Understanding Oblivious and Nonoblivious Barriers to Education

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Learning, Learning Outcomes, and Global Vision

Abstract

Drawing primarily from Pierre Bourdieu’s works on “field” and “capital” this paper examines in detail how institutional barriers have systematically denied access to quality education to lower class/caste students, which results in educational inequality impeding the efforts of sustainable development. China and India has been used as typical examples to illustrate how oblivious institutional barriers could manifest and exhibit in similar ways in two distinct sociopolitical nations. The paper considers the historical, social and cultural perspectives to provide an account of China’s hukou (house hold registration system) and India’s varna vyavastha (caste system). The paper concludes with making a case for deconstructing the discourses on education for sustainable development based on the principals of social justice and equity.

Authors

• Ashwini Tiwari, The University of Texas - Pan American

• Tian Fu, Capital Normal University