Abstract

Karen Pashby, Professor of Global Citizenship Education at Manchester Metropolitan University, docent at University of Helsinki, and Adjunct Professor at University of Alberta, is a renowned researcher and educator in the field of Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Her work draws on de/post/anti-colonial theoretical resources to support critically reflexive practices in GCE in ‘Global North’ contexts. In this interview, Pashby emphasizes the aspirational and contested paradox of GCE, aiming to engage learners in thinking about ethical relations of rights and responsibilities. She highlights the need for multiple transformations in the structures that frame our relations as cohabitants of the planet, while at the same time warning about the risk of the tendency towards solutionism. As a critical GCE scholar, Pashby highlights that learners and educators must acknowledge they are both part of the problem and the solution, and therefore, build on critical reflexivity and deep thinking to understand their ethical relations.