Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Belonging
Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship | Adrienne Clarkson
2 posts | 1 read | 3 to read
Never has the world experienced greater movement of peoples from one country to another, from one continent to another. These seismic shifts in population have brought about huge challenges for all societies. In this year’s Massey Lectures, Canada’s twenty-sixth Governor General and bestselling author Adrienne Clarkson argues that a sense of belonging is a necessary mediation between an individual and a society. She masterfully chronicles the evolution of citizenship throughout the ages: from the genesis of the idea of the citizen in ancient Greece, to the medieval structures of guilds and class; from the revolutionary period which gave birth to the modern nation-state, to present-day citizenship based on shared values, consensus, and pluralism. Clarkson places particular emphasis on the Canadian model, which promotes immigration, parliamentary democracy, and the rule of law, and the First Nations circle, which embodies notions of expansion and equality. She concludes by looking forward, using the Bhutanese example of Gross National Happiness to determine how we measure up today and how far we have to go to bring into being the citizen, and the society, of tomorrow.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
xicanti
post image
Pickpick

Fabulous. Clarkson examines what citizenship means socially, politically, and philosophically, with an especial emphasis on how Canadians interpret it. There were a few areas where I feared she'd take too uncritical an approach, but she always brings it back around. Her stance is optimistic, yes, but she remains very much aware of how past citizenship models have faltered and what we can do to shore ours up.

43 likes2 stack adds
blurb
xicanti
post image

Tonight's plan: finish this excellent lecture series by our former Governor General.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I love that cover, I want to read it for that reason alone! 6y
xicanti @Riveted_Reader_Melissa it absolutely lives up to the cover. 6y
34 likes1 stack add2 comments