COLONISATION AND GLOBALISATIONDr Pam Bartholomaeus 22/11/10 ASRI Conference

RURAL EDUCATION It’s purpose? It’s status?

DEFINING LITERACY A person is literate is one who is able to

communicate fluently with members of the group where they were initially socialised, and at least one other group that uses a different Discourse. A Discourse is a socially accepted way of using

language, of thinking, feeling, believing, valuing, and of acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group of 'social network', or to signal (that one is playing) a socially meaningful 'role'.

The focus of a learning area is an example of a Discourse. (Gee, 1990)

COLONISATION The colonised are those who are dependent,

the subjugated and the oppressed (Said, 1989) The language is of objectification – phrases

such as: 'I know the..', 'that's the way they are…’ (Bhabha, 1996)

Colonialist ideology includes dominance or marginalisation (Kelly, 1993)

Colonisation is the practice of dominating others’ territory, bodies and minds, and through assimilative cultural patterns that restrict possibilities for people and places (Greenwood, 2009).

DIFFERENCE Industries and economic activities demand

particular kinds of literacy practices (Lo Bianco & Freebody, 1997: Donehower, 2007).

Primary industries require a wide range of literacy practices (Lo Bianco & Freebody, 1997).

Cultural practices are a mark of one’s identity. Struggles over ways to practice and value literacy can become struggles over identities and identification. These can be a basis for acceptance or rejection of literacy offered by a sponsor (Donehower, 2007).

PLACE Contemporary schooling often takes little

notice of place. Rural places need to be protected by the

people living in them or they become open for exploitation and eventually ecological catastrophe. Rural people need to be seen as stewards (Corbett, 2006).

GLOBALISATION Globalisation touches the lives of many in

rural areas. Multiliteracies and social software, particularly

for young people Some communities have twinning links with

places overseas Some business operators deal directly with

overseas suppliers and market Prices (paid and received) are influenced by

global markets. Dealing with and surviving these markets is complex and many primary producers purchase marketing analysis regularly to assist them with making business decisions.

EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Nondominant groups need to learn the

discourse of the dominant cultural group if they are to get ahead (Eckert et al., 2006 )

Decontextualised education is not adequate to address the needs of the marginalised or the complexities of places. Questions about vulnerability, loss and difference (Kelly, 2009).

Paying attention to literacy as social practice provides opportunities for equity and social justice in our schools (Crozet et al. 1999).

TODAY’S RURAL STUDENTS NEED A CURRICULUM THAT:

Gives access to mainstream society (Eckert et al., 2006)

Creates a third space for effective literacy education (Crozet et al., 1999)

Is decolonising and promotes reinhabitation (Gruenwald, 2003)

Works for sustainability through appropriate literacy education (Donehower, 2007)

Works for social, economic and ecological sustainability (Cocklin & Dibden, 2005)

Provides strong links for students between what they learn and what they live (Hunsberger, 2007)

PLACE CONSCIOUS EDUCATION: Aims to have teachers and students engage

with local life, and the political processes that shape what is happening, and participating in the processes that lead to living well in their place (Gruenwald, 2003)

Leads to stronger links between what students learn and what they live

Shelton’s consequential learning can lead to imagination and problem-solving by young people (Corbett, 2006)

REINHABITATION & DECOLONISATION Place-based education can begin by fostering

empathy (& knowledge) about the familiar, explore the local, and lead to social action and reinhabitation (Sobel, 2004).

Reinhabitation – identifying, conserving, and creating knowledge that nurtures and protects people and ecosystems, i.e. learning to live well in one’s place (Gruenwald, 2003)

Decolonisation – an act of resistance that includes transforming dominant ideas, recovering and renewing cultural patterns and relationships (Gruenwald, 2003).

A FINAL WORD “If rural schools shouldn’t equip rural citizens

to understand why their communities are dying, why their health is threatened, why there are few or no decently compensated jobs, what are rural schools for?” (Theobald, 2006, p. 8)

REFERENCESBhabha, H. (1996). The other question. In P. Mongia (Ed.), Contemporary Postcolonial Theory

(pp. 27-54). London, UK: Arnold.Corbett, M. J. (2006). Educating the country out of the child and educating the child out of

the country: An excursion in Spectrology. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 52(4), 289-301.

Cocklin, C., & Dibden, J. (Eds.). (2005). Sustainability and Change in Rural Australia. Sydney, NSW: UNSW Press.

Crozet, C., Liddicoat, A. J., & Lo Bianco, J. (1999). Introduction Intercultural Competence: from Language Policy to Language Education. In J. Lo Bianco, A. J. Liddicoat & C. Crozet (Eds.), Striving for the Third Place: Intercultural Competence through Language Education (pp. 1-17). Melbourne: The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia.

Donehower, K. (2007). Rhetorics and realities: The history and effects of stereotypes about rural literacies. In K. Donehower, C. Hogg & E. E. Schell (Eds.), Rural Literacies Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Eckert, L. S., Turner, J. D., Alsup, J., & Knoeller, C. (2006). Rethinking the meaning of difference: Contemporary challenges for researchers and practitioners in literacy and language educaition. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(2), pp. 274-291.

Gee, J. P. (1990). Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London, UK: Falmer Press.

Greenwood, D. A. (2009). Place, survivance, and white remembrance: A decolonizing challenge to rural education in mobile modernity. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(10). Retrieved from http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/24-10.pdf

Gruenewald, D. A. (2003). Foundations of place: A multidisciplinary framework for place-conscious education. American Educational Research Journal, 40(3), 619-654.

Hatton, E. (1998). Social and cultural influences on teaching. In E. Hatton (Ed.), Understanding Teaching: Curriculum and the Social Context of Schooling (pp. 6 - 10). Sydney, NSW: Harcourt Brace.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Kelly, U. (1993). Marketing Place: Cultural Politics, Regionalism and Reading. Halifax, Canada: Fernwood Publishing.

Kelly, U. A. (2009). Learning to lose: Rurality, transcience, and belonging (A companion to Michael Corbett). Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(11). Retrieved from http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/24-11.pdf

Lo Bianco, J., & Freebody, P. (1997). Australian Literacies: Informing National Policy on Literacy Education. Belconnen, ACT: Language Australia.

Luke, A. (2003). Literacy education for a new ethics of global community. Language Arts, 81(1), 20-22.

Said, E. W. (1989). Representing the colonized: Anthropology's interlocutors. Critical Inquiry, 15, 205-225.

Sobel, D. (2004). Place-based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities. Great Barrington, MA: The Orion Society.

Theobald, P., & Rochon, R. S. (2006). Enclosure then and now: Rural schools and communities in the wake of market-driven agriculture. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 21(12), 1 - 8. Retrieved from http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/21-12.pdf accessed 4/12/06.