Fundamental education and decolonization of the mind

Abstract: Education is a key topic in anticolonial and postcolonial scholarship and activism. There are several reasons for this: Firstly, education was a crucial element of imperialism, as colonial rule without an educational program, which enabled epistemic violence, is almost unthinkable. As Edward Said outlines in Orientalism (1978), it was as vital for colonial powers to teach the 'other' as to study the 'other' (see also Castro Varela & Dhawan, 2020). Only through colonial education, it was possible to produce a colonized population that relied on and trusted European knowledge and internalized specific Eurocentric norms of knowledge production. Colonial education was part and parcel of the civilizational mission, which is why it finds itself in an ambivalent position via-à-vis mass education. (DIPF/Orig.)

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: In: on education. Journal for research and debate 3 (2020) 7, 5 S. ; ISSN: 2571-7855 ; (DE-600)2924430-4

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Erziehung, Schul- und Bildungswesen

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Frankfurt
• (who): DIPF Leibniz Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation
• (when): 2020
• Creator: Castro Varela, María do Mar

Further information

• DOI: 10.25656/01:23068
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-230680
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:45 AM CEST