Coloniality and the Geopolitics of Knowledge in the Global Competition of Higher Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: Education in a Postcolonial World

Abstract

While scholars have analyzed global higher education (HE) competition, they have largely failed to address how global spaces of equivalence are tied both to coloniality and competition. Using the OECD’s AHELO as a case study and drawing on concepts from coloniality including Fanon’s zone of being/non-being and Mignolo’s geopolitics of knowledge, we reveal how coloniality underpins the desire for global spaces of equivalence. We illuminate how the nature of global competition is not simply tied to market-based economic or political rationalities, but also operates under psychosocial dimensions interlinked with belonging in the international community.

Authors

• Riyad Ahmed Shahjahan, Michigan State University

• Clara Morgan, UAE University