Book Reviews / Comptes rendus 131 CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 41, No. 3, 2011, pages 131-132 Book Reviews / Comptes rendus Shultz, Lynette, Abdi, Ali A., & Richardson, George H. (Eds). (2011). Global Citizenship Education in Post-Secondary Institutions: Theories, Practices, Policies. New York: Peter Lang. Pages: 282. Price: 35.95 USD (paper). Reviewed by Kyra Garson, internationalization / intercultural consultant, Thompson Rivers University. Amid the prevailing rush to internationalize higher education with the attendant focus on mobility and marketization, Global Citizenship Education in PostSecondary Institutions: Theories, Practices, Policies provides a timely and necessary opportunity for pause. This book should cause educators to re-evaluate the present trajectory and consider the role of higher education in the production of the common good by educating for citizenship in a globalized environment. Globalization and internationalization have influenced higher education in a variety of ways; many of the chapters in this volume raise critical questions about the kind of education post-secondary institutions do, can, or should provide in the current neo-liberal milieu. This edited volume contains 20 provocative chapters about the role of postsecondary institutions in global citizenship education. The editors, all educators from the University of Alberta, solicited the chapters from presenters at an international conference hosted in 2008 by their institution’s Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research (CGCER). The resulting volume represents international and interdisciplinary perspectives that address a gap in the current literature on the theories, policies, and practices of global citizenship education in higher education. In its entirety, the book raises multiple critical questions about how the concept of global citizenship should be defined and interrogated, what roles curriculum and pedagogy should play, and what the role of higher education should be in terms of educating outside of disciplinary interests; indeed, one of the final chapters even questions the modelling role of institutions themselves as global citizens. CJHE / RCES Volume 41, No. 3, 2011 Book Reviews / Comptes rendus 132 The chapters reflect the aim of the editors to be widely inclusive in terms of perspective, discipline, and geography. Several chapters focus exclusively on pedagogy and learning outcomes, giving voice to both the observations of educators and the experiences of students. More significantly, the perspectives offered by the various authors cover a wide range of theoretical lenses and educational philosophies addressing a broad range of global issues implicated in global citizenship discourse. Critical pedagogy, hermeneutic inquiry, policy analysis, program evaluation, post-colonial analysis, transformative learning theory, environmental sustainability, critical literacy and language learning, alternate epistemologies, and faith-based frameworks are examples of the breadth of critical analysis this volume has to offer. Although many of the volume’s authors highlight the multiple interpretations and applications of global citizenship education, an underlying theme of the entire volume is the urgent need for higher education to avoid the appropriation of the concept of global citizenship as a superficial western hegemonic framework in which marginalization, privilege, and inequality could easily be perpetuated through a “helping” ideology rather than a model in which interconnectedness and interculturality are emphasized. Chapters by the editors, as well as several contributors, highlight the danger of imposing a non-critical western or northern conceptualization of global citizenship; they urge readers to interrogate definitions, applications, and evaluations of global citizenship education in order to provide robust programs and policies that will address the global issues of our time rather than become a neo-colonial, mono-epistemological export. Several chapters discuss the internationalization of higher education in terms of global citizenship education. A few chapters discuss the impact of internationalized curricula on students. Other chapters discuss the potential contributions of other cultures to the conceptualization of global citizenship. What is missing from the volume is an in-depth discussion of the impact of global citizenship education for international students who will return to their home countries. Considering that any curricular and policy objectives will affect hundreds of thousands of students who will carry their educational experiences to other parts of the world, it would have been interesting to include the potential impacts of that dispersion. However, the volume does not lack in providing a variety of perspectives and considerations and will likely inform educators as internationalization efforts are increasingly being considered in terms of learning outcomes with the potential to provide students with the necessary competencies to thrive and contribute in a global environment. CJHE / RCES Volume 41, No. 3, 2011