Reading Between the Lines of Rights: A Critical Analysis on the Right to Higher Education Within National and International Human Rights Discourses

• In Event: 16.058 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 16.058-3 - Differing Perspectives on Global Higher Education (2)

Abstract

The denial of higher education has been continuously used as a means of debilitating individuals within social, economic, and political terrains, particularly among women, indigenous peoples, ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities; and it not only has to do with matters of equitable and equal access to education but issues of quality as well. “Global” discourses relevant to disadvantaged groups’ are often overlooked and nearly non-existent. This inquiry highlights three cases of minority groups/indigenous peoples— Afro-Brazilians in Brazil, Bahá’ís in Iran, and Mäori in New Zealand. Through a comparative critical discourse analysis approach, this study focuses on understanding the culture of social discourse regarding disadvantaged groups’ access to “equal” and “equitable” higher education that meets “quality” standards nationally and internationally.

Author

• Sahar D. Sattarzadeh, University of the Free State