Envisioning an alternative to the neoliberalization of education in the global south

The Aga Khan's philosophies of education

Bibliographic Data

ID2921117
AuthorsShenila Khoja‐moolji (0000-0001-5039-1570, Columbia University, corresponding author), Shenila S Khoja-Moolji (Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
Year2017
Volume38
Issue4
Pages542-560
Publication date2017-07-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2015.1113508
OpenAlexW2303170264
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited38

Studies in education over the past decade highlight the hijacking of educational agendas by neoliberal rationalities and logics. I illustrate these processes in relation to transnational campaigns for girls' education, where the purpose of 'education' is reduced to producing wage-based labor and an accumulation of skills that enhance labor flexibility. 'Girls' are primarily articulated as economic actors: potential consumers, labor, and/or entrepreneurs. This reduction of individuals and social projects to economic logics calls for counter-discourses. I delineate one (among many possible) alternate framing of education by foregrounding muslim epistemologies. I present the views of the Shi'i muslim leader, His Highness the Aga Khan, about education, its purpose, and its entanglement with international development. Through a close reading and coding of over 30 public speeches and interviews of the Aga Khan between 1994 and 2015, I outline three salient themes pertaining to self, community, and meaningful life that cast doubt around the reduction of education to economic logics

Economic growth · Economics · Foregrounding · Higher education · Political science · Sociology · Critical and Liberation Pedagogy · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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