Postcolonialism presentation

1. By: Nadine Persaud & Venis Nasr

2. Curriculum as cultural practice:
Postcolonial imagination
Kanu, Yatta. (2003).

3. Curriculum as cultural practice
Colonial Imagination Postcolonial Re-Imagination
kanu chose the metaphor “Curriculum as cultural practice” to
state it’s function in a colonial context and imagine it in a
postcolonial context.

4. Curriculum as cultural practice
(colonial imagination)
 Many definitions exist to identify the word colonialism and it’s
always related to notions with power and superiority.
 Kanu is more concerned with the civilization side or the conquest
of minds and culture; notions that try to represent, redefine, and
reproduce knowledge according to their norms, believes and
values as dominant groups. Schools in this theory are responsible
to produce this official knowledge in what is called “ideological
state apparatus”, “that is, the school as the state’s vehicle for
ideological assimilation and homogenization”, (Kanu,2003). In
what Althusser calls “repressive state apparatus” (Kanu,2003).
.

5.  The official knowledge is transferred not through power,
but through compromises that favor the dominant group,
which arise at different levels:
- At School level: For instance, British
colonialism in Trinidad and Tobago. For instance, teaching
strategies that diminish creativity, critical thinking and
ones’ cultural heritage.
- At state policies level: The main objective of
the formal education was according to (Kanu,2003) “to
create an institutionalized cultural identity”

6. Curriculum as Cultural Practice: Postcolonial
Imagination
 Hybridity is a cross between two separate races or cultures to
form what is called “The third space”. “Bhabha describes
hybridity as the “third space” where the meaning of cultural
and political authority is negotiated without eliding or
normalizing the differential structures in conflict”.
(Kanu,2003).
 For Bhabha its not only the art of finding similarities or
commonalities and what each culture can bring to the
conversation, (Kanu,2003) it’s more a channel of negotiation
between or outside of the boundaries that frame identities and
cultures.

7.  This channel will eventually overcomes the unevenness between
the upper and lower.
 Alternative medicine such as acupuncture and chiropractic are
examples of the third space.

8. Additional examples
 Rai music is another example of hybridity. Rai is an Arabic word
means opinion Ra-yah. It’s a type of music that merges North
African and European music (Drissel, 2009). Algeria had been
formally under French rule since 1830. In 1962 Algeria gained
its independence from France.
 Others theorists tackled the same concept
associating different terminologies,
Such as Stuart Hall “Cultural Identity and
diaspora”. Diaspora is the movement of people
from their homeland to new region, (Stuart).
In his article, Stuart talks about the third identify
or the formation of the third space as
mentioned by (Kanu, 2003).

9. Postcolonialism and education:
Negotiating a contested terrain.
Pedagogy, Culture and Society,
Rizvi, Fazal., Lingard, Bob & Lavia, Jennifer. (2006).
“Education has a systematically ambivalent relation to
postcolonialism. On the one hand, it is an object of postcolonial
critique regarding its complicity with Eurocentric discourses and
practices. On the other hand, it is only through education that it
is possible to reveal and resist colonialism’s continuing hold on
our imagination. Education is also a site where legacies of
colonialism and the contemporary processes of globalization
intersect”. (Rizvi et.al P.257)

10. Inspirations for postcolonial theory
 Two main scholarly are behind the term postcolonial:
1) Franz Fanon claims that the prefix “post” in postcolonial is
problematic because the independence form the colonial
rule doesn’t mean liberation, as a colonized bourgeois
replace the colonial rule with their own cultural and
economic beliefs; using the same vocabulary of power,
(Rizvi et.al P.251,252).
2) Ranajit Guha who is more concerned about how
histories of nationalism and independence struggles
ignore the voice of “Subaltern’ or people who don’t
belong to the elite, (Rizvi et.al P.252).
Postcolonialism and its limitations
 Guha’s concern raises an important limitation. Postcolonial
studies will draw their conclusions based on the organization
that “speak for” the subaltern rather than what the subaltern
“speak for” themselves in a similar way to what the actual
colonial does. (Rizvi et.al P.252).

11. Postcolonialism and globalization
 Two risks are associated with postcolonial theory:
• Unwillingness to differentiate between different experiences
of colonialism and the value it gives to postmodernist notion
of difference and hybridity.
• How do we locate postcolonial analysis in contemporary
material conditions of globalization? (Rizvi et.al P.254).
 Globalization represents a complicated flow of networks of
power. These networks represent a hybrid identity that
dictates a new form of sovereignty.
 The new identities require historical understanding similar
to the one postcolonial can provide.
 Postcolonial analysis critiques the Neo-liberal western
cultural hegemony that underlines globalization.

12. Willinsky (2006)
High School post colonial: As
students ran away with theory
“The defining historical theme of postcolonialism is self-
determination, which it shares with feminism and other human
rights movements”. Willinsky, 2006, p. 110)

13.  This chapter is an account of a University professor’s project with a
grade 12 class in Vancouver. In order to further engage the students
in the concept of post colonialism theory, the class set out to create
a supplementary text to accompany the out dated textbook the
school was using. Each student chose a poem in its original
language, provided a translation and interpretations.
 “If the imperial legacy lives on in the curriculum today, then the ways
in which it lives on- at the core of the educational experience – needs
to be part of what the students and teachers explore and learn
about, rather than ignore and pretend it was never there”. (Willinsky,
2006)
As students ran away with theory…

14.  Students chose poems that dealt with their personal heritage,
faith, war, political refugees, drug references and other topics
that would not have been addressed in the original textbooks.
 “The defining historical theme of post-colonialism is self-
determination, which it shares with feminism and other human
rights movements”. (Willinsky, 2006)
 “The students in the Grade 12 class, in selecting this set of
poems for their own anthology, were engaged in nothing more
than providing an additional sense of Canadian identity and
landscape to the scope of the curriculum.” (Willinsky, 2006)

15.  At the end of the chapter Willinsky debriefs on a few areas he
believes may cause concerns such as parents concerned with
subject matter and acknowledges that topics may bring up
conversations (such as martyrdom and underground culture).
Willinsky also states that after a year or two of using these
methods, the teacher may find the right balance for managing
issues that may arise. He also sees the benefits to the students
learning.
 “The students in the Grade 12 class, in selecting this set of
poems for their own anthology, were engaged in nothing more
than providing an additional sense of Canadian identity and
landscape”

16. Museum, memorial and mall:
Post-colonialism, pedagogies,
racism and reconciliation
(Crowley, V. & Matthews, J., 2006).
“Reconciliation is or had variously been state sanctioned
policy, project and agenda which, in part, is a process and
practice of recognizing and addressing histories of racism and
its effects.” (p 263)

17.  This article looks at the reconciliation process in South Africa
and Australia.
 Both countries had a similar colonial history; for instance, both
countries had Immigration Restriction Act which classifies
people according to their race, “Both nations separated their
people on the basis of race, restricting the movement of
people, access to work, access even to basic needs such as
water, sanitation and food.”, (Crowley & Matthews, 2006).
 However reconciliation process looks differently between the
two countries. Australia adopted a “practical reconciliation” “In
Australia reconciliation has not been accompanied by the
building of major memorials and the occupation of public
spaces.” (Crowley & Matthews, 2006 p.268)
 The two countries looks at the process of reconciliation very
differently. “In Australia there is no major government project
to build memorials to witness the path to democracy or the
histories of race struggles”. (Crowley & Matthews, 2006 P.269)

18.  Crowely and Matthews argue that pedagogical practices seeking
engagement with reconciliation practices require not only the
clarity of the immediate idea to the project but the history of
those ideas taking in consideration one’s subjectivity,
vulnerability and responsibility and to what extent the
reconciliation project is a project of “Enlightenment”, (p.269).
 In South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
was formed to provide the bridge between the past and a future
by documenting the human violation between the Sharpeville
massacre (1 March 1960) till Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as
President, to (10 May 1994). However, the authors adopt
Leebaw’s point of view, that the TRC was controversial, because
it dealt with the extremes of apartheid (an Afrikaan word means
“separateness” which was a system of racial segregation
enforced by the governing party) such as torture and murders,
and not with the routines as the forced removals, enforced
poverty and ill-health, (P.269).

19.  On the other hand in Australia, Council for Aboriginal
Reconciliation (CAR) was responsible to scatter through education
the knowledge and understanding of the history of colonial
settlement, to change attitudes and form a relation between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, (P.270).
 Drwaing from South Africa and Austrilia experiences, Crowely and
matthews clarify:
reconciliation as a site of pedagogical intervention, a resource
for anti-racism which requires the understanding of racism in
order to shape anti-racism practices. In this case
postcolonialism draw the attention to the way we speak and
analyse the questions and the concepts to formulate a theory.
(p.272)
Balibar (2005) explains that we commonly reduce racism to:
• Difference- non biological grounding.
• Otherness- relationship between race and nation.
• Exclusion- political debates (citizenship, residence equality
and liberties).

20.  The authors emphasize on the importance of tackling and
understanding the historical circumstances as an anti-racism
strategy versus only reducing racism so reconciliation can
become an effective resource for anti-racism.
 “On-going questions must be asked of the past and the
present as they bring into play the stability and instability of
the relationship between race and racism, racial formations
and trajectories. The question must also become one of how
these categories and the events lived actually shape what is
understood by reconciliation and by whom”. (p 274)

21. Additional resources:
https://www.reconciliation.org.au/ Australia's reconciliation webpage
http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/ South Africa’s reconciliation webpage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UQG7VpOMuo Nelson
Mandela speaking about Australia's reconciliation

22. The Practice of Postcoloniality: a
pedagogy of hope
(Lavia, J., 2006).
“Freire argues that one of the legacies of colonial education is a
curriculum of passivity, conformity and regurgitation, not only for
students but also for the teacher. The student who has been
imperially schooled is expected to became the teacher who replicates
the process. Consequently, one of the legacies of colonialism is a
criticality, a condition of a “culture of silence”. (p 290)

23. Lavia presents the article
through three themes:
1) Disaporic considerations;
the problematic of defining
the Caribbean.
The geographical definition;
the Caribbean basin or the US
definition; the ethno‐historic
zone; and a transnational
community’, in relation to identity, where issues of translation
and Creoleness are discussed.
2) Educational practice and the Caribbean problematic; Colonial
education was not meant to liberate the colonized, it was the
mean to transfer the values of the colonizers.
3) Under such Educational practice, weaken teachers’ practices
was expected, however, the new form of expression to
expresses their discontent provided the foundation for the
creation of alternative image of teacher (teacher activism).

24. 4) A practice of critical professionalism and juxtaposes that
practice with the disposition of the subaltern
professionals.
 The author takes some time to situate themselves, explain
their lens and situate themselves in their writing (Trinidadian,
Caribbean teacher, disposition of hopefulness) and also
defines post colonialism as, “makes connections between the
past, present and futures a necessary philosophical and
methodological endeavour of educational practice” (p. 281)
 The author sheds light on categorizations (for example:
Caribbean- which is an easy geographical organization but
encompasses people of British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Creole
descent).

25.  “Caribbean education therefore requires a new type of teacher; a
teacher whose practice exudes courage, historical acuity, love of
the Creole self and community, belief in the spirit of the peoples
of the Caribbean to survive, resist and create, and hopefulness in
the face of globalized agendas that pay scant courtesy to
indigenous knowledge and practice”. (p 291)

26. Infinite rehearsal of culture in St
Catherine Jamaica: heritage as
tourist product, implications for
Caribbean pedagogy
(Cross, B. 2006).

27.  This article discusses how the number one industry in Jamaica,
tourism, is closely linked with education. The Ministry of Education
and Culture introduced “Peace and Love in Schools PALS” to the
curriculum to help change the country’s reputation for violence.
 PALS seeks to introduce non violent conflict resolution skills into
the classroom.
 Students prepare performances for Heroes week. They practice
versions of “traditional” Jamaican culture which are sanitized
versions that contribute to Jamaica’s pool of tourist attractiveness.
(p. 321)
 The Ministry of Education and Culture and the tourist board is
seeking to reproduce and further develop a workforce for Jamaica’s
primary industry by necessity must reproduce a set of imagined
relationships, one in which pleasure for self and pleasure fro others
shifts ambiguously” (p. 326)

28. The Practice of Post coloniality:
a pedagogy of hope
(Cross, B., 2006).
“Cultural policy directives must facilitate the nuture of individual
creativity and the use of culture as an agent of social transformaion,
which seems to advance a liberation-oriented construct of education.”
(p 318)

29.  Tourism kept coming up as a recurring theme when looking at
children’s strategies for navigating between school based and
community based language learning .
 The ministry of education in conjunction with the tourist board
created a program (PALS)- Peace and love in schools to
introduce non violent crisis resolution skills. This was deemed
necessary to move away from violence that would be viewed
negatively by tourists.
 For the National Heroes week, a brownie troop practiced a
version of “traditional” Jamaica culture which was school
sanctioned and a sanitized version that could be seen as
contributing to Jamaica’s pool of tourist attractiveness.
 The researcher felt that the ministry of Education and culture
and the tourist board in seeking to reproduce and further
develop a workforce for Jamaica’s primary industry by necessity
must reproduce a set of imagined relationships, one in which
pleasure for self and pleasure for others shift ambiguously.

30.  Tension between differing kinds of evidence between historical
facts and interpretative assertions of identity.
 Some children articulated an awareness of the power imbalance
implicit within tourism .

31. Na wahine mana: a postcolonial
reading of classroom discourse on the
imperial rescue of oppressed Hawaiian
women
(Kaomea, J., 2006)
“White men are saving brown women from brown men” (Kaomea,
2006)

32.  The author is looking at conversations in a 4th grade class in
Hawaii. She notices that the students share oppressive
conditions faced by Hawaiian woman before colonialization.
Women were held in low regard and with many restrictions,
 She found similar messages in textbooks and story books in
the classroom.
 The teacher asked students to compare life of women pre
colonialization to now. It was implied that men and women
can “eat anything they wish and have unfettered access to
any occupation”. (p. 333)
 The author looks at the idea that conditions were improved
post contact and that Christianity was a liberating force for
Hawaiian women. She argues that domestic autonomy was
severely challenged and gradually eroded with Christianity.
(p333)

33.  “The author asks teachers and curriculum writers for more
curricular consideration for the construction and employment of
gender in the practices of imperialism and colonialism.” (p 345)
 In the teaching and writing of indigenous history and curricula
across the globe, we need more counter genealogists to seek
out and uncover indigenous voices and perspectives and call
into question the dominant colonial narratives that are so
prevalent in school history textbooks. (p 345-346)
 An example of Post Colonialism, Hawaii and Popular culture.
https://criticalcartoons.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/lilo-and-
stitch- and-post-colonialism/

34. Decolonizing research and
methodologies : indigenous
peoples and cross cultural
contexts
(Sikes, P., 2006)

35.  The author raised:
• Questions and issues around language, interpretation,
translation, expression and re presentation are raised.
• Re- presenting what people said can be challenging.
• “Othering”
• Tensions and dilemmas
• Insider/outsider positioning of researcher.
 The idea of guilt- white colonization marginalized,
othered, objectified, oppressed, exoticized, pillaged,
plundered, sequestered , brutalized and even annihilated
indigenous people. (p 350)
 The symposium tried to answer several questions, such
as:
 Who agenda is decolonizing research?
 Who has power to name and how does naming reify
existing power relations?

36. References
Kanu, Yatta. (2003). Curriculum as cultural practice: Postcolonial
imagination. Journal Canadian Association for Curriculum
Studies, 1(1), 67-81.
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”. In Contemporary
Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Padmini Mongia. (Ed.). London:
Arnold, 1996: 110-121.
Drissel, D. (2009). Hip-Hop Hybridity for a Globalized World:
African and Muslim Diasporic Discourses in French Rap Music.
The Global Studies Journal, 2, 122-143.
Crowley, V. & Matthews, J. (2006). Museum, memorial and mall:
Post-colonialism, pedagogies, racism and reconciliation.
Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 14(3) Special Issue on Post
Colonialism and Education, 263-277.

37. References
Lavia, J. (2006). The Practice of Postcoloniality: A pedagogy of
hope. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 14(3) Special Issue on
Post Colonialism and Education, 279-293.
Lingard & Pierre(2006). Strengthening nation capital: a
postcolonial analysis of lifelong learning policy in St Lucia
Caribbean. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 14(3) Special Issue
on Post Colonialism and Education, 295-314.
Cross, B.,(2006). Infinite rehersal of culture in St Catherine
Jamaica: heritage as tourist product, implications for Caribbean
pedagogy. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 14(3) Special Issue
on Post Colonialism and Education, 315-327.

38. References
Kaomea, J. (2006). Na wahine mana: a postcolonial
reading of classroom discourse on the imperial rescue of
oppressed Hawaiian women. Pedagogy, Culture and
Society, 14(3) Special Issue on Post Colonialism and
Education, 329- 348.
Sikes, P., (2006).Decolonizing research and methodologies:
indigenous peoples and cross cultural context. Pedagogy,
Culture and Society, 14(3) Special Issue on Post
Colonialism and Education, 349-358.