This article explores the global dimensions of citizenship. By way of contextualising the discussion, the authors describe a component of a course that was designed to introduce students to the lives of people they may otherwise never have an opportunity to encounter. Our challenge, as we saw it, was to reveal the humanity, individuality and ordinariness of these "strangers". The purpose was to gain an insight into the perspectives and values of those who differ from us in significant ways so that we can empathise with them and better appreciate the varied cultural, social and economic contexts that shape the world we all share. We used literature as the means to do this. In particular we selected novels by African women writers. The focus was on what the stories revealed about the everyday joys and cares of the characters rather than on the literary merit of the novels.