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Comparative Education Society of India (CESI)
Call for Papers and Participation for the
on
Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India
Extended abstracts are invited for the Conference theme ‘Education:
Domination, Emancipation and Dignity'. The concept note for the Conference
and the sub-themes are suggestive of the kind of topics that may be chosen to be
presented at the Conference. An extended abstract is around 1500 words and should
aim to give a detailed idea of the themes that will finally comprise the body of the full
paper.
We also invite proposals for organizing panel discussions on sub-themes that are
inconsonance with the Conference theme as laid out in the concept note. The theme
of the Panel Discussion, the names of speakers (maximum-4), their institutional
affiliation and extended abstracts of each of the proposed papers will need to be
submitted.
Education: Domination, Emancipation and Dignity
Emancipation and dignity have begun to draw considerable attention in recent years
as central issues in education. This concentration of focus is connected with several
social processes including the emergence of social movements and organizations that
challenged the conditions within which ordinary people exist. They pointed to how
education could actually be party to the blocking of opportunities and forcing people
into relations of subjugation. Or education could also consciously help in opening up
new opportunities and access to resources and build new relationships that were
empowering. Education could participate in denial of respect and space for less
powerful cultures or it could help them find confidence and dignity in their
relationships with others.
The question of emancipation has revolved around whether an individual or group is
embedded in relationships that obstruct their growth and self-fulfilment. That
obstruction may come from an educational system which equips only the elite with
the capacity to be in positions of power. It may also come from a curriculum and
pedagogy that teaches subservience and acceptance of one’s low position in a power
structure. The search for emancipation finds its voice in efforts to open up access to
educational institutions for social groups that have hitherto been marginalized. It
echoes through the work of teachers, individuals, NGOs and government
functionaries who create ways of drawing in and supporting students who feel lost
and helpless in the new world that schools represent.
The concern for dignity and recognition draws its urgency from a sense that
domination is not just an economic or political affair. It may also come from the
erasure of self-respect of a group or from a continual demeaning of its culture. It is
argued that culture and identity are essential for human beings and their denial or
suppression weakens our well-being. This strikes a contrasting note with the
identity-blind concerns of access and empowerment that were earlier so common in
education. Concerns of dignity emerged initially from struggles of women, dalits,
adivasis and marginalized communities and identities around the world to gain
recognition of their issues by the mainstream. The acceptance of the theoretical
validity of their claim has led the domain of education up against questions that
shake its foundations. Educational curricula are exposed as inherently contested and
it is being asked whether merit lies only in the cultures of the oppressor. New forms
of cultural dialogue are called for as ways out of the impasse this may lead to.
Struggles for emancipation and dignity may be seen at the heart of most
contemporary controversies over education systems in many parts of the world.
India’s promise of education as the basis of a free and dignified life was etched into
its constitution. In 1993 a Supreme Court of India ruling held that the right to life is
meaningless if it is without access to knowledge. However, while this led to
redefinition of ideas and ideologies of the state institutions and state structures, it
was invariably followed by contestations on what this meant and how this was to be
translated in practice. As a result there emerged multiple possibilities of
emancipation and dignity from the way ‘meaningful life’ was and could be
interpreted.
‘A meaningful life’ is not only being interpreted by the state and judiciary but also by
pro-market forces and civil society initiatives. The ideology of the market began a
resurgence in the 1980s and has strengthened over time, gaining from state support
and coordination in many countries. Pro-market forces have set up hegemonic
discourses of merit, efficiency and monetary rewards in education. These are
interwoven with a vision of education as essentially a tool tied to the idea of
economic worth and consumption.
On the other hand there has been an increasing presence of academic work, civil
society initiatives and people’s movements that have thrown up important insights in
our understanding of dignity and emancipation. These have not only challenged the
dominant interpretations of the goals of education but also generated important
critiques of policy statements, ideas and ideologies of the state and market as well as
important insights on the philosophical and sociological significance of education in
contemporary times. This has meant, for instance, trying to develop a vision of work
in education that can be an alternative to merely building skills for working with
predatory corporations engaged in grabbing farmers’ lands. This struggle for an
alternative curriculum is actually a seeking of dignity and freedom for its students,
through a critical re-imagination of the nature of work.
The compelling urgency of these matters prompts this conference to foreground
emancipation and dignity in its comparative study of education. It would thus try to
counter-balance narrow instrumentalist and purely individualistic interpretations of
the meaning of education for the people. For this it would try to bring together
scholars, academics, activists and NGO personnel from across the country to engage
in a constructive critique of educational processes.
Please submit your extended abstract at:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cesi20150.
Please note that you will first be invited to create a new account and then taken to the
CESI 2015 submission page. There click on New Submissions in the upper left corner
to get a form in which you can enter your contact details and paste your
abstract. Click on Submit to finish.
IMPORTANT DATES
Last date for submission of extended abstracts
Confirmation of acceptance of the abstracts/panels:
Last date for submission of full papers
15th June
2015
15th August
2015
15th
November
2015
Authors, whose papers are selected, may be considered for travel re-imbursement.
For more details please visit: http://www.cesindia.net/