Using hegemonic theory to map conceptions of education

Using hegemonic theory to map conceptions of education within the development field in Pakistan

Policies and practices Dominant assumptions underpinning practices Spaces for innovative practices that counter dominant assumptions What are dominant understandings? Where are they coming from? Ideas of discourse, power, hegemony and postdevelopment theory How can hegemonic theory better inform us about power dynamics within the field of development? How is this determining how education is conceptualised and approached?

How did I get here? ► The DFID Fellowship ► The two towers (9/11/01) ► The return (July - August, 2003) ► The return again (Dec 2003 - Jan, 2004) ► And again (February – August, 2004) ► The ‘permanent hangover’ (post-SEF) ► What do I do now? (development field realities) ► What happened to EE/ESD? ► Centrality of power and hegemonic relations

Ideal type of environmental education Safe school environment Formal and non -formal Local needs and relevancy Environmental Education Acquiring basic skills Improving health and hygiene Analysing current practice Radical pedagogy Mobilising community action

What are the breadth and depth of hegemonic development and education discourses? n n Economic growth Modernisation Interventionism Reliance on scientific and technological knowledge

The theories n n n Power Discourse Hegemony Field Policy Post-development

n Post-development takes a critical position by problematising poverty, equating development with Westernization, critiquing modernization and viewing development as a discourse, an imaginary myth (Sachs 1992 b; Escobar 1995; Crush 1995; Rahnema and Bawtree 1997; Rist 1999; Pieterse 2001).

Critiques of post-development theory n n n ‘Lack of theoretical depth’ (Brigg 2003). ‘Sprinkling’ effect of mainly Foucault’ Tendencies toward essentialism, romanticism, binary contradictions, reinforcements of Eurocentricism and intolerant moral/political righteousness. (Brigg 2003; Lehman 1997; Corbridge 1998)

n Power relations are embedded within social relations and are exercised through institutional relations that discipline our ways of thinking and acting through self-regulation (Foucault 1977)

n n n Discourse: a particular way of talking about and understanding the world, or an aspect of the world (Phillips and Jorgensen 2003) The order of discourse is the ‘specifically discoursal organisational logic of a field’ Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999) A field may be defined as a network, or a configuration, of objective relations between positions (Bourdieu 1992)

n n n Hegemony shows how power compels us to consent to that which constrains us (Butler 2001: 29). The moment of hegemonic relation is when the ‘peculiarity of a body, community or social movement ceases to be its own peculiarity and transforms itself within the representation of the universality transcending it’ (Laclau and Mouffe 2001). The two conditions of a hegemonic articulation are the presence of antagonistic forces and the instability of the frontiers which separate them (Laclau and Mouffe 2001)

The data n n n Interviews Policies Video Fieldnotes Experiences

The methods n n n Discourse analysis Hegemony analysis Critical ethnography q q Combining different types of data in each data analysis sections Combining aspect of critical discourse analysis with hegemonic theories and field theory

Different data analysis chapters, different data, different methods n n n Micro-politics of SEF – hegemonic formations of assumptions of mainstream development and education discourses: participant observations, field notes, interview transcripts, documents The ‘myth of participation’ – participation as an ‘empty signifier’: video transcripts, field notes, interview transcripts, organisation documents, policy texts Education as a ‘floating signifier’ - struggles of discourses within a logic of difference: interview transcripts, organisation documents, policy texts

Hegemonic strength of dominant mainstream development and education assumptions and practices and the inability of post-development discourses to oppose these: Mainstream development Traditional schooling The case of the Sindh Education Foundation De-schooling and Post-development discourses Hegemonic practices De-schooling and Post-development discourses Essentialisms Intolerance Rigid management hierarchy Reliance on external knowledge Lack of willingness to work from the ground up Internal learning De-contextualised Imposed problems, and solutions from external sources Traditional pedagogy Language choices Marketing and advocacy unit Non-participatory and ad-hoc decisionmaking Learning retreat Expenditure choices Agenda-making process Imposed readings Traditional pedagogy Selection of panelists and participants Lack of participation from communities and schools Traditional schooling Mainstream development Hegemonic formations Quality Assurance Intertextual referencing of quality from policies Following dominant models of measurement Interventionist Renovation of central office and other expenditure choices Research ignored Priority and expectation shifting Ghost centre

Manchar Lake

Mallah culture

Inside a Mallah ‘house’

SEF Community-Supported School

SEF CSS

Participation as an ‘empty signifier’ Participatory, Bottom-up development approaches Targeting poorest members of each village Contextualised and qualitative knowledge Organic development Environment-centred and against micro-credit PVDP PRSP Non-participatory, Top-down development approaches General targeting of ‘the poor’ De-contextualised and quantitative knowledge Policy-orientated, donor-reliant development Primary emphasis on macroeconomic growth

‘Participation’ in Sankar village, Thar Desert, Pakistan

Fuel-efficient stove programme

Education efforts

Water conservation efforts

Education as a floating signifier: Policies and organisations unified through a logic of difference that education is necessary Organisation Lens Education practices – general summary DFID Governance Supporting the PRSP – education capacity building and resource allocation CIDA Poverty reduction with government and CBOs Supporting small NGOs in health, education, human rights and gender in specific districts USAID Democracy and governance ICT, mainstreaming madrassahs, science education, quality education and literacy attainment UNICEF Children Physical infrastructure of schools and health. Also teacher training activities and funding other education/literacy NGOs Maa Haul I-NGO Environment, sustainable development Conservation education, community environmental rehabilitation work Bachay I-NGO Children’s empowerment Politically oriented non-formal education similar to Action. Aid’s Reflect method. Circles for discussion, problem-solving and literacy facilitation mainly with refugee children Aurtayn N-NGO Female rights Educating women about their legal rights as well as their reproductive needs, creating awareness on other rights issues Fauqiyat N-NGO Formal education School improvement through ICT integration, health curriculum teacher training, infrastructural improvements Taleemi N-NGO Formal education Reforming government schools through various community-based and private-sector initiatives. Also programmes of non-formal education for child labourers and literacy for women. Adbiyaat L-NGO Women’s literacy Phonic-based, critical literacy approaches mainly with women. Facilitated by women who have gone through the same process Basti L-NGO Poverty reduction Environmental organic activities, aversion to micro-credit, health initiatives, community participation, learning and education woven throughout, formal education sidelined Siyaasat movement Peasant and landless rights Political awareness and social mobilisation particularly amongst landless workers and fisherfolk

Education as a floating signifier: prioritisation of objectives and nodal points across key development and education policies in Pakistan Universal literacy UPE Vocational/techn. Madrassah Quality MDGs Islamic education UPE Quality Literacy EFA NEP PRSP NPA T-YP ESR Literacy UPE Secondary Quality Pakistan Const. CRC HRD Qu’ran SAP UPE Adult literacy ECE Quality UPE Adult literacy Madrassahs Quality

Nodal points: UPE, quality, literacy and non-formal awareness n n UPE: policies, donors, SEF and PVDP Quality: policies, donors, ITA and IUCN Literacy: policies, donors, SCUK and Khoj Non-formal awareness: policies, donors, Shirkat Gah and PRM Logic of equivalences (within nodal points) in this study: SCUK, Khoj, Shirkat Gah and PRM

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum school

PFF school

Baloch Women’s Empowerment Literacy Programme Centre

Arabian Sea coast – near the WWF Conservation Centre

What about EE? n n n EE as an ‘empty signifier’ (Gaudiano 2005) What are the nodal points within EE? What are the logics of equivalence within EE? Why does this matter? ESD as dominated by assumptions within mainstream development discourses (more than EE) The problem with ‘defining’ EE/ESD in a different context – missed opportunities on both sides

SO what next? n n n n Applications of hegemonic theory Strength of hegemonic formations of mainstream assumptions within dominant education and development discourses and social practices Fragility and tenuous spaces for logics of equivalence to retain hegemonic articulations and avoiding ‘the empty signifier’ Phenomenon of the empty signifier: how to make this into a strength rather than a weakness inherent in movements of resistance Avoiding interventionism? The issue of labelling – clash of the external versus the internal Post-development theory Getting to grips with complexity: Theories of complexity – mapping Tension between policy and donor expectations, organisational expectations and individual preferences ‘Practicing what you preach’ Critical research Understanding the influence of wider networks more My new job

Using hegemonic theory to map conceptions of education within the development field in Pakistan