Theorising decolonisation in the context of lifelong learning and transnational migration: anti-colonial and anti-racist perspectives

ABSTRACT

In the age of transnational migration, the practices and policies of lifelong learning in many immigrant-receiving countries continue to be impacted by the cultural and discursive politics of colonial legacies. Drawing on a wide range of anti-colonial and anti-racist scholarship, we argue for an approach to lifelong learning that aims to decolonise the ideological underpinnings of colonial relations of rule, especially in terms of its racialised privileging of ‘whiteness’ and Eurocentrism. In the context of lifelong learning, decolonisation would achieve four important purposes. First, it would illustrate the nexus between knowledge, power, and colonial narratives by interrogating how knowledge-making is a fundamental aspect of ‘coloniality’. Second, decolonisation would entail challenging the hegemony of western knowledge, education, and credentials and upholding a ‘multiculturalism of knowledge’ that is inclusive and responsive to the cultural needs and values of transnational migrants. Third, decolonisation would lead to the need for planning and designing learning curricula as well as institutionalised pedagogy based on non-western knowledge systems and epistemic diversity. The final emphasis is on the urgency to decolonise our minds as lifelong learners, practitioners and policy-makers in order to challenge the passivity, colonisation, and marginalisation of learners both in classrooms and workplaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Lifelong learning
• decolonisation
• transnational migration
• anti-racism
• skill
• training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2118081/canada-boost-immigration-accepting-about-one-million.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Srabani Maitra

Srabani Maitra is a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. Her research combines interdisciplinary theories and methodologies from Sociology and Education to focus on education/learning, workplace skill training, transnational migration as well as anti-racist and anti-colonial education. Her research has been published in journals such as the Curriculum Inquiry, Studies in Continuing Education, Globalisation Societies and Education, Qualitative Inquiry, Journal of Workplace Learning.

Shibao Guo

Shibao Guo is Professor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. His research interests include citizenship and immigration, multicultural and anti-racist education, lifelong education, and comparative and international education. He has numerous publications, including books, journal articles, and book chapters. His latest books include Immigration, Racial and Ethnic Studies in 150 Years of Canada: Retrospects and Prospects (2018), Work, Learning and Transnational Migration: Opportunities, Challenges and Debates (2016), Spotlight on China: Changes in Education under China’s Market Economy (2016), Revisiting Multiculturalism in Canada: Theories, Policies and Debates (2015), and Transnational Migration, Social Inclusion and Adult Education (2015). Currently he serves as President of the Comparative and International Education Society of Canada .