Bringing together a unique collection of 18 insightful and innovative internationally focused articles, Educational Research Practice in Southern Contexts offers reflections, case studies, and critically, research methods and processes which decentre, reframe, and reimagine conventional educational research strategies and operationalise the tenets of decolonising theory.

This anthology represents a valuable teaching resource. It provides readers with the chance to read high-quality examples of research that critique current ways of doing research and to reflect on how research methods can contribute to the project of decolonising knowledge production in and about education in, for example, Africa, South Asia, Asia, and Latin America. It grapples with everyday dilemmas and tricky ethical questions about protection, consent, voice, cultural sensitivity, and validation, by engaging with real-world situations and increasing the potential for innovation and new collaborations.

Educational Research Practice in Southern Contexts will be essential reading for anyone teaching educational research methods and will encourage novice and experienced researchers to rethink their research approaches, disentangle the local and global, and challenge those research rituals, codes, and fieldwork practices which are often unproblematically assumed to be universally relevant.

About the Author

Sharlene Swartz is Head of the Equitable Education and Economies research division at the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa.

Nidhi Singal is a Professor of Disability and Inclusive Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK.

Madeleine Arnot is Emerita Professor in Sociology of Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Reviews

"Many universities are now exploring how to decolonise their curricula. But how can we transform the North-South hierarchies often taken as 'given' within educational research? This book brings together a stimulating collection of methodological and theoretical reflections by educational researchers working in diverse contexts in the Global South. Moving beyond the familiar 'insider-outsider' debates in educational research, these writers engage with the political, cultural and institutional aspects of knowledge construction. This exciting collection will prove invaluable to educational researchers committed to addressing inequalities in cultural values, voice, identities and knowledges."

Anna Robinson-Pant, Professor/UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, UK


"Researching research itself - how knowledge is produced, what methodologies are deployed, what research practices are at play - in the context of resurgent and insurgent decolonisation of the 21st century is urgent and very necessary. This well-curated volume does just this very well from diverse vantage points, covering various aspects of ethics, gender, responsibility, reflexivity, spirituality, sovereignty, visuality, polyvocality, and inequality as they impinge on research itself. The field of education is the departure point in the agenda to critique hegemonic knowledge paradigms and articulation of submerged Southern epistemologies."

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor/Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South and Vice-Dean of Research in the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany

"There's much talk now of decolonizing knowledge. What does that mean for education, and specifically for research in education? Sharlene Swartz, Nidhi Singal and Madeleine Arnot have put together a unique and wide-ranging collection, across continents and cultures. This book gives us distinctive perspectives on conceptual debates, hands-on research experience, and a remarkable range of research methods, from statistics to poetry, all considered from global South positions."

Raewyn Connell, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney, Australia

Book Information
ISBN 9781032409306
Author Sharlene Swartz
Format Paperback
Page Count 360
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 539g