Decolonizing Global Perspectives

• In Event: The Project of Decolonization: Taking on Our Sacred Discourse

Abstract

Objective and Purpose
In order to articulate the value of post-colonial criticism and post-colonial alternative, I look at the theoretical challenges or the conceptual dilemmas involved in theorizing ethical local/global relationships. I do so by analyzing social justice discourse in Patricia McCormick's book Sold, an award winning novel that traces the wrenching ordeal encountered by a Nepali girl who is sold into prostitution in India.
Theoretical Perspectives
Central to the idea of post-colonial perspective is the methodology of decolonizing dominant conceptions of global and articulating knowledge that can bring about social change (Kumashiro, 2001; Smith, 1999). Thus, a transformative global perspective invites educators to reformulate the ways in which local-global discourses have been theorized in educational research. Mahalingam and McCarthy (2000) argued that discussions on transformative knowledge need to consider critical global issues, particularly which challenges the sanctioned Western essentialized views about what ‘Third World’ is or what it ought to be.
Methods and Data
This paper utilizes post colonial discourse analysis to offer multiple reading of a text
(Said, 1979). I came across McCormick’s book when I was travelling in Nepal in 2006. The UN reports (2006) that close to 7 to 10 thousand Nepali women are trafficked across inter-national borders and are forced into prostitution. I learned about the publication of the book when the activist pointed out that a book had come out on the subject and that the author, an American writer, had visited the shelter and written a fictional account on an event.
Result
In this paper, to foreground the value of post-colonial discourse analysis, I critique the critical yet Eurocentric approach to global social justice discourse, particularly the ways in which American characters are written in the book, which further sanctions U.S. subjects as the saviors of the world. Secondly, to articulate the practice of post-colonial alternatives, I will point out how local efforts are being mobilized to address the critical topic of forced teen prostitution. I collected several curriculum develop by local NGOs which articulate a different interpretation one the topic. I suggest how a post colonial approach helps us tease out how difference is articulated in a particular text and how texts are connected to issues of power and exploitation (Gandhi, 1998).
Scientific or Scholarly Significance
This analysis troubles liberal ways of doing global social justice interventions: a topic that has remained invisible in educational research. Although this widely popular book (used in many high schools) addresses a critical social justice discourse, the text marginalizes issues of agency and local responses to trafficking of women. Yet, what is thought provoking about the subject matter of the book is that it is a departure from the comfortable aspect of global that is taught in schools. And the book can be categorized as “critical” in a liberal-critical sense since it explores issues of gender, class and the oppression.

Author

• Binaya Subedi, The Ohio State University