Struggles for justice in education through the lens of educational citizenship

Abstract This paper argues for a pluralist notion of educational citizenship as a lens for interpreting struggles for justice in education. The first section discusses how activism is conceived of in three models of educational citizenship: a normative nation-state orientation, a counter-publics orientation, and an Indigenous sovereignty orientation. The paper then seeks to focus attention on grass-roots activist strategies that mobilise resources across these orientations, extending beyond state-authorised sites and rhetoric to a politics of the everyday. Such politics are showcased through an extended example of Indigenous-led struggles over education in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjarra Lands in the Western Desert region of South Australia. This example highlights the roles played by counternarrative performance in community and externally-facing forums.