Starting from the coast of Lesbos

From this Friday onwards, the Active Citizenship Compass (ACC) project team will settle down in Mytilini, the capital city of the island Lesbos in Greece, to discuss their ERASMUS+ project on how to promote active citizenship in education across various European countries. Not knowing the island, I arrived a couple of days earlier to Lesbos to explore its various landscapes; the landmark olive trees, picturesque villages and beautiful coastline. From Mytilini, the bus took me from the south eastern part of the island in a straight line to Petra in the north west. From there my 3 day walking tour commenced along Lesbos’ northern coast line whilst passing the beautiful villages of Vafeios, Molyvos, Efthalou, Skala Sikamineas, Mandamados, Skala Neon Kidonion and then back to Mytilini. The views of the mountains and the sea were stunning, the people were kind and welcoming, and there was a laid back and relaxed atmosphere throughout. Yet, where the Aegean Sea now provided a gentle and pleasant summer breeze to locals and tourists eating lunch next to the sea, the same idyllical sea was an important part of a completely different scene roughly ten years ago.

The power of ‘everyday’ citizenship

Since the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ starting in 2015, Lesbos has changed both because of the impact on everyday life for its locals and as from that moment the island was known differently by people in other places of the world. Formerly known as a tourist island, recognized for its olive oil and ouzo production, the influx of people seeking access to Europe as refugees drew up an image of ‘crisis’ in the public eye, in particular on the European mainland. Thinking about what active citizenship means, Lesbos being the location of the meeting cannot not be more inspirational. Prior to the interference of EU policies and NGOs in the reception of refugees, local communities held very different attitudes toward those seeking asylum. Even while facing their own social and financial struggles on the island, people were committed to helping refugees in any way possible. They risked their own safety to rescue people from drowning, pulling them from the water as they arrived on overcrowded rubber boats with inadequate life vests. Many organised small and temporary initiatives for refugee assistance to provide shelter and food. These acts of humanitarian aid by locals were motivated by empathy, solidarity and care for those in need. The initial refugee response in Lesbos is a prime example that shows what ordinary people can do as active citizens when they are being failed by government policies and institutions.

The ‘active’ in ‘active citizenship’

The example above demonstrates how people can become active citizens under particular circumstances. Citizenship is therefore something that cannot be easily defined and is something that is constantly subject to change due to different circumstances. It also raises questions about what ‘active’ actually means. In citizenship education, there are often clear scripts about what citizenship knowledge and actions are or should be. This has the risk of coming across as moralistic and normative, especially in a classroom where relationships can already be tense due to polarization and misunderstanding of the norms and values ​​of the other. Moreover, it seems to forget the everyday acts of citizenship that people, including children and young adults, undertake. Consequently, Kallio and Häkli (2013) demonstrate that this silences the voices of a group that is generally quite invisible and has difficulty feeling heard politically. Paying more attention to the ways in which young people ‘actively’ adjust to changing political circumstances  in their everyday lives can learn us to understand active citizenship better.

Young citizens as ‘agents of change’ and the ‘adult agenda’

This is an important question as children and young people are often the first to experience the consequences of societal change and inequalities. Think for example about the growing importance of the internet and social media in people’s lives, experiences with poverty and Europe’s housing shortage, but also the effects of climate change and migration. These issues have a significant effect on the lives of young people. Although ‘youth’ is often used as a metaphor for the future, children and young people are rarely consulted in decision-making processes that are concerned with these issues. They are seen as ‘future adults’ and not as individuals who have an unique perspective to fight these challenges. The consequence is that children and young people’s identity construction and development of views and attitudes are formed based on the ‘adult world’ and how to fit in. But this does not do justice to their complex lifeworld in which they are both individualistic and autonomous actors and vulnerable victims at the same time.

Dionysian vs Apollonian approach to ‘young citizens’

To understand this complexity we remain in Greece to trace two oppositional protagonists of Greek mythology; Apollo, representative of rational thinking and order and Dionysos, representing irrationality, emotions and chaos. Valentine (2010) distinguishes a clash between the Apollonian view and the Dionysian view regarding youth in which the bodies of children and young people are used as a metaphor, namely that of ‘pure evil’ and ‘total innocence’. The Apollonian view is characterised by seeing the child as vulnerable and innocent in relation to the ugly and dangerous world outside. This leads to the idea that the child must be protected in its development towards adulthood, because the child has the future. In contrast, the Dionysian view sees the ‘evil’ child as a threat to the orderly and stable world of adults. Where Apollo indicates ‘how it should be done’, Dionysus stands in the wings, shouting and stirring: ‘Try something different! Take a risk! Trust your instincts!’. Young citizens cannot be captured by solely one category. They are two diametrically different ways of looking at life which also significantly influences citizenship policy and education.

What is the ‘geographies of youth’?

This tension forms an important part of the academic field of ‘geographies of youth’. According to Yarwood and Tyrrell (2012), the starting point is the essential premise that young people experience the world in a fundamentally different way than those who are adults. The geography of youth therefore questions how ‘being young’ and identity development are shaped by spatial processes at different scales and which specific places play a role in this. From the perspective of children and young people it quickly becomes clear that they experience different places – home, neighbourhood, school, work and public space – in a way that lies beyond the comprehension of adults. In addition, young people are often able to imagine a place in a way that is often considered unconventional in the ‘adult’ world. An important part, according to Yarwood and Tyrrell (2012), is that researchers are interested in the perspectives of children and young people, whereby the element of qualitative and participatory research methods are used to promote interaction and participation. This shows that youth – more than older generations – are shaped by global developments and geopolitical events. Yet, these perspectives are often overlooked.

Active citizenship education in the Netherlands

There is a parallel to be found with citizenship education in the Netherlands. The recent development of citizenship education in the Netherlands has led to a decline in democratic values among Dutch secondary school pupils. Current educational policies therefore risk to instrumentalize citizens, diminishing their intrinsic motivation to participate in and critically engage with society. At the same time, it is observed that young people who enter secondary school already developed firm ideas about norms and values, and what ‘good’ citizenship means. The differences between pupils on secondary schools is thus significant, in particular since upon entrance pupils are divided among different tracks based on potential making it more difficult to interact with each other. More attention should go out to understanding the geography of citizenship knowledge – where and when do pupils learn what citizenship entails – and to make sure that these different experiences enter the classroom. As a result, rather than integrating pupils in society, active citizenship education should encourage pupils to actively shape society in a diverse classroom and develop their own political subjectivities.

What does this all mean for ‘active citizenship education’?

In sum, the above illustrates what youth citizenship can be based on Wood’s (2022) framework of becoming, being and doing. Youth citizenship is in constant movement rather than a fixed set of norms and values. It is situated in the life course experiences of young people, the socio-political and cultural environment in which they develop themselves, and the connections and relations between young people and their peers, adults and other significant people. Youth citizenship is shaped alongside these conditions which highlights the plural and diverse understandings of what ‘good’ and ‘active’ citizenship is. Hence, it is important to sit together with partners from several European countries to discuss what citizenship means in different contexts and what we can learn from each other. If citizenship educational programmes seek to work towards social change, it is important to consider fundamental principles of ‘geographies of youth’ to reveal where and when active citizenship happens and matters, and to appreciate the value of young people’s perspectives. In doing so, it is essential to see young people both as agentic actors that need to be stimulated, and be considerate of their vulnerability to make sure they are protected when it is necessary. By learning that young people face different issues and challenges in the world, young people develop a sense of empathy, solidarity and care. After all, all young people have the capacity to become active citizens just as the local communities in Lesbos.