, as critical as it ever gets is when someone says, ‘I want to know how my money is broken down into admin costs and costs given to child.’ And so, it doesn’t ever get more critical than that, or deeper, it is just sort of sitting there, that is the level of critical thinking. And so, if someone, I guess, understands this framework of global citizenship, they would be asking much deeper questions than just how is my money distributed in this charity.”
Simon Granovsky-Larsen: “Building on what you just said, that sort of encouraging critical thinking, rather than sort of a location for giving. You know, honestly, the answer— I get asked the same question by students, you know, the ‘what can I do?’ question. I really think that political advocacy in Canada aimed at shaping the foreign policy and the decision-making of Canada is more important and has more potential impact in the South than all of the money that Canada gives or Canadians give through NGOs. And so, I try to shift people’s thinking away from “where in the Global South can I give my money?” to “how can I contribute to pressuring for a Canadian foreign policy based on justice, rather than exclusively the economic national interests of Canadians?” And I think it’s hard for people to appreciate that… even their petitions and voting here in Canada is a really impactful sort of potential direction of their action much more than if they’re giving $20 a month to something. Because I think there’s also an aspect of wanting to look out to the world and contribute directly to it. But we have to see ourselves as the people who pull the strings on a really big actor that acts in the world, and helping to have an influence on those actions is really important.”
“…the poverty of our brothers and sisters in the Global South is linked to systems that also are linked to our own wealth in the industrialized world.”
“Carrying out the mission for [D&P] members here means educating fellow Catholics, parishioners, and the wider public on the root causes of poverty and injustice in the world. And then mobilizing them for actions for change, both through raising funds to support our work internationally, and to support the work that our partners are doing in the pursuit of our mission, which is to find alternatives to unjust social, political and economic structures. And also, advocacy actions that are also aimed at that as well, too, because… using a Catholic social teaching analysis of global poverty leads us to see the integrated nature of the response that is needed, rather than, you know, being a case of all we need to do is raise funds here and send it to them there, seeing that, you know, that the poverty of our brothers and sisters in the Global South is linked to systems that also are linked to our own wealth in the industrialized world. And, so our response has always been, in order to really carry out our mission of building global justice, we have to do more than just simply raise funds to support projects overseas, but we have to be doing education and carrying out advocacy work here in Canada as well, too.”
Resources
5 Reasons Why Your Vote Matters in 2020 (article)
Shapiro, A. (2020, July 29). 5 Reasons Why Your Vote Matters in 2020. CARE.
Access it here
Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI) (website)
“While Canadians generally believe their country is a benevolent force Internationally, the facts often suggest otherwise. CFPI seeks to bridge the gap between government policy and public perception.”
Access it here
OXFAM Policy & Practice (website)
“Access knowledge, evidence and ideas from the work of Oxfam and communities and organisations we partner with around the world… Free access to research reports, policy briefs, case studies, tools, guidelines and more.”
Access it here
Alternatives (website)
“A solidarity organization and a network of partners committed to supporting the voices of social movements… Alternatives aims to build a world where we work to improve the living conditions of populations through development that breaks with the paradigm of growth and relies instead on social transformation and solidarity.”
Access it here
Support campaigns which question the global impacts of Canadian policies abroad (e.g., foreign aid, extractive corporations)
“…we’re absolutely complicit in the historically created and actively ongoing processes of injustice and power imbalance within the world. […] to not help countries but allow countries to have the freedom to make the decisions that they would want to and to develop or change in the way that they decide. […] it would be much more effective to not give that aid with all of the conditions that are tied to it…”
Expressing similar perspectives, participant“The majority of the world’s population is still living in conditions of poverty and economic exploitation that were established through colonialism and continue to limit their possibilities as individuals, and as countries as well. So, we’re absolutely complicit in the historically created and actively ongoing processes of injustice and power imbalance within the world. Now, if we were to do things differently, how would it affect us here at home? I don’t think that it has to be…. I don’t think that doing things differently would necessarily affect our lives as drastically as some people might think. When we think about development, I think the go-to association for most people is aid, and it’s sort of how much are rich countries giving to poor countries. And so I think a concern for a lot of people is how much of our gross domestic product should we realistically dedicate to helping people elsewhere in the world. But if we think about development differently, not as just a process of aid from the north to the south— in its own way, that’s important, because we could think of those countries that benefited, and continue to benefit from colonialism, as only reparations to countries in the south. And so development assistance, if done properly, is a step in that direction. But it’s not just aid, there’s so many other ways of doing development. And as an example, I think a couple of the most important things that could be done to not help countries but allow countries to have the freedom to make the decisions that they would want to and to develop or change in the way that they decide. Some of the best things that can be done are forgiving aid, for example. Countries in the Global South return— I should have looked for these figures before our conversation today— but it’s something like six times more in aid [loan] payments returned to countries of the Global North, then aid is delivered to the south every year. And so, we get caught up in a debate about: Should we be helping the South? How much should we be giving? Is it effective? When it would be much more effective to not give that aid with all of the conditions that are tied to it, but instead, to not demand six times that amount be given back to us, which is usually interest payments on loans from decades ago. So, if we were to simply cut the ties of outstanding loans and interest payments, we would be doing much more to support countries in the south in a way that wouldn’t have much of an impact on Canadians at home, because most of that debt is owned now by private banks, or by multilateral institutions that don’t have such a direct connection to our well-being here in Canada.”
“the issues are complex and because they are sometimes uncomfortable. […] I think of the divestment movement in particular. The folks that are really ready to pull their retirement savings out of the gold corporations”
Shannon Neufeldt: “There’s a certain segment of society that is quite ready to listen, and is already quite aware of the discrepancies between [the] Global North and Global South, and these are the folks that are the core of our supporters. So, sometimes we do struggle to get beyond that core, right, and to reach out to new folks, because the issues are complex and because they are sometimes uncomfortable.
Kathleen Nolan: Yeah, I think that’s what was going to… you know, when you look at the difference between charity and justice, charity is easy, and it can be a ‘feel good,’ because you’re not making any strong connection between you and the one that you are giving to sort of, but when you start moving into justice-oriented actions, then they’re more uncomfortable, as you mentioned. And so, where different organizations like yourself are struggling in some cases to raise funds, child sponsorship organizations are raising billions every year. And this is … I mean, you speak about unjust I guess that’s where I sort of started this because I felt that, is it because people want the easier charity solution, or approach. Or is it because, really, that’s the loudest voice, that’s the ubiquitous voice of child sponsorship, and so all the other voices that are, like yourself, with the education and advocacy and working with global partners, are a whisper to them. So, what do you suggest to have the voices heard and lead to more justice-oriented actions?
Shannon Neufeldt: Well, I think relationships can be the antidote to that loudest voice, and relationships—so we talked before about the relationships of partners, and you know, how we try to tell stories and make the lives and struggles of folks in other communities really come to life—but also relationships in Canada. And so, another strength that Kairos has is that we inherited from our predecessors, a network of local groups across the country, and these are, at their best, these are ecumenical groups often open beyond the Christian church, certainly not requiring folks to be Christian to be part of the justice movement. And these are the folks that are helping each other to really look at the difficult tasks, and who are having the relationships with the global partners. So, the folks who are coming out to every event that comes to their town, to every time a global partner visits, they might also be the ones who are meeting regularly with a group of local folks to talk about social justice issues, to prepare to educate their local community. And that’s where we see the first uptake of anything that is actually a difficult ask, right? So, I think of the divestment movement in particular. The folks that are really ready to pull their retirement savings out of the gold corporations, or the banks that bank in the gold corporations, are the ones who have friends who are doing the same thing. The ones who have met the women in, you know, the Latin American villages who have had their lives ruined by Canadian corporations. And then have passed those stories on and have passed on their reasoning and their passion and their commitment to these kinds of issues. That, yeah, maybe I’m going to make a few thousand dollars less on my investment income, but I’m going to do it with a clean conscience.”
Resources
The Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Development (article)
Asatullaeva, Z., Aghdam, R. F. Z., Ahmad, N., & Tashpulatova, L. (2021). The impact of foreign aid on economic development: A systematic literature review and content analysis of the top 50 most influential papers. Journal of International Development, 33(4), 717–751. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3543
Access it here (not an open-access resource)
The ‘Canada Brand’: Violence and Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America (article)
Imai, S., Gardner, L., & Weinberger, S. (2017). (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 2886584). Social Science Research Network.
Access it here
Inside the Student-Led Movements Urging Canadian Universities to Divest from Fossil Fuels (article)
“The post-secondary divestment campaign, which has its roots in the South African anti-apartheid movement, works to persuade universities to sell stocks, bonds and other funds that they’ve invested in the fossil fuel industry, as well as forgo future such investments.”
McCabe, S. (2021, October 29). Inside the student-led movements urging Canadian universities to divest from fossil fuels. Macleans.ca.
Access it here
Testimonio. Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala (book)
“In Guatemala, a country still reeling from thirty-six years of US-backed state repression and genocides, dominant Canadian mining interests cash in on the transformation of land into ‘property,’ while those responsible act with near-total impunity.”
Nolin, C., & Russell, G. (Eds.). (2021). Testimonio. Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala. Between the Lines.
Access it here (printed book).
Global Inequality (book chapter)
“Critical sociology focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality. A critical sociologist would likely address the systematic inequality created when core nations exploit the resources of peripheral nations. For example, how many canadian companies move operations offshore to take advantage of overseas workers who lack the constitutional protection and guaranteed minimum wages that exist in canada? Doing so allows them to maximize profits, but at what cost?”
OpenStax College. (2014). Global Inequality. In Introduction to Sociology (1st. Canadian Edition). OpenStax College.
Access it here
Why Trying to Help Poor Countries Might Actually Hurt Them (article)
Swanson, A. (2015, October 13). Why trying to help poor countries might actually hurt them. Washington Post.
Access it here
Aid in Reverse: How Poor Countries Develop Rich Countries (article)
“What this means is that the usual development narrative has it backwards. Aid is effectively flowing in reverse. Rich countries aren’t developing poor countries; poor countries are developing rich ones.”
Hickel, J. (2017). Aid in reverse: How poor countries develop rich countries. The Guardian, 14 January, 2017.
Access it here
The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets (book)
“Global inequality is not natural or inevitable, and it is certainly not accidental. To close the divide, Hickel proposes dramatic action rooted in real justice…”
Hickel, J. (2018). The divide: Global inequality from conquest to free markets. Penguin Random House Canada.
Access it here
Restorative Economics, Non-Extractive Finance, And Movement Building (video)
LIFT Economy. (2020, September 13). #NextEconomy Movement Series – Session 7: Restorative Economics, Non-Extractive Finance, And Movement Building.
Access it here
Get involved with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work directly with Southern partners and policy advocacy programs.
Listening to the voices of grassroots organizations in the Global South is crucial to effectively support their actions in terms of global justice. In Canada, some NGOs work closely with partners in the Global South while producing educational tools and implementing advocacy programs. Action # 4 is to learn more about these types of NGOs, to gain access to their tools and to engage with their programs. Below, a few such organizations are presented as excellent examples of those you can learn more about. Being involved with them in their work provides alternatives to child sponsorship that are aligned with global justice:
Resources
Amplifying Global South Voices: Reflection & Actions (article)
Amplifying Global South Voices: Reflection & Actions. (2020, June 22). Voices from Developing Countries.
Access it here
Annual Report 2019-2020: Development and Peace (report)
Development and Peace. (2021). Annual Report 2019-2020. Development and Peace. Caritas Canada.
Access it here
Canadian Perspectives on International Development (report)
Engineers Without Borders Canada, & Inter-council Network. (2015). Canadian Perspectives on International Development. Report of Results. April 2015.
Access it here
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (book)
“Forget everything you think you know about global warming. It’s not about carbon—It’s about capitalism.”
Klein, N. (2014). This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Simon & Schuster.
Access it here
Curricular Resources from Development & Peace (online resources, lesson plans)
“Development and Peace works with partners in Catholic education to produce relevant resources that are aligned with curriculum expectations.”
Access it here
Research, Innovation and Publications from Oxfam Canada (reports and publications)
“We work directly with communities, partners and women’s rights organizations to challenge the systems that perpetuate inequality and keep people poor. Together we seek to influence those in power to ensure that women trapped in poverty have a say in the critical decisions that affect them, their families and entire communities.”
Access it here
Introduce global citizenship, justice and equity education in the classroom.
“…maybe we can question our own supply chains, […] our own trade deals that we make with other countries that can put people in poverty”
Although this TACKLE BOX contains tools throughout to learn about global citizenship and to think critically about child sponsorship programs, this final action in drawer 4 focuses more explicitly on the role of educators in introducing global citizenship and equity conversations in the classroom. Here, under this sub-question, educators will learn why it is crucial to start uncomfortable conversations with their students about these topics, and how both educators and students can take action towards global justice.
Firstly,“So, what would I say in the classroom, if the teacher was going to be doing that [child sponsorship]? I would then say, well use it critically as a tool. And then possibly, then they could say, well, let’s stop doing child sponsorship, we can’t find out whether that’s really going to be useful. It’s just one narrative that comes through. And so maybe we can do something else. And maybe we can question our own supply chains, and so on and so forth. And that actually has been the case in terms of New Zealand, anyway. People have questioned our own consumption, questioned our own trade deals that we make with other countries that can put people in poverty. And so, there’s been a lot greater awareness around that. There was a roundabout way of answering that question.”
“…I came around to thinking that what is more powerful is professional development for teachers…”
“So, you can spend a lot of money and time on resources that teachers, because of their political persuasion, will go elsewhere and so not look at your resources. Sometimes it’s really hard to change the nature of the teacher… the teacher is very, very powerful in the New Zealand classroom, so I came around to thinking that what is more powerful is professional development for teachers, whereby you get them to critically think about how, you know, what learning outcomes do you really want your students to have? Because they can walk away from your classroom, as little racists, you know, I sometimes… and the teachers go,’ oh, no, no, no, no, no, we don’t want that’. And I say, well, what have you taught them? You’ve taught them that they’re superior, and they can just give $10 a month, and that’s it, done and dusted. And they’re not going to change their lifestyles, or even become politically active in any way whatsoever, or question anything. So what have you created there? So professional development, I started to see as being more influential in that sense, rather than… because we just couldn’t compete with a teacher’s own narrow perspective, and all the stuff that came in from the internet, so they could get things cheaper and faster. And these days, the students, they might get a topic and the teacher, a lazy teacher, will just say, go off and find it yourself. And that just, it’s just poor, because you’re going to go down rabbit holes, the student’s going to go on YouTube clips, that mean nothing. And the teacher is not pulling it together in a critical manner. So professionally training the teacher in, really, critical media literacy is important.”
“…that can lead schools to ask better questions about which NGOs they work with. And those might be NGOs that see themselves as partners that prioritize community-led solutions, […] I see learning as organic. It leads me into context, that leads me into relationships, that could lead me into being ready to learn something I’m not ready to, yet.”
“[L]et’s think of very concrete ways. With my students, I asked: so, what does this mean in concrete terms if your school wants to raise funds to build a well in Africa? And in very concrete ways, I think it’s helpful to, as I say, begin with a sense of the historical continuity, the structural conditions, understanding one’s own implication in it, watching what happens when one opens up to that, and naming the things that are holding you back. And the things that are holding you back might be: a deep-seated sense of the world is meritocratic, deep-seated belief against agency, deep-seated belief in individualism, deep-seated imaginary in which only the purest of heroes or victims deserve, where there’s a whole economy of merit and deservingness and moral worthiness. But also […] a deep-seated commitment to instrumentalism that needs a solution to a problem rather than understanding oneself as part of a larger process that one will not live to see the end of. And trusting those relationships, strengthening those relationships that are building towards something. And so, I think that that can lead schools to ask better questions about which NGOs they work with. And those might be NGOs that see themselves as partners that prioritize community-led solutions, that also see a diversity of tactics that take the risk to become the way Kairos did, to become defunded because they name the deeper structural issues and engage in political advocacy. I think it’s an absolutely essential part of what schools can introduce students to, in an experience of not seeking the easiest, quickest solution. So, I still see it as, almost like CUSO in the 70s; CUSO didn’t see itself as actually impacting the communities that people were going to. It saw itself as starting people into a thought process that might lead them into relationships that might then teach them. Because in my understanding, we— and this has been an influence from Indigenous educators—it’s arrogant to think ‘I’m ready to learn everything right now.’ I see learning as organic. It leads me into context, that leads me into relationships, that could lead me into being ready to learn something I’m not ready to, yet.”“So, I would encourage somebody that I was having conversation with, to think about what other options there are, and to really educate themselves.”
“I really am a firm believer that education is the key to moving beyond things like child sponsorship, like I think it needs to start young. And like I mentioned, my growing up, again, was those World Vision commercials. And that’s what I held on to for so many years, and where my learning came from, because we never talked about things in my family, such as poverty and inequality, and racism, and colonialism and all the things, that just was never taught to me as a child. And so, I believe it starts in school, because a lot of families still aren’t having these conversations. So, I feel good when I know that teachers are having these conversations in school, because if they’re not being had at home, then at least they’re happening at school, where we’re talking about, you know, equity, and, like you’ve mentioned, the difference between solidarity and justice and charity. So, I would encourage somebody that I was having conversation with, to think about what other options there are, and to really educate themselves. And I always tell people now, if you can follow organizations like SCIC, and see what we’re doing, we’re often having education open to the public, it’s free, you know, just come and hear us and listen to some people who are experts in the field and just learn and be open to maybe doing something different.”
Resources
Feeling Power: Emotions and Education (book)
“Education is by no means merely “instruction” and transmission of information. Education shapes our values, beliefs, and who and what we become. Education is a social institution that serves the interests of the nation-state and functions to maintain the status quo and social order.” (p. xiv)
Boler, M. (1999). Feeling Power: Emotions and Education. Taylor & Francis Group.
Access it here (not an open-access resource).
Soft Versus Critical Global Citizenship Education (book chapter)
“In order to understand global issues, a complex web of cultural and material local/global processes and contexts needs to be examined and unpacked. My argument is that if we fail to do that in global citizenship education, we may end up promoting a new ‘civilising mission’ as the slogan for a generation who take up the ‘burden’ of saving/educating/civilising the world.” (p. 41)
de Andreotti, V. O. (2014). Soft versus Critical Global Citizenship Education. In S. McCloskey (Ed.), Development Education in Policy and Practice (pp. 21–31). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Access it here
The Educational Challenges of Imagining the World Differently (article)
de Andreotti, V. (2016). The educational challenges of imagining the world differently. Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue Canadienne d’études Du Développement, 37(1), 101–112.
Access it here (not an open-access resource).
Activities and Prayers for Your THINKfast, Classroom, Workshop or Meeting! (toolkit)
Development and Peace. (n.d.). Activities and Prayers for your THINKfast, classroom, workshop or meeting! Development and Peace.
Access it here (retrieved 8 December, 2021)
Beyond Paternalism: Global Education with Preservice Teachers as a Practice of Implication (book chapter)
Taylor, L. (2011). Beyond Paternalism: Global Education with Preservice Teachers as a Practice of Implication. In Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Citizenship Education. Routledge.
Access it here (Not an open-access resource).
Against the Tide: Working with and Against the Affective Flows of Resistance in Social and Global Justice Learning (article)
“In this article, I explore the forms of learning that are made possible when resistance is explicitly situated at the heart of social and global justice pedagogy not as a problem to be solved or managed but as a site of reflexive individual and collective inquiry and insight.” (p. 60)
Taylor, L. (2013). Against the tide: Working with and against the affective flows of resistance in Social and Global Justice Learning. Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 7(2), 58-68.
Access it here.
