Hospicing Education in Emergencies

• In Event: Beyond Education Emergencies: towards an ideology of struggle

Proposal

This paper critically examines the concept of Education in Emergencies (EiE), highlighting its expansive and colonizing tendencies. The discourse surrounding EiE reveals the fragile yet broad scope of the field, which seeks to standardize educational responses across disparate global crises. By drawing parallels between criminology’s concept of “the criminal” and EiE’s notion of “the emergency,” the author argues that EiE reduces complex educational struggles in the Global South into a singular crisis in need of Western intervention. Furthermore, the essay critiques reformist approaches within EiE, emphasizing the importance of de-centering Western actors and questioning the necessity of reimagining the field. Instead, it advocates for acknowledging and learning from existing radical educational traditions, such as Cuba’s support for anti-colonial movements. The author calls for a shift in perspective—away from reform and towards listening to the lived educational struggles of communities, which have long developed alternatives independent of the aid system.

Author

• Jee Rubin