Framing and Contesting the Dominant Global Imaginary of North-South Relations: Identifying and Challenging Socio-Cultural Hierarchies

• Main Authors: Hanna Alasuutari, Vanessa Andreotti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre for Global Education 2015-04-01
• Series: Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review
• Subjects: Education Sector Partnerships; Efficiency; Self-reflexivity; Postcolonial
• Online Access: https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-20/framing-and-contesting-dominant-global-imaginary-north-south-relations-identifying

In this article, we draw selectively on postcolonial theory to identify problematic patterns of knowledge production and engagement that have historically conditioned a dominant global imaginary grounded on a single story of development and on hierarchies of knowledge, people and forms of organisation that have several implications for encounters between the global ‘North and South’ (1). In the first part of the article we examine perceptions of ‘efficiency’ in educational development partnerships in Zambia. Our data compares insights from two Nordic and three Zambian research participants who worked in Zambia in national level development partnerships in the education sector from 2003 to 2007. In the second part of the article we discuss the need for educational approaches that can shift representations and engagements away from hegemonic, ethnocentric and paternalistic patterns of thinking. In re-thinking education that can support more ethical forms of North-South partnerships, we emphasise the importance of educational strategies that can support people to frame and contest the dominant global imaginary through the development of self-reflexivity in North-South partnerships.