This is article uses the method of social cartography with the intention to contribute to different conversations about global justice and education. It introduces 4 cartographies that are relevant for mapping discussions in the field of GCE.
(1) The HEADS UP cartography maps recurrent patterns of representation and engagement commonly found in narratives about poverty, wealth, and global change in North-South engagements and local engagements with diverse populations.
(2) The HOUSE cartography presents one way of diagnosing current crises and their multiple, overlapping dimensions.
(3) The TREE cartography, makes a distinction between what is offered by different layers of analyses of social problems in terms of doing, knowing, and being.
(4) The EarthCARE cartography is presented as a framework for global justice education, which emphasises the integration and entanglement of different dimensions of justice, including ecological, affective, relational, cognitive, and economic dimensions.
The four social cartographies address different dimensions of the challenges of mobilising development and global education in socially complex and politically uncertain times. This article was written with the aim of not merely introducing “alternatives” to mainstream approaches to (global) education, but an “alternative way” of thinking about alternatives.
This article is of relevance to those seeking to move debates on GCE towards deeper, more complex conversations that challenge mainstream perceptions and understandings of “problems and solutions.” The article is useful also to those seeking to explore the often overlooked aspects of global justice (affective, relational, cognitive) that largely remain unaddressed in educational contexts. Particularly researchers, practitioners and advocates that are interested engaging in GCE from a critically informed perspective should find this article useful.