View image | gettyimages.com CIES and Special Interest Groups During the CIES SIGs open houses a gentleman came to our table (the Indigenous Knowledge and the Academy – IKA), and remarked “I’m a member of your SIG. I registered and paid your dues”….I responded jokingly, ‘welcome home’…He asked “What can you do for me? What […]
Category: Comparative International Education
Reflections on the CIES Conference – Part 1
View image | gettyimages.com A CIES Divide The Comparative International Education Society (CIES) Conference just wrapped up (CIES 2015 – Washington, D.C. – March 8-13) and I’m left with making sense of my time there. I had a great time at the conference and learned a lot. I remain convinced that CIES is an association […]
What Is Comparison?
Word count: 170 In “What Is Comparison? Methodological and Philosophical Considerations”, Reijo Raivola states that “Truth amounts to the subject’s interpretation of a problem he or she is faced with solving.” This statement which can be classified as the basic tenant of cultural relativism theory asks the read to consider whether truth and meaning are […]
Reflections on a global educational curriculum
Word count: 150 The opinions and definitions one adopts of globalization often depend on the effects it has had on an individual’s circumstances or culture. In many situations the narrative surrounding “globalization” is romanticized and presented as a way to a more equitable world or as a way for the “developing world” to become “developed”. […]
Transforming Adult Education
Word count: 265 The article “Adult Education and Social Transformation” left me with two main questions: 1) What is the difference between adult education and work place education? 2) Is adult education the way to bring about workplace transformation? Groener implicitly argues that transformation of South Africa (SA) into the true “rainbow nation” that leaders […]
Indigenous Ways of Knowing
Word count: 323 In reading Semali’s (2008) Cultural perspectives in African adult education: Indigenous ways of knowing in lifelong learning, the two things that kept coming to mind were: 1) the issue of labels in education and 2) the empowerment of indigenous groups to believe in the value their own knowledge. To make sense of […]
Indigenous knowledge and Science
Word count: 208 In writing that “the historical origins and evolution of science within Euro-American cultures naturally causes its practitioners (today’s scientists) to embrace certain fundamental worldviews, epistemologies, ideologies, and values; all related to science’s origin and evolution”, I believe Aikenhead & Ogawa (2007) accurately captures the friction and superiority complex that some scientist from […]
Does “demigodification” or “vilification” prevent us from learning
Word count: 237 What is the role of the head of state in shaping or establishing an educational system? In “Mwalimu’s mission: Julius Nyerere as (Adult) Educator and Philosopher of community Development”, the authors, Mhina and Abdi (2008), argue that the president can shape the definition of an education in the country. The article leads […]