Dirk Postma

Education as sociomaterial critique

In order to extend its scope, depth and effectiveness, critique should shift from its reliance on humanistic assumptions and be reconceptualised as a sociomaterial practice through which realities are enacted differently as multiple and tensional. This kind of critique counters the ways regimes of power are materially entrenched. This article explores such an alternative conception of critique by drawing on Butler’s notion of performativity, the agential realism of Barad and the ontological politics of Mol. It explores the particular ways in which actor-network theory could be understood as a resource of critique. Because of its central role in the enactment of reality, Education is an important field within which critique is developed further in relation to ontological and epistemological assumptions behind different learning spaces and the incoherences and tensions of different ontics.

Who is laughing last in the South African classroom? A critical reflection on language in education

Abstract The performance of pupils using African languages at home testifies to both the inequalities of South African society and education and to a failure to address language problems in education. We reflect on findings from a case study in a secondary school. It was found that pupils struggle to articulate ideas in English which is, for most pupils using African languages at home, both their second language (L2) or First Additional Language (FAL) at school and their language of learning. This article aims to offer a new analytical perspective by focusing not simply on cognitive and linguistic issues, but also on the different ways in which reality (or ontics) is enacted within different language communities. A postcolonial view is developed which does not oppose the use of English instead of the home language (HL), but which emphasises the importance of developing pupils’ abilities to live in tensions created by the opposing ontological assumptions embedded in the different languages and cultures. In order to benefit from these insights, pupils must be well grounded in their HL, as well as in the dominant language, and furthermore, pupils must be enabled to live simultaneously within different realities (ontics).

OPEN ACCESS AND EPISTEMIC EQUALITY

Education as Change has taken the step to publish open access gratis and libre1 under a Creative Commons license, thereby ending its 8 year subscription-based commercial publishing model. This shift to open access is done in the spirit of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002). We adhere to the open access commitment defined by Suber (2012, 4) as ‘digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions’. The journal maintains the same editorial processes and policies and indexing services. It is now also visible on the ScieloSA2 platform. Authors maintain copyright as stipulated under the Creative Commons licensing agreement (CC BY NC ND).3 This means that the work could be freely distributed and reproduced as long as credit is given to the author and it is not used for commercial purposes. This transition to open access is motivated by a commitment to critical research that aims to promote education as empowerment by analysing and resisting all forms of domination and by promoting equality, dignity, justice and freedom. Central to this research is the promotion of epistemic equality, the equal opportunity of the marginalised in particular to contribute towards the global production of knowledge. Open access to knowledge is a necessary condition for the production of knowledge. It is therefore of particular importance for critical research to include the voices of the marginalised and to engage with the conditions of the dominated. It positions itself in support of the equal participation of the Global South4 in the production of knowledge. The marginalised are not only the object of research, but have to play an active role as subjects of research. A