Crafting Postcolonial Pedagogies: At the Intersections of Theory and Practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 96
  In Roundtable Session: Postcolonialism and Multiculturalism: Implications for Pedagogy

Abstract

Education systems, teachers, and students, implicated in the “aftermath of colonialism” (Hickling-Hudson, Matthews, & Woods, 2004, p. 3), participate in perpetuating social and economic inequities. And, recent reviews of research (Castro, 2010, Sleeter, 2001) have revealed that preservice teachers continue to have a limited understanding of multiculturalism. In response, here, the two co-authors engage the possibilities and challenges of crafting postcolonial pedagogical approaches, focusing particularly on teacher education. We synthesize postcolonial theory and literature, critical self-reflexive analyses of our teaching experiences, and findings from one co-author’s research project (preservice teachers read, discussed, and responded to postcolonial texts) to consider ways of preparing future teachers to engage – rather than resist – multiple perspectives, worldviews, and cultures.

Authors

• Nina Asher, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• E. Sybil Durand, Arizona State University