Beniamin Knutsson

Education, Development and the Imaginary Global Consensus: reframing educational planning dilemmas in the South

Abstract In the context of knowledge-intensive globalisation and severe poverty, policy makers in the South face various educational planning dilemmas. These are ultimately political, implying that there are no ways of avoiding tensions and trade-offs when attempting to handle them. Such dilemmas have been subject to debate in the research community and have been framed differently in different historical contexts. The contemporary development policy discourse, however, largely conceals the existence of dilemmas by suggesting that we have reached a global consensus regarding the role of education in development. This article illustrates that this consensus is imaginary and consequently aims to reframe educational planning dilemmas in the contemporary policy context. It is shown that the dilemmas have changed character and now largely revolve around how to navigate and negotiate in highly complex political landscapes. Future research should focus on such ongoing wars of position and expose the many tensions concealed by the hegemonic policy discourse.

Smooth Machinery: Global Governmentality and Civil Society HIV/AIDS Work in Rwanda

Abstract In recent years there has been a massive influx of aid to civil society HIV/AIDS work in Africa. Drawing on fieldwork in Rwanda, this article explores, through a governmentality perspective, the rationalities and technologies of government that accompany the new funding schemes. The paper feeds into contemporary debates on the relevance of governmentality studies in Africa and on the complicated relationship between state, civil society, and international donors in the particular context of Rwanda. Despite the countrys known record of authoritarian politics, the paper argues that Rwandan civil society organizations are in fact largely subject to advanced liberal rule, rendering them responsible and active in their own government. This global governmentality, in turn, unfolds through a post-political machinery that effectively blurs boundaries between international donor, state, and civil society institutions. Ultimately, this means that researchers interested in resistance must be prepared to extend their visual field considerably.

The ‘making’ of knowledge society in Rwanda? Translations, tensions and transformations

In the year 2000, Rwanda launched an ambitious long-term development strategy intended to render a fundamental transformation from an agrarian to a knowledge society by 2020. Knowledge society, however, could be viewed as a ‘floating signifier’ open for a wide range of interpretations. Guided by a policy translation perspective the aim of this article is to examine the ‘making’ of knowledge society in Rwanda. The article analyses how the governments notion of a projected knowledge society and attempts to manage globalisation to the benefit of Rwanda have translated into a set of educational policy priorities. This article further exposes various tensions that emerge in these translation processes, intimately linked to the countrys deep poverty, complex political situation and high-flying ambitions.

Sustaining the life-chance divide? Education for sustainable development and the global biopolitical regime

ABSTRACT What is being sustained in education for sustainable development (ESD)? Drawing on biopolitical theory, this article puts forth the hypothesis that it is in fact the very life-chance gulf that separates wealthy ‘sustainable’ mass consumers from poor ‘sustainable’ subsistence-level populations. Hence, in sharp contrast to the cosmopolitan buzz that characterizes the international policy discourse on ESD, it is argued that ESD feeds into the global life-chance divide as it prepares different populations for entirely different lives and lifestyles. In previous research that has dealt with global aspects of ESD, a dividing line can be drawn between scholars who emphasize tendencies towards neoliberal homogenization and those who highlight contingency, local re-articulations and spaces of contestation. This paper offers a third theoretical position that while sharing a deep unease with global neoliberal government is primarily concerned with its ‘will to divide’. As a corollary of this biopolitical perspective, the paper makes a case for critical empirical research that can lay bare the cracks and contradictions in the grand narrative of ESD as a cosmopolitan ethical enterprise.

Studying “the Political” in International Aid to Education: Methodological Considerations

The point of departure of this article is an apparent antinomy. On the one hand, there is the powerful argument in political theory on the emergence and consolidation of a post-political condition. On the other hand, research in international and comparative education demonstrates how conflicts and power asymmetries continue to characterize education aid. Attempting to move beyond this antinomy we engage in a methodological discussion on how to study “the political” in education aid landscapes with strong post-political features. By reviewing the two sets of literature, and bringing them into conversation, we extract five methodological tenets: (i) taking “the political” seriously, (ii) looking beyond face value when scrutinizing policy arrangements, (iii) exploring everyday wars of position, (iv) focusing on subjects and situated practices, and (v) moving beyond scales by analyzing connections across territorial entities. The article primarily makes a methodological contribution but ultimately the findings can also be relevant to the world of policy making.