Searching for identity in the contemporary world: Two cases in juxtaposition

In this paper we report on a narrative inquiry into how two teachers deal with the issues of identity in a diverse and changing world. Their puzzles started from their different roles and origins of their concerns – one being a father who needs to talk with his teenage daughter on her identity; another being a history and civic educator who thinks about the same issues with a professional concern in cultivating the young people identity in a post-colonial society. This inquiry seeks to understand the issues of identity from two perspectives: (1) a teacher educator’s deliberation on identity issues in the context of civic education for the young; and (2) the puzzles and thinking of laypersons as exemplified in a conversation between a daughter and her father. These two perspectives complement each other to inform our understanding of the challenges of citizenship education in both local and global contexts.