Decolonisation as Dis-Enclosure: overcoming the dangers of positionality and identity in comparative education

ABSTRACT

This conceptual paper aims to discuss how to address the dangers emerging from scholars’ proclamations of positionality and identity in debates on decolonisation in comparative education. The approach proposed engages with two ideas that were central to the work of French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy and were further developed by Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe: dis-enclosure and being-in-common. The author argues that these two ideas offer an alternative ontology of decolonisation that challenges the binary logic of identitarian thinking (e.g. western/non-western; white/non-white) in which proclamations of positionality and identity may often be rooted. This argument highlights the theoretical and political advantages of adopting a non-identitarian perspective for decolonisation debates in comparative education. The paper concludes with considering the implications of this alternative ontology of decolonisation in comparative education, with a specific focus on how scholars can foreground a shared responsibility for ‘reparative futures’ in research, writing, and teaching.

摘要

这篇概念性论文旨在讨论如何处理比较教育领域关于去殖民化争论中学者们对立场和身份的声明所带来的风险。本文提出的方法关涉法国哲学家让–吕克·南希的两个核心思想“解封”和“共在”，喀麦隆哲学家阿奇利·姆邦对这两个思想做了进一步发展。作者认为，对立场和身份的声明往往根植于身份主义思维的二元逻辑（比如，西方/非西方；白人/非白人），而本文采用的两种思想对上述逻辑提出质疑，为去殖民化提供了另一种本体论。这一观点强调了比较教育领域去殖民化争论中采用非身份主义视角的理论和政治优势。本文最后探讨了这种另类去殖民化本体论在比较教育领域的潜在影响，并特别关注学者们在研究、写作和教学中如何为了“补偿性未来”而强调一种共同责任。

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonisation
• identity
• positionality
• comparative education
• Jean-Luc Nancy
• Achille Mbembe
• dis-enclosure
• being-in-common

关键词:

• ：去殖民化
• 身份认同;立场;比较教育;让–吕克·南希;阿奇利·姆邦;解封;共在

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I am indebted to one of the anonymous reviewers, who suggests that Albert Memmi's (1957/1965) work is one of the many examples across intellectual traditions offering a critique of colonialism that does not fall into the trap of constructing a binary opposition between coloniser and colonised. Rather, Memmi highlights the search for intermediary positions between coloniser and colonised. When it comes to challenging or problematising western/non-western or white/non-white binaries, it is important to be reminded that there are such arguments from different intellectual traditions and parts of the world.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michalinos Zembylas

Michalinos Zembylas is Professor of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies at the Open University of Cyprus, Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. He holds a Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Chair for 2023-2026. He has written extensively on emotion and affect in education, particularly in relation to social justice, decolonization and politics. His latest books are: Responsibility, Privileged Irresponsibility and Response-ability in Contemporary Times: Higher Education, Coloniality and Ecological Damage (co-authored with Vivienne Bozalek), and Working with Theories of Refusal and Decolonization in Higher Education (co-edited with Petra Mikulan).