"Postcolonialism, Globalization, and All That: Engaging Identities and Cultures in Education Today

• published: 15 Oct 2014
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Nina Asher talks about "Postcolonialism, Globalization, and All That: Engaging Identities and Cultures in Education Today "as part of the Azim Premji University Colloquium Series. 26 September 2014. About the Talk: Postcolonialism and globalization – in theory and in effect – are inextricably intertwined. Various scholars have noted the ambivalent, intertwined relationship of the colonizer and the colonized (e.g. Bhabha, 1994; Fanon, 1952/1967; Gandhi, 1998) and the effects of the expansion of capitalist ideology and relations across the globe (e.g. Alexander & Mohanty, 1997; Appadurai, 1996; Prashad, 2006). Of course, the postcolonial situation is not identical in all parts of the world. Nonetheless, transnational forms of colonial oppression are controlled by the spread of Westernized imperialism through the globalization of the labor market, new technologies and global financial markets. Such forces – construed as spheres of social, cultural, political, and economic influence shaping human interaction – also shape educational discourses and practices in transnational contexts. Critical thinkers in the U.S. education field (e.g., Kumashiro, 2008; Taubman, 2009) have noted that the last two decades have been marked by individual monetary gain (often read as “wealth” and “success”), the facile, virtual proximity afforded by digitization, the spread of western-style capitalism and corporatization across nations, and the effects of escalating consumerism, debilitating economic collapses, and environmental depletion – all in a context of increasing global interdependence. In this context, U.S. education and schooling are shaped by of high-stakes testing and privatization. Indeed, such issues are reflected in recent policies (e.g. the 2005 NCF and the 2010 RTE) and debates related to education in India. As an Indian-born, U.S.-based scholar whose scholarship draws on postcolonial, feminist, globalization, and critical multicultural discourses in relation to education, I have grappled with such questions. For instance, I wrote: [O]n a research trip to Mumbai, India (where I was born and grew up), I was stunned to read newspaper articles that talked of many Indian students today not knowing who Mahatma Gandhi was. I wondered: Is this loss of history – a mere six decades after the end of colonial rule in India – an indication that we are now in “post-postcolonialism?” Or does it reflect the re-colonization of the “East” succumbing to the lure of global capitalism and consumerism shaped by the “West?” This summer, when teaching a graduate-level course … in Louisiana, USA…., on “Curriculum and Teaching in a Global Context,” I was similarly stunned when my American students informed me that they did not know anything about the Vietnam War – a phase of recent history that certainly casts a long shadow over the US-American consciousness even today. (Asher, 2009, p. 1) In this paper, I discuss questions of identity and culture across the porous borders of India and the U.S. In what ways are globalization and corporatization shaping identities, and cultures? In what ways can educators resist recolonization in terms of curriculum, teaching, teacher education, research, and theory/discourse? What new, hybrid forms of self-representation can we foster? About the Speaker: Nina Asher (Ed.D., 1999, Teachers College, Columbia University), is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She was Department Chair from July 2011-June 2014. Nina is also an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (GWSS). Nina writes in the areas of postcolonialism and feminism, globalization, critical perspectives on multiculturalism, and Asian American studies in education. She has published over 30 articles and book chapters and her work has appeared in such leading national and international journals as the Educational Researcher, Teachers College Record, Postcolonial Directions in Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, among others. Nina is the recipient of a 2014-15 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award (Research) for her project, Examining the Intersections of Globalization, Privatization, and Education after two decades of Economic Liberalization in India, and will be conducting this research in India during her sabbatical in the 2014-15 academic year. Nina is Book Review Editor for the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, since 2007 and, from 2007-2009, was also