Southern theory as an educational project: Shinto, self-negation and comparative education
Date
2023
Authors
Takayama, K.
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Tierney, R.J.
Rizvi, F.
Ercikan, K.
Rizvi, F.
Ercikan, K.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: International Encyclopedia of Education: Fourth Edition, 2023 / Tierney, R.J., Rizvi, F., Ercikan, K. (ed./s), pp.37-44
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Abstract
This article draws on my own experience and reflection to demonstrate how I have practiced Southern Theory in comparative and international education research over the years. More specifically, it documents how my encounter with the decolonial and eco-feminist scholarship led to a renewed appreciation of Japanese Shinto and its potential contributions towards ecologically minded pedagogy. The reappraisal of Shinto forced me to recognize how the postwar, cold war legacies had haunted my own political sensibilities towards Shinto. At the same time, the article also registers my profound ambivalence towards actively advocating the Shinto spiritualities in education because of its potentials for being politically appropriated for nativist nationalism. Revealed through these reflective accounts are the tensions between intranational and international politics of difference, which are an inherent part of comparative and international education research. The article concludes by arguing that the act of doing Southern Theory necessarily involves learning through disruption and self-negation, or cross-cultural unlearning that release us from our habitual ways of knowing and being.
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Copyright 2023 Elsevier