The Tensions between Indigenous Sovereignty and Multicultural Citizenship Education: Toward an Anticolonial Approach to Civic Education

Overview & Synopsis

Indigenous studies complicates and advances existing notions of citizenship education, in particular, by making visible ongoing legacies of colonialism and foregrounding Indigenous sovereignty. In this article, the author examines how the erasure of Indigenous citizenship, nationhood, and sovereignty permeates multicultural citizenship education. Theories of ignorance are then used to discuss various interests that underlie these erasures. By focusing on Indigenous studies scholarship that complicates structural inclusion as the goal of citizenship education, this article advocates for citizenship education that explicitly counters colonialism and supports Indigenous sovereignty. To support this aim, the author outlines an anticolonial approach to civic education--place, presence, political nationhood, perspectives, power, and partnerships--to challenge and complement existing citizenship education literature and practice.