Anti-Colonialism and Education : The Politics of Resistance

326 Pages·2006·2.565 MB·English

by  G. J. Dei (editor), A. Kempf (editor)

Anti-Colonialism and Education
The Politicsof Resistance
BOLD VISIONS IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Volume 7
Series Editors
Kenneth Tobin
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
Joe Kincheloe
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Editorial Board
Heinz Sunker,Universität Wuppertal,Germany
Peter McLaren,University of California at Los Angeles,USA
Kiwan Sung, Woosong University,South Korea
Angela Calabrese Barton,Teachers College,New York, USA
Margery Osborne,Centre for Research on Pedagogy and Practice Nanyang
Technical University,Singapore
W.-M. Roth,University of Victoria, Canada
Scope
Bold Visions in Educational Research is international in scope and includes books from two
areas: teaching and learning to teach and research methods in education. Each area contains
multi-authored handbooks of approximately 200,000 words and monographs (authored and
edited collections) of approximately 130,000 words. All books are scholarly, written to
engage specified readers and catalyze changes in policies and practices.
Defining characteristics of books in the series are their explicit uses of theory and associated
methodologies to address important problems. We invite books from across a theoretical and
methodological spectrum from scholars employing quantitative, statistical, experimental,
ethnographic, semiotic, hermeneutic, historical, ethnomethodological, phenomenological,
case studies, action, cultural studies, content analysis, rhetorical, deconstructive, critical,
literary, aesthetic and other research methods.
Books on teaching and learning to teach focus on any of the curriculum areas (e.g., literacy,
science, mathematics, social science), in and out of school settings, and points along the age
continuum (pre K to adult). The purpose of books on research methods in education is not
to present generalized and abstract procedures but to show how research is undertaken,
highlighting the particulars that pertain to a study. Each book brings to the foreground those
details that must be considered at every step on the way to doing a good study. The goal is
not to show how generalizable methods are but to present rich descriptions to show how
research is enacted. The books focus on methodology, within a context of substantive results
so that methods, theory, and the processes leading to empirical analyses and outcomes are
juxtaposed. In this way method is not reified, but is explored within well-described contexts
and the emergent research outcomes. Three illustrative examples of books are those that
allow proponents of particular perspectives to interact and debate, comprehensive
handbooks where leading scholars explore particular genres of inquiry in detail, and
introductory texts to particular educational research methods/issues of interest. to novice
researchers.
Anti-Colonialism and Education
The Politics of Resistance
Edited by
George J. Sefa Dei and Arlo Kempf
OntarioInstituteforStudiesin Education,
Universityof Toronto,Canada
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To all those who have lost their lives to violence in our
city – and to all those with the clarity to distinguishbe-
tween injury and pathology. We hope these deaths will
spur collective action to address the systemic neglect
whichplaguessomanyofourcommunities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ForewordbyMolefiKeteAsante ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction:MappingtheTerrain–TowardsaNewPoliticsof
Resistance 1
GeorgeJ.SefaDei
1. AToolofMassiveErosion:ScientificKnowledgeinthe
Neo-ColonialEnterprise 25
GinaThésée
2. OnSilenceandDominantAccountability:ACriticalAnticolonial
InvestigationoftheAntiracismClassroom 43
PhilipS.S.Howard
3. ImplicitRacismandtheBrain:HowNeurobiologyCanInform
anAnti-Colonial,Anti-RacistPedagogy 63
SerhatUnsal
4. IsDecolonizationPossible? 87
NjokiNathaniWane
5. SpiritualPolitics:PoliticizingtheBlackChurchTraditionin
Anti-ColonialPraxis 107
ElaineA.BrownSpencer
6. Anti-ColonialHistoriography:InterrogatingColonialEducation 129
ArloKempf
7. FromPost-ColonialtoAnti-ColonialPolitics:Difference,Knowledge
andR.v.R.D.S. 159
LeilaAngod
vii
TABLEOFCONTENTS
8. ThePowerofOralTradition:CriticallyResistingtheColonial
Footprint 175
MaryamNavabi
9. IndigenousKnowledgeinJamaica:AToolofIdeology
inaNeo-ColonialContext 193
MarkV.Campbell
10. DevelopmentUnmoored 211
CatherineMoffatt
11. AnAnti-ColonialCritiqueofResearchMethodology 243
JenniferHales
12. Remembering,Resisting:CastinganAnti-ColonialGazeuponthe
EducationofDiverseStudentsinSocialWorkEducation 257
BillieAllan
13. InvisibleViolenceandSpiritualInjurywithinPost-Secondary
Institutions:AnAnti-colonialInterrogationandResponse 271
MarleneRuck-Simmons
14. EngenderingIndigenousKnowledge 293
LindsayKerr
Conclusion:LookingForward–ThePedagogicalImplicationsof
Anti-Colonialism 309
GeorgeJ.SefaDeiandArloKempf
viii
FOREWORD
In Anti-Colonialism and Education: The Politics of Resistance, George J. Sefa
DeiandArloKempfhavegivenusastimulatingintellectualaccountoftheissues
surroundingthe activeattemptforeducationalliberation.Theauthorswhohave
contributedto the volumehavebeenwellchosento presentcreativeapproaches
tothisabidingprobleminmostoftheworld.
Asweengagethe legaciesofcolonialismweare morecertaintodaythatthe
nonmateriallegaciesare as importantin our thinkingas the materialoneswhen
weengagequestionsofresistanceandrecovery.Thecolonizerdidnotonlyseize
land, but also minds. If colonialism’s influence had been merely the control of
landthatwouldhaverequiredonlyoneformofresistance,butwheninformation
isalsocolonized,itisessentialthattheresistancemustinterrogateissuesrelated
toeducation,informationandintellectualtransformations.
Colonialismseekstoimposethewillofonepeopleonanotherandtousethe
resourcesoftheimposedpeopleforthebenefitoftheimposer.Nothingissacred
in such a system as it powers its way toward the extinction of the wills of the
imposed uponwith one objectivein mind:the ultimate subjectionof the will to
resist.Aneffectivesystemofcolonialismreducestheimposedupontoashellofa
humanwhoisincapableofthinkinginasubjectivewayofhisorherowninterest.
In everything the person becomes like the imposer; thus in desires, wishes, vi-
sions,purposes,styles,structures,values,andespeciallythevaluesofeducation,
thepersonoperatesagainsthisorherowninterest.Colonialismdoesnotengender
creativity;it stifles it, suppressesit underthe cloak of assistance whenin factit
is creating conditions that make it impossible for humans to effectively resist.
Andyettherehasalwaysbeenresistanceandtherearenewmethodsofresistance
gaininggroundeachday.
The intricacies of engaging colonialism are as numerous as the ways colo-
nialism has impacted upon the world. Indeed, the political-economic, social-
behavioral, and cultural-aesthetic legacies of the colonizing process have left
human beings with a variety of ways to confront the impact of those legacies.
WhatweseeinAnti-ColonialismandEducationisaprofoundattempttocapture
forthereaderthepossibilitiesinherentineducationaltransformationthroughthe
politicsofresistance.
ProfessorsDeiandKempfhaveexercisedajudiciousimaginationinselecting
the authors for the chapters in this book. Each author is an expert in the area
ofthetopic,skilledinpresentationofthefactsbaseduponcurrenttheories,and
articulate in the expression of a need for educators to understand the pressures
ix
FOREWORD
both for and against colonialism. However, they all take the position that it is
necessary to explore all formulations that might achieve a liberated sphere of
education.
Since education normally follows the dominant political lines in a country
where you have colonialpolitical principlesyou will find colonialeducation.If
you havethe vestigesof pastcolonialpractices, youwill see those practicesre-
flectedintheeducationalsystem.IrememberacolleaguefromAlgeriasayingto
methatwhentheFrenchruledthecountrythestudentslearnedthattheirancestors
were the Gauls. When independencecame to Algeria, he said, the people were
taughtthattheirancestorswereArabs.Thefactthatthiswasonlytrueforthose
individualswhohadAraborigins,andthirtypercentdidnothavesuchancestry,
wasuninterestingtothepoliticalagenda.Andsoithasbeenineverynationwhere
you havea politicalintentionto mold a countryonthe basis of dominationyou
willalsohaveresistance.Oneseemstogowiththeotherregardlesstohowlong
theprocessseemstotaketocommence.
This is not just an exciting work intellectually; it is a beautiful book edited
with intelligence and executed with the kind of research and scholarship that
will bring us back to its pages manytimes. Each authorseems to feel the same
desiretoteachustobetrulyhuman;thatisenoughforustoinaugurateourown
anti-colonialismcampaigninourschoolsandcolleges.Ishallgladlyjointhefray
tomaketheworldbetter.
MolefiKeteAsante
ElkinsPark,PA19027
USA
x