Global-Local Dialectic and School Knowledge: Dis/Integration of Local Culture/Knowledge?
Key words: Global-local, school knowledge/curricula, sociology of knowledge social/cultural reproduction, hegemony.
Modern 'education', as a noun, in its institutional structure represents a 'cultural capital' of a 'select tradition' (Apple, 1995, 2004) historically rooted in project of modernity. Any 'selection' involves 'in/exclusion', hence power relationship. More so, 'education', as a verb/a process, champions a particular type of rationality embedded in western epistemology. This compound noun/verb form of 'education', aided with phenomena of globalization, acquires mobility to reach transnationally, in turn, serving as a global-apparatus for knowledge generation, validation and distribution, exerting a particular type of epistemic hegemony.
Nested within the above problematic, my paper will critically explore how forces of globalization shape construction of school knowledge through dissolution and/or construction of 'local-ness' and associated knowledge forms, related cultural meanings and expressions? Broadly speaking, then, an interesting question for sociology of education becomes as to how 'global-local' dialectic is represented in 'school knowledge' (as constructed through curricular spaces)?
In order to do so, the paper will present an analysis of sociological perspectives about globalization in general and global-local dialectic and its implication on education in particular.The presentation aims to stimulate a critical reflection on doing sociology of globalization and its implication for schooling.
References
Apple, M. W. (1995). Education and Power (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Apple, M. W. (2004). Ideology and Curriculum (3rd ed.). USA: Routledge Falmer.