Material interpolations: Youth engagement with inclusive and exclusionary citizenship discourses

Abstract

Citizenship education, in its varying forms, seeks to address challenges of diversity and promote inclusion, while a discourse of othering within public debate implies exclusion for racialised minority citizens and residents. Youth must navigate these dichotomous citizenship discourses in order to craft their own meaning of the concept of citizenship. This research shows that youth draw on material and sensory tokens, such as skin colour, clothing, and audible language, to justify or challenge citizenship belonging. The implication is that it is vital for citizenship education researchers to address the material and sensory tokens implicit in racialised discourses which Other minority citizens.