Volume 17, Number 1, 2022

EN:

Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) gained global momentum in recent years. However, little is understood about the connection of EfSD and language, which was described as being among the most underestimated and under-researched parameters of sustainable development. In order to fill this gap, this paper systematically reviews scientific literature on the connection of EfSD and language. In the resulting 33 papers which exclusively dealt with language and EfSD in an African educational setting, most authors used theoretical (28) as opposed to empirical methods (5). Existing research mostly focused on a general educational context (27), followed by lower education (5) and higher education (1). Almost all authors recommended further research into African languages (32), highlighting the need to integrate African languages and indigenous knowledge systems in order to support various development agendas. Further neglect of the language factor might otherwise endanger the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

EN:

The extensive user interaction made possible by social media has both pros and cons. On the one hand, educators have been thrilled with social media’s potential in the possibility of engaging youth in debates on civil responsibility and citizenship. On the other hand, social media can also be used as a powerful weapon to marginalize and intimidate already vulnerable groups. Expressions of hate are not only hurtful to the targeted group but can also have a significant impact on the cohesion and harmony of an immigrant-based society like Canada. Our overarching objective in this paper is to understand the perspectives of marginalized Canadian youth, especially Muslim youth, regarding hate speech in online environments, and particularly on social media. In this article, we present the effects of online hate speech on marginalized youth—often the victims of hate speech—in Canada. In particular, we present effects on self-esteem and self-image, relationships with dominant group members, mental and physical health and well-being, and personal and group security.

EN:

The UNHCR’s 15by30 campaign to increase refugee student enrolment in higher education to 15% by 2030 is a lofty goal. Canadian higher education institutions have a role to play in contributing to this policy goal, along with advocacy efforts from refugee student groups, community-based organizations, government, and international organizations. The aim of this study is to look critically at how the issue of access to higher education for refugee and globally displaced people is represented through Ontario’s universities’ responses to federal government initiatives to crises in Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. In this study, we use Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the problem represented to be?” approach to policy analysis and, drawing on Dillabough’s (2022) critique of modernity in higher education, we argue that university responses related to refugee and globally displaced student access to higher education offer the possibility to reflect on the paradoxical tensions of the problem space in Canadian higher education. In our findings, we discuss how the problem of refugee and displacement crisis was represented differently in response to differences in geopolitical conditions and government policies, as we demonstrate how representations of material problems and categories of “citizenship” and “geographical location” in the universities’ responses contributed to creating boundaries of inclusion and exclusion for access. Finally, we show how the creation of educational programs for “globally displaced people” during the period related to the Ukrainian crisis perpetuates the logic of colonialism in the universities’ responses.