About “Citizenship under Fire”

An examination of civic education, the culture of war, and the quest for peace, this book draws on examples from Israel and the United States to understand how ideas about citizenship change when a country is at war—and what educators can do to prevent some of the most harmful of these changes.

 

The most worrisome trends Ben-Porath identifies are a growing emphasis in schools on social conformity, on tendentious teaching of history, and on drawing stark distinctions between them and us. As she writes, “The varying characteristics of citizenship in times of war and peace add up to a distinction between belligerent citizenship ... and the liberal democratic citizenship that is characteristic of more peaceful democracies.”

 

While various theories of education—peace education, feminist education, and multicultural education—speak to the challenges of wartime, Ben-Porath argues that they prove unsatisfactory on their own theoretical terms or simply won’t translate into practice. Rather, she proposes an alternative theory—“expansive education”­­—which she believes holds more promise of widening the circles of participation, extending the scope of debate, and diversifying the questions asked about the opinions voiced.

 

Praise for “Citizenship under Fire”

“This timely book addresses a host of pressing issues, from teaching history and civics to accommodating diversity and dissent. Combining insights from feminist thought, multicultural theory, and democratic education, Ben-Porath offers an admirably balanced and insightful account of the complex demands that democracies face in time of war.”

 Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania

 

“This book has all the ingredients of a classic text: it opens a new line of scholarly inquiry that, afterwards, seems hard to believe hadn't been opened before. Ben-Porath’s main theme—civic education during wartime—has never been addressed in as comprehensive and inventive a manner.”

Rob Reich, Stanford University

 

Contents

1. Citizenship in Wartime 2. Education as War by Other Means 3. Peace Education: Anger Management and Care for the Earth 4. Feminist Contributions to Expansive Education 5. Multicultural Education: Acknowledgment and Forgiveness 6. Expansive Education

 

Publication information

April 2006

Princeton University Press,

ISBN 0-691-12434-5

Hardcover, $29.95  ORDER

74 pages