Book Launch - Transforming Development in Education: From Coloniality to Rethinking, Reframing and Reimagining Possibilities
Tuesday 18 March 2025
14:00 to 15:30 CET
Online
On Tuesday 18th March 2025 marked the launch event of the book Transforming Development in Education: From Coloniality to Rethinking, Reframing, and Reimagining Possibilities. This latest addition to NORRAG’s book series on International Education and Development was edited by Moira V. Faul, Executive Director, NORRAG, and includes contributions from the NORRAG Senior Fellows, a distinguished group of scholars who address global inequities.
The launch event was chaired by Hugh McLean, Senior Advisor to NORRAG and hosted with the support of the KIX EMAP Hub. The event was structured around three main themes: rethinking, reframing, and reimagining education, each represented by video presentations by the contributing authors, followed by a live discussion with the audience. The launch began with an introduction by Moira V. Faul, who outlined NORRAG’s mission to surface underrepresented knowledge, foster policy dialogue, and support transformative education approaches. She then highlighted the book’s central aim of challenging entrenched colonial legacies in development if we are to transform education, by rethinking dominant narratives, reframing policy approaches, and reimagining alternative futures. She emphasized that the contributions from NORRAG Senior Fellows critically examine how education can move beyond perpetuating injustices to becoming a transformative force for equitable, inclusive, and sustainable global development.
The first panel, focused on Rethinking the ‘Problem’ of Development: Envisaging a Common World. Iveta Silova, Hikaru Komatsu, and Jeremy Rappleye presented their chapter Unlearning Development: Education in the Era of Planetary Emergency, questioning whether contemporary notions of development itself are part of the crisis rather than the solution. Radhika Gorur and Minoli Wijetunga introduced their work Decolonizing Education Data: Theories and Prospects, which critiques data colonialism and the entrenchment of Western epistemologies in education metrics. Crain Soudien followed with Sustaining Disruptive Development Possibilities in the University: a Conceptual Exploration, examining how intellectual interventions challenging dominant paradigms can be maintained within higher education institutions. The discussion addressed power dynamics in education policy, the need for epistemic justice, and the risks of returning to top-down models of aid and reform.
The second panel, Reframing the Process of Development: Collective Recuperation, Reparation, Rectificatory Justice, explored systemic transformation, material and epistemic reparations, and grassroots resistance. Catherine Odora Hoppers presented Development Education as a Methodology for Systems Transformation. What does Restorative Action and Cognitive Justice Represent?, advocating for cognitive justice and the integration of Indigenous knowledges. Arathi Sriprakash’s Reparations in the Ruins of Development called for structural redress to address the injustices embedded in colonial-capitalist systems. Nigel O.M. Brissett and tavis d. jules, in De-Linking Development: Material and Epistemic Justice and Caribbean Reparations, examined how reparative justice could reshape Caribbean education and economic policies. Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw and Cristina Delgado Vintimilla discussed Micro-Fragments of Reparation and Reinvention: Chi’xi Food Practices with Women and Children, highlighting community-based educational initiatives in the Ecuadorian Andes as acts of resistance and cultural survival.
The final panel, Reimagining Possibilities for Development and Education, focused on future pathways for transformation. Vanessa Andreotti’s thought-provoking poem interrogates dominant narratives of progress, sustainability, and education’s complicity in systems of oppression. Prachi Srivastava’s Why is Epistemic Humility Provocative? A Reflective Story examined the resistance to acknowledging knowledge limitations and the need for humility in academic and policy discussions. Keita Takayama and Taeko Okitsu’s How to Excavate ‘Good Sense’ in International Educational Development: The ‘Middle Way’ Approach to EDU-Port Japan proposed a perspective that bridges critique and policy engagement. Kathryn Moeller concluded with Reflections and Provocations on Decolonising Development and Education, analyzing how education and development are entangled with colonial legacies and economic structures.
Throughout the event, discussions addressed practical challenges in transforming education systems, from curriculum reforms to alternative funding mechanisms. Contributors emphasized the importance of collective action, interdisciplinary approaches, and resisting extractive economic models that perpetuate inequality. The launch concluded with closing remarks by Chanwoong Baek, who reflected on the book’s significance in promoting epistemic justice and systemic change. He invited attendees to continue engaging with NORRAG initiatives and explore ways to translate critical reimaginings into concrete policy and practice.
Organised with
KIX EMAP Hub
With the support of
NORRAG Senior Fellows