Intercultural Education Vol. 22, No. 1, February 2011, 69–82 ISSN 1467-5986 print/ISSN 1469-8439 online © 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2011.549646 http://www.informaworld.com Debating globalization in social studies education: approaching globalization historically and discursively Ayman K. Agbaria* Department of Leadership and Policy in Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel Taylor and Francis CEJI_A_549646.sgm 10.1080/14675986.2011.549646 Intercultural Education 1467-5986 (print)/1469-8439 (online) Original Article 2011 Taylor & Francis 22 10000002011 Dr AymanAgbaria aagbaria@construct.haifa.ac.il; aymanagbaria@yahoo.com The purpose of this paper is to explore the dominant positions in the debates on globalization in American social studies education. Specifically, the paper illustrates that, first, globalization is conceived of as more of an unprecedented new age and less of a historical development. Second, it is conceived of as more of a natural process and less as an ideological project. All in all, this paper argues that globalization should be approached as a historic and discursive condition in the field of social studies education. To do so, educators should include more skeptical perspectives and critical voices about globalization. Also, they need to approach the vocabulary used to frame globalization discursively, rather than as an objective fact. The paper contends that the different positions taken in the debates on globalization are part and parcel of the social imaginary of globalization. The paper has ramifications not only for American social studies education but also for related subjects such as civics and citizenship education elsewhere. Keywords: globalization theory; global education; social studies education; discourse analysis Many countries are transforming their educational systems within the context of globalization. Yet, it is not fully clear as to what kind of globalization students around the world are being prepared for. Furthermore, it is not fully lucid what kind of global- ization exists ‘out there’ that social studies and educators in related disciplines are encouraged to believe in and to circulate as an objective truth. Admittedly, studies on globalization in educational research are abundant (e.g., Burbules and Torres 2000; Suárez-Orozco and Qin-Hilliard 2004; Zajda 2005). Central to these studies is examining how globalization has been influencing educa- tion and how we can reform education to better engage with the economic, political, cultural, and ethical challenges of globalization. However, studies as such often provide limited insights into how globalization has been conceptualized and framed in specific discourse sites and communities in education. Gough (1999) has rightly observed in my opinion that the ‘transnational imaginary’ embedded in how global- ization has been constructed and played out in particular in educational sites and discourses is yet uncharted, invisible, and thus needs to be mapped. Similarly, Fiss and Hirsch (2005) argue that while academic research has mainly been focused on globalization as a structural process, much less attention has been devoted to it as a symbolic discourse in which different framings compete to gain dominance. In this regard, Angus (2004) contends that there is a tendency to present globalization as a *Email: aagbaria@construct.haifa.ac.il