Three broad kinds of orientation can be identified with regard to (global) citizenship education, or (G)CE: cosmopolitanism, localism, and relationalism. They differ in their respective approaches not only to cultural transmission and instruction but also to knowledge and knowledge production. My aim in this paper is to interrogate the notion of local or indigenous knowledge in (G)CE research and to investigate whether the postcolonial idea of epistemological diversity does not involve a mistaken sense of ‘epistemology’. I argue that there are good reasons for an unequivocal and universally applicable understanding of knowledge and epistemology in (global) citizenship education and GCE research – and for being able to distinguish between knowledge and non-knowledge. A relevantly modified cosmopolitanism acknowledges differences in practical epistemic priorities, without these amounting to ‘diverse epistemologies’.

Schlagworte
epistemological diversity, cosmopolitanism, localism, relationalism, ubuntu, global citizenship education