C3 - Centrum für Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, 1090 Wien
Postcolonial Perspectives on the Education, Sustainability and Development Paradigm
A peer discussion workshop with Prof. Leon Tikly, University of Bristol
Education is customarily viewed as a major instrument for economic and social development and this is particularly true in the current era of the Sustainable Development discourse.
In contrast with this, postcolonial approaches employ a different view. To them, education as a site of struggle has constituted a key vehicle for the ‚colonisation of the mind‘. In a double meaning, the ‚post‘ in postcolonialism is both temporal, pointing to the processes of decolonisation, and analytical in the sense of investigating the aftermath of colonialism. At the same time, postcolonial approaches consider education as an important tool not only for the inculcation, but also for the unlearning of colonial ideologies.
How can postcolonial approaches be employed to the current Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discourse, that places education at the heart of policy agendas with the goal of achieving socially and environmentally just development? Are the Sustainable Development Goals and ESD just another variant of an attempt to colonise peoples’ mind or is there potential for the decolonisation of curricula and the transformation of teaching and learning relationships? And if so, what transformations of policies and practices are required to benefit from this potential?
The workshop will raise these and other questions. Its goal is to foster discussion and exchange between scholars and practitioners working on education, development and postcolonial approaches. Prof. Leon Tikly, an internationally renowned scholar in education and development studies, will hold an introductory input drawing on his forthcoming book “Education for Sustainable Development in the Postcolonial World”.
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> Presentation Prof. Leon Tikly
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