At the Intersection of Childism and Decoloniality in Education
Since 2022, Tanu Biswas University of Stavanger; Annette Hellman, University of Gothenberg; Serena Iacobino, University of Brussels and Emiliano Macinai, University of Florence, have been working towards laying a collective ground for conceiving a new research area at the intersection of childism and decoloniality in educational research. This presentation with following discussion, will present the rationale and outline the efforts the four conveners are making towards conceiving that research area.
Political philosopher Toby Rollo (2018) has unveiled a pertinent lacuna in educational research by pointing out that the figure of the child as primitive and inferior (Rollo 2018) is necessary for Euro-centric coloniality. The imagination of ‘the child’ as inferior and primitive influences not only how intergenerational relationships between children and adults play out in educational systems, but also how Euro-centric coloniality is taught and learned. Thus, a new research area examining the intersection of adultism and coloniality, its implications and possibilities for age-inclusive social transformations is also needed for ethical advancements in European and Euro-centric educational practices.
Since Autumn 2022, Tanu Biswas (University of Stavanger), Annette Hellman (University of Gothenberg), Serena Iacobino (University of Brussels) and Emiliano Macinai (University of Florence) have been working towards laying a collective ground for conceiving a new research area at the intersection of childism and decoloniality in educational research spanning across the humanities and social sciences. The work in progress resonates with a collective recognition of the need to decolonise educational institutions in Europe at national and transnational levels. To this end, the shared rationale particularly acknowledges that the mechanisms of the European Empires and States are mutually and historically constitutive in the construction of relations between “coloniality”, “race” and “age”. Chronological age is a structural category that calls for critical attention in research at the intersection of coloniality, racism and education. The presentation with following discussion, will present the rationale and outline the efforts the four conveners are making towards conceiving a research area at the intersection of Childism and Decoloniality in Education.
Suggested Readings:
Biswas, T., Wall, J., Warming, H., Zehavi, O., Kennedy, D., Murris, K., Saal, B & Rollo, T. (2023). Childism and philosophy: A conceptual co-exploration. Policy Futures in Education, 14782103231185178.
Biswas, T (2022). "What takes ‘us’ so long? The philosophical poverty of childhood studies and education." Childhood 29.3: 339-354.
Hellman, A., Heikkilä, M. & Sundhall, J. (2014). ‘Don’t be Such a Baby!’ Competence and Age as Intersectional Co-markers on Children’s Gender. IJEC 46, 327–344 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-014-0119-4
Rollo, T. (2018). Feral children: Settler colonialism, progress, and the figure of the child. Settler Colonial Studies, 8(1), 60-79.
Wall, John (2019). “From Childhood Studies to Childism: Reconstructing the Scholarly and Social Imaginations,” Children’s Geographies, special issue edited by Hanne Warming on Society and Social Changes through the Prism of Childhood, 17(6):1-15.