Coloniality as a Frame of Understanding: Interventional Politics in the Privatisation of Bangladeshi Higher Education
- Arif H Kabir, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Raqib Chowdhury, Monash University, Australia
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In the context of reforms that have characterised private sector higher education in Bangladesh in the last three decades, the presentation discusses how coloniality of power and the geopolitics of knowledge can be helpful constructs in understanding the nature of powerplay at a time long since the exit of the British Raj. As authors we acknowledge our epistemological tensions inherent in being Bangladeshis but in many ways privileged through Western systems that have supported our intellectual growth.
Through an empirically based account of how neoliberalism has worked its way through the higher education sector in the fastest growing economy in the South Asian context, we will discuss how changes have been characterised by not just policy reforms and massification of education, but a sustained friction between control and autonomy in the university sector.
We take an approach that is sensitive to our geo-political and onto-epistemological positionalities as diasporic and hybridised scholars by rejecting epistemological exclusions inherent in the colonial mindset. This position allows the reinforcement of a colonial present, theorising from within Global South decolonial and postcolonial research literature.
The presentation is based on our recently published book, The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh: The Politics of Intervention and Control, which contributes to discourses of ‘globalisation from above’ and ‘globalisation from below’ and sheds light on the often-idiosyncratic ways in which higher education reform has unfolded in South Asia. It will be of interest to comparative educators and those researching into higher education policy and education developments in Global South nations.
Pre-readings: <a title="Preface and Foreword of The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh: The Politics of Intervention and Control.” href=”/wp-content/uploads/migrate/kabir-chowdhury-preview.pdf”>Preface and Foreword of The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh: The Politics of Intervention and Control.
Event Materials
This event is now archived and we are pleased to provide the following event media and assets, along with the original event overview.
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Ariful H. Kabir teaches sociology of education and teacher education in the Institute of Education and Research at the University of Dhaka. He has Masters degrees in Sociology and in Education and a PhD in Education, and researches into micro-politics, network governance and education policy formulation, critical pedagogy, teacher education, higher education and international education.
Raqib Chowdhury teaches and researches TESOL, bilingualism and sociolinguistics in School of Curriculum, Teaching and Inclusive Education, Faculty of Education, Monash University. He has written six books on culture and pedagogy, teacher education, TESOL, EIL, international education and identity. He has been teaching for more than 25 years in countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei.
