120 – Pedagogy from the Margins: Critical Perspectives from South Asia
Critical pedagogy framework (Freire 1970, 1998, 2007, 2014) exposes and critiques the power structures, inequalities, and injustices embedded in educational systems and practices and provides a lens to understand the efforts of marginalised groups to challenge dominant educational regimes. This panel aims to explore how the ideas of critical pedagogy resonate within the South Asian context, which is still marked by the postcolonial condition where uneven intellectual influence and division of labour: West as 'theories' source, Rest as ‘data mine,’ has shaped pedagogical tradition (Takayama et al., 2016) and as well as various forms of social inequalities, both traditional and contemporary. We will examine the complex issues of discrimination, exclusion, and humiliation based on educational structures and practices in such settings as schools, colleges, universities and associated institutions. Our endeavour is not only limited to critical aspects but also highlights positive alternative pedagogical practices and policy frameworks. South Asia has a rich tradition of intellectual movements that have been challenging oppressive educational regimes and proposing alternative societal visions. We seek proposals that address caste, gender, ethno-religious, and other relevant social inequalities observed in South Asian educational contexts, as well as historical and contemporary practices of alternative critical pedagogies. This panel will propose novel ideas on how cases from the South Asian educational-intellectual landscape can enrich global debates. This framework will also be applied to analyse pedagogical practices within the field of South Asian studies in Western academia.
Convenors
Vidyasagar Sharma - Kristina Garalytė - N. Sukumar -
