Vanessa Andreotti

Actionable postcolonial theory in education

PART I: POSTCOLONIALISMS AND POSTCOLONIAL THEORIES Contextualizing Postcolonialisms and Postcolonial Theories Homi Bhabhas Contribution and Critics Gayatri Spivaks Contribution and Critics Comparative Framework: Selected Theories of Institutional Suffering PART II: ACTIONING POSTCOLONIAL THEORY IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Contextualizing the Research Process Analysis of Policy I: Focus on Western Liberal Humanism Analysis of Policy II: Focus on Neoliberalism Analysis of Practice I: the Other Who Validates our Superiority Analysis of Practice II: the Other Who Should be Grateful for our Efforts Analysis of Practice III: the Other Who Desperately Needs our Leadership PART III: ACTIONING POSTCOLONIAL PEDAGOGIES Contextualizing Pedagogical Processes and Contexts Relativizing Western Knowledge Production in Spaces of Dissensus The OSDE methodology Engaging with Other Knowledge Systems: the Through Other Eyes Initiative Wrestling with Meaning and Life: Being a Mother of Immigrant Children

Towards) Decoloniality and Diversality in Global Citizenship Education.

This article focuses on the geo- and body-politics of knowledge production related to global citizenship education. It introduces a set of concepts and questions, developed in the work of (mainly) Latin American scholars, that problematise Eurocentric conceptualisations of modernity, globalisation, knowledge and ‘being’ with several implications for education. Through conceptual tools that engage the ‘darker side of modernity’, the ‘coloniality of power/being’, ‘epistemic racism’ and ‘abyssal thinking’, the ideas presented in this article aim to pluralise possibilities for global citizenship education in ways that address ethnocentrism, ahistoricism, depoliticisation and paternalism in educational agendas, upholding possibilities for decoloniality, diversality and ‘ecologies of knowledge’ in educational research, policy and pedagogy.

Epistemological Pluralism: Ethical and Pedagogical Challenges in Higher Education

This paper offers a brief analysis of aspects related to the significance and the complexities of introducing “different” epistemologies in higher education teaching and learning. We start by introducing the metaphors of abyssal thinking, epistemic blindness and ecologies of knowledge in the work of Boaventura de Souza Santos. In the second part of the paper we use Santos’ metaphors to engage with the tensions of translating aboriginal epistemologies into non-aboriginal languages, categories and technologies. In the third part, we offer a situated illustration of an attempt to introduce epistemological pluralism in addressing central concepts in teaching in higher education. In our conclusion we emphasize that political, ontological and metaphysical questions need to be considered very carefully in the process of introducing different epistemologies into higher education.

Between the nation and the globe: education for global mindedness in Finland

This article explores some of the tensions at the interface of nationalist and global orientations in ideals of global mindedness and global citizenship looking specifically at the Finnish context. We engage with discussions related to the social–political and historical context of national identity in Finland and outline the conceptual framework of an educational initiative related to the development of global mindedness through experiences of international mobility and partnerships. This conceptual outline presents a set of theoretical distinctions through which we seek to challenge humanist and universalist approaches to the question of (the formation of) global mindedness by arguing that the issue is neither about cognition or understanding nor about empathy and relationships but ultimately has to do with modes of existence and exposure. Similar to discussions in other small states, the historical trajectory in Finland illustrates how the encounter between the nation and the globe poses particular challenges for education as it runs the risk of reverting to ethnocentric rather than globally minded forms of national identity building. We argue that this risk cannot be addressed with the promotion of a mere understanding of or mere empathy for the other as an educational or political antidote but rather requires an existential approach.

Beyond epistemic provincialism: De-provincializing Indigenous resistance

This article is part of a transnational collaboration between Indigenous scholars concerned about the provincialization of Indigenous struggles within modern metaphysics. This can be seen at work in notions of land as property, tribe as (modern) nation, and sovereignty as anthropocentric agency grounded on rational choice. Drawing on critiques of modernity articulated by Latin American scholars, as well as Indigenous scholars exploring the limits of current forms of political resistance, we argue that this modern metaphysics generates a form of politics that neglects an important existential dimension of Indigenous heritages. We use Indigenous education as an example to affirm that epistemic provincialization has been both necessary and problematic in the current context. We argue that the limitations of strategies for recognition, representation and redistribution need to be complemented by existential insights that can revitalize possibilities of existence based on ancestral wisdom and on the urgency of considering our shared fate in a finite planet facing unprecedented challenges.

Digital Democracy and Global Citizenship Education: Mutually Compatible or Mutually Complicit?

Abstract This article uses a critique of modernity to examine the perceived relationship between global citizenship education (GCE) and digital democracy (DD). We review critiques of citizenship education in the global imperative and of the relationship of technology to democratic engagement. An analogy expresses the problematic way that GCE and DD are both mutually compatible and complicit in ethical global justice issues. We end with a suggestion of a pedagogical framework through which educators can engage with an ethical approach to GCE and DD.

Education, Knowledge and the Righting of Wrongs

In this chapter, I present three metaphors or narratives that unapologetically raise “a thousand questions” about education and do not provide any clear cut answers. My intention is to raise the stakes in our collective struggle with the joys, challenges and dilemmas involved in enacting education beyond historical patterns that have cultivated unsustainable and harmful forms of collective relationships and have limited human possibilities for imagining (and doing) otherwise.

The educational challenges of imagining the world differently

ABSTRACT This article presents some reflections on the dynamics, paradoxes and gaps in academic discussions of international development education, especially in initiatives related to international experiential service learning and global citizenship education. I focus on the difficulties of starting important conversations about social historical processes that systemically reproduce material, discursive and political inequalities using the concepts of exceptionalism and coloniality. In the second section, key challenges of intelligibility are discussed, and an example of the complexities of introducing a pedagogical tool to address the problems I have identified is offered. I conclude with important questions to be asked when pushing the boundaries of international development education in Canada.

Ethical internationalisation in higher education: interfaces with international development and sustainability

Abstract This analysis is situated within a larger project focusing on ethics and internationalisation in higher education. Internationalisation is occurring at a fast pace and encompasses overlapping and contradictory aims largely framed by market imperatives. At the same time, institutions of higher education increasingly promote sustainability. We use a framework informed by decolonial theories to map different orientations of internationalism at the interface of sustainability and international development in the context of neoliberalism. To examine these interfaces we offer a social cartography that locates intersections of neoliberal, liberal, and critical discourses within an internally contested but enduring modern/colonial imaginary. We demonstrate the generative potential of the social cartography by drawing on examples from strategy documents relating to internationalisation from universities in Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK.

Conflicting Epistemic Demands in Poststructuralist and Postcolonial Engagements With Questions of Complicity in Systemic Harm

In this article, I explore complex and contested interfaces between postcolonial and poststructural theories in the context of education, focusing on seemingly paradoxical epistemic demands related to justice and ethics. I start with a brief analysis of the heterogeneous and contested areas of poststructural and postcolonial theories in education, highlighting a common source of important insights in the works of Michel Foucault. Next, I present a concrete example of an academic incident that illustrates how politics of identity and ideas of justice/injustice, innocence, or complicity in harm can mobilize different epistemic demands, conceptualizations of ethics, and educational questions. In keeping with a postcolonial call to first provincialize and to subsequently deprovincialize Eurocentred disciplines, I offer a Quechua narrative as an alternative way to approach questions of justice and ethics, and conclude by suggesting the bridge as a metaphor for education and as a means to connect or to escape different difficult ethical imperatives in different realms of existence.In this article, I explore complex and contested interfaces between postcolonial and poststructural theories in the context of education, focusing on seemingly paradoxical epistemic demands related to justice and ethics. I start with a brief analysis of the heterogeneous and contested areas of poststructural and postcolonial theories in education, highlighting a common source of important insights in the works of Michel Foucault. Next, I present a concrete example of an academic incident that illustrates how politics of identity and ideas of justice/injustice, innocence, or complicity in harm can mobilize different epistemic demands, conceptualizations of ethics, and educational questions. In keeping with a postcolonial call to first provincialize and to subsequently deprovincialize Eurocentred disciplines, I offer a Quechua narrative as an alternative way to approach questions of justice and ethics, and conclude by suggesting the bridge as a metaphor for education and as a means to connect or to escape d...