The sessions are designed with three distinct but well-connected sub-topics to uncover the politics of knowledge embedded in theoretical frameworks, mundane academic practices, and educational policy makings. With diverse reading materials and the involvement of young researchers from India and the Global South in the discussion, the reading circle encourages thinking beyond the Western horizon.
The first session was organized online on 14.03.2022. This session is based on Kuan-Hsing Chen’s book “Asia as method” (and related literature) as a remarkable intellectual attempt to uncover and overcome the unequal hierarchies of knowledge production globally. To add more insights into this discussion, another recommended reading material is ¨Development as freedom¨ (1999) by the Indian pioneer of postcolonial development theory – Amartya Sen. The participants also shared their experiences and reflections on the possibilities of facilitating knowledge production with ‘otherness’ and diverse identities.
The second session was organized online on 29.04.2022. Began with Mott & Cockayne (2017) and Connell et al. (2017), this session diverted the decolonial discussion to the mundane practical aspects of the academic world. The participants actively reflected on the impacts of current (neoliberal) academic structures/practices on strengthening asymmetric power relations and building up barriers to non-Western knowledge.
To discover another aspect of the topic, the third session on 12.10.2022 further investigated the politics of knowledge and its manifestations in educational policy-making, based on Anuar (2021) and Silova et al. (2020) as the recommended reading materials. With the participation of Dr. Aizuddin Mohamed Anuar from Keele University (UK) as a guest speaker, the discussion in this session gave insights into the transferring and transforming of education policies in the global South and inspire new ideas on how can we affect these processes for sustainability and justice goals.
Relevant materials:
The PowerPoint slides for the first session can be found here.
The PowerPoint slides for the third session can be found here