Post- & Decolonial Perspectives on Education
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Starting in 2017, I worked closely with Professor Jeremy Rappleye (previously of Kyoto University) to bring to fruition, first, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between my College of Education and the Graduate School of Education at Kyoto University and, second, an intensive co-taught course in Hawaii where students from both UH and Kyoto University have delved into the history and foundations of modern education systems. Entitled “Learning to read the ‘global’ through Hawaiian education,” this course exposes students to the various layers upon which the Modern and Western education system of Hawaii has been built (e.g., Christianity, colonization, capitalism, liberalism, etc.). The course is intended as a window through which to think critically about the foundations of other education systems.
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I have continued to explore these issues in recent years. This has included collaboration with colleagues and PhD students from the University of Hawaii to develop a paper entitled, “Questioning the onto-epistemic foundations of global governance and global education policy: A decolonial analysis of global citizenship education in Hawaii.” The paper is forthcoming in the Comparative Education Review. This paper not only applies a decolonial critique to the Christian-positivist-liberal-capitalist foundations of global governance and global education policies, but also draws on decolonial scholars to suggest an ethical approach to constructing an alternative globality that respects and learns from onto-epistemic difference, rather than furthering the epistemicide of non-Western and Indigenous worldviews by forcing them to assimilate to Western modernity. As the paper’s title notes, this critique is rooted in an analysis of global citizenship education in Hawai‘i, where the layers of coloniality are evident and continue to be contested. Through this study, we seek to make an intervention in the literature on global governance, global education policy, and global citizenship education, where decolonial lenses are scantly employed.
One of my most substantive works to date in this area is a book,which brings post- and decolonial theory into conversation with studies of globalization, global governance, and the privatization of education, entitled Globalization, privatization, and the State: Education reform in post-colonial contexts. The book, which focuses on the history of educational privatization in the post-colonial context of Honduras, provides a framework for understanding the ways that colonial practices, relationships, and logics continue to guide the behavior of State apparatuses in post-colonial contexts. The last part of the book concludes by arguing for the need to go even further, beyond a post-colonial perspective, in order to explore decolonial directions. That is, the book seeks to be attentive to its own critiques: If the modern (post-colonial) State is inherently limited by colonial logics, we need, first, to understand those logics, but also, second, to be willing to think beyond them, to explore alternatives. In the words of Arathi Sriprakash (University of Bristol and author of Learning whiteness: Education and the settler colonial State), “This book bursts open the taken-for-granted concepts of the state that circulate in studies of globalisation and education. Putting a critical reading of state theories into conversation with the specificities of educational privatization in Honduras, the authors illuminate the urgent need for a sustained and robust understanding of the interlocking forces of colonialism and capitalism in the field of education.”
As an additional example of this research direction, I highlight my ongoing collaboration with Claudia Díaz-Ríos (University of Toronto/OISE) and Mauro C. Moschetti (Autonomous University of Barcelona). We are co-editing a book entitled, “The State and education in Latin America: Foundations, fault lines, and alternatives." This project seeks to go beyond the typical approaches to education policy employed by scholars of globalization and education. That is, the book brings together scholars from across the region who look deeply at the nature and limitations of State foundations in order to explain (not only describe) why, exactly, education policy and reform in the region looks and operates the way it does. Importantly, the book features studies that shine light on different ways that social movements, teachers’ unions, radical communities, and Indigenous groups are resisting, contesting, and avoiding the State as they seek to realize alternative visions of education and alternative notions of development.
Other projects in this area are described on the research projects page.
One of my most substantive works to date in this area is a book,which brings post- and decolonial theory into conversation with studies of globalization, global governance, and the privatization of education, entitled Globalization, privatization, and the State: Education reform in post-colonial contexts. The book, which focuses on the history of educational privatization in the post-colonial context of Honduras, provides a framework for understanding the ways that colonial practices, relationships, and logics continue to guide the behavior of State apparatuses in post-colonial contexts. The last part of the book concludes by arguing for the need to go even further, beyond a post-colonial perspective, in order to explore decolonial directions. That is, the book seeks to be attentive to its own critiques: If the modern (post-colonial) State is inherently limited by colonial logics, we need, first, to understand those logics, but also, second, to be willing to think beyond them, to explore alternatives. In the words of Arathi Sriprakash (University of Bristol and author of Learning whiteness: Education and the settler colonial State), “This book bursts open the taken-for-granted concepts of the state that circulate in studies of globalisation and education. Putting a critical reading of state theories into conversation with the specificities of educational privatization in Honduras, the authors illuminate the urgent need for a sustained and robust understanding of the interlocking forces of colonialism and capitalism in the field of education.”
As an additional example of this research direction, I highlight my ongoing collaboration with Claudia Díaz-Ríos (University of Toronto/OISE) and Mauro C. Moschetti (Autonomous University of Barcelona). We are co-editing a book entitled, “The State and education in Latin America: Foundations, fault lines, and alternatives." This project seeks to go beyond the typical approaches to education policy employed by scholars of globalization and education. That is, the book brings together scholars from across the region who look deeply at the nature and limitations of State foundations in order to explain (not only describe) why, exactly, education policy and reform in the region looks and operates the way it does. Importantly, the book features studies that shine light on different ways that social movements, teachers’ unions, radical communities, and Indigenous groups are resisting, contesting, and avoiding the State as they seek to realize alternative visions of education and alternative notions of development.
Other projects in this area are described on the research projects page.
Post- & decolonial perspectives on education |
Edwards Jr., D. B., Okitsu, T., & Nishimura, O. (forthcoming). “Decolonizing the global governance of education? Exploring questions of coloniality in global education policy,” Journal of International Cooperation in Education. (Guest-edited special issue).
Edwards Jr., D.B., Kouao, L. & Teh, H. (forthcoming). "Mapping complexities, tensions and alternatives in global education governance: A systematic review of decolonial approaches," Journal of International Cooperation in Education. Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti, M., & Diaz Rios, C. (Eds.) (forthcoming). The State and education in Latin America: Foundations, fault lines, and alternatives. Brill-Sense. Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti., M., Caravaca, A. (forthcoming). “Theorizing the post-colonial state: Going beyond policy sociology in explaining educational privatization in Honduras.” In D.B. Edwards Jr., M. Moschetti & C. Díaz-Ríos (Eds.), The state and education policy in Latin America: Fault lines, foundations, and alternatives. Brill-Sense. Edwards Jr., D. B. (2025). “The global education policy field: Theorization and problematization,” Comparative Education. 61(1), 1-23. Link to book version. Edwards Jr., D. B. (2025). Ritual governance, rationalized bureaucracy, and 'failure': The religio-spiritual dimension of global education policy, Comparative Education. 61(1), 102-121. Edwards Jr., D.B. (2024). “Hidden in plain sight: The foundations and limitations of global governance and global goals,” International Journal of Educational Development, 106. Edwards Jr., D.B. (2024). “Whither education and development in Central America and the Latin Caribbean? Dialectical reflections, decolonial options,” In D.B. Edwards Jr., M. Moschetti, P. Martin & R. Morales-Ulloa (Eds.), Education and Development in Central America and the Latin Caribbean: Global forces, local responses. (pp. 346-354). Bloomsbury. Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti, M., & Caravaca, A. (2024). “Post-colonial contexts, the state, and education reform: A framework for understanding the ethos of privatization,” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Online ahead of print. Edwards Jr., D.B., Caravaca, A., Moschetti, M. (2024). “Where the public was always private: Going beyond privatization in/of/through education and policymaking in post-colonial contexts.” In A. Santalova & K. Poder (Eds.), Privatization in and of public education. (pp. 242-262). Oxford University Press. Saito, Y., Edwards Jr., D.B., Sustarsic, M., & Taira, D., (2023). “The onto-epistemic foundations of global governance and global education policies: A decolonial analysis of global citizenship education in Hawai‘i,” Comparative Education Review, 67 (4), 727-748. Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti, M., & Caravaca, A. (2023). “The state, education policy and privatization in postcolonial contexts,” Cadernos de Pesquisa, 53 [In Spanish] Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti, M. & Caravaca, A. (2022). Globalization, privatization, and the State: Contemporary education reform in post-colonial contexts. New York: Routledge. Edwards Jr., D.B. (2021). “Decolonizing ourselves and the world,” FreshEd. Edwards Jr., D.B. (2021). “Globalization and education: Understanding and problematizing approaches to global governance and the global education policy field,” In H. Steyn & C. Wolhuter (Eds.), Critical issues in education systems: Comparative-international perspectives. (pp. 247-278). Axiom. Edwards Jr., D.B., Moschetti, M. & Caravaca, A. (2020). “Globalization and privatization of education in Honduras—Or the need to reconsider the dynamics and legacy of state formation,” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Online ahead of print. Edwards Jr., D. B. (2020). “The ‘significance’ of epistemicide: Unpacking the problematic statistical foundations of knowledge production in global education governance.” In E. Anderson et al. (Eds.), Interrogating and innovating comparative and international education: Decolonizing practices for inclusive, safe spaces. (pp. 206-220). Rotterdam: Sense. |