Using hegemonic theory to map
conceptions of education within
the development field in Pakistan
Policies and practices
Dominant assumptions underpinning practices
Spaces for innovative practices that counter
dominant assumptions
What are dominant understandings?
Where are they coming from?
Ideas of discourse, power, hegemony and postdevelopment theory
How can hegemonic theory better inform us
about power dynamics within the field of
development? How is this determining how
education is conceptualised and approached?
How did I get here?
► The
DFID Fellowship
► The two towers (9/11/01)
► The return (July - August, 2003)
► The return again (Dec 2003 - Jan, 2004)
► And again (February – August, 2004)
► The ‘permanent hangover’ (post-SEF)
► What do I do now? (development field realities)
► What happened to EE/ESD?
► Centrality of power and hegemonic relations
Ideal type of environmental education
Safe school
environment
Formal and
non-formal
Local needs
and relevancy
Environmenta
l
Education
Acquiring
basic skills
Radical
pedagogy
Mobilising
community
action
Improving
health and
hygiene
Analysing
current practice
What are the breadth and depth of hegemonic
development and education discourses?
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Economic growth
Modernisation
Interventionism
Reliance on scientific and technological knowledge
The theories
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Power
Discourse
Hegemony
Field
Policy
Post-development
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Post-development takes a critical
position by problematising poverty,
equating development with
Westernization, critiquing modernization
and viewing development as a
discourse, an imaginary myth (Sachs
1992b; Escobar 1995; Crush 1995;
Rahnema and Bawtree 1997; Rist 1999;
Pieterse 2001).
Critiques of post-development theory
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‘Lack of theoretical depth’ (Brigg 2003).
‘Sprinkling’ effect of mainly Foucault’
Tendencies toward essentialism,
romanticism, binary contradictions,
reinforcements of Eurocentricism and
intolerant moral/political righteousness. (Brigg
2003; Lehman 1997; Corbridge 1998)
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Power relations are embedded within social
relations and are exercised through
institutional relations that discipline our ways
of thinking and acting through self-regulation
(Foucault 1977)
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Discourse: a particular way of talking about
and understanding the world, or an aspect of
the world (Phillips and Jorgensen 2003)
The order of discourse is the ‘specifically
discoursal organisational logic of a field’
Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999)
A field may be defined as a network, or a
configuration, of objective relations between
positions (Bourdieu 1992)
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Hegemony shows how power compels us to
consent to that which constrains us (Butler 2001:
29).
The moment of hegemonic relation is when the
‘peculiarity of a body, community or social
movement ceases to be its own peculiarity and
transforms itself within the representation of the
universality transcending it’ (Laclau and Mouffe
2001).
The two conditions of a hegemonic articulation
are the presence of antagonistic forces and the
instability of the frontiers which separate them
(Laclau and Mouffe 2001)
The data
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Interviews
Policies
Video
Fieldnotes
Experiences
The methods
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Discourse analysis
Hegemony analysis
Critical ethnography
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Combining different types of data in each data
analysis sections
Combining aspect of critical discourse analysis
with hegemonic theories and field theory
Different data analysis chapters, different
data, different methods
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Micro-politics of SEF – hegemonic formations of
assumptions of mainstream development and
education discourses: participant observations, field
notes, interview transcripts, documents
The ‘myth of participation’ – participation as an
‘empty signifier’: video transcripts, field notes,
interview transcripts, organisation documents, policy
texts
Education as a ‘floating signifier’ - struggles of
discourses within a logic of difference: interview
transcripts, organisation documents, policy texts
Hegemonic strength of dominant mainstream
development and education assumptions and practices and
the inability of post-development discourses to oppose these:
Mainstream development
Traditional schooling
The case of the Sindh Education Foundation
De-schooling and
Post-development discourses
Hegemonic practices
De-schooling and
Post-development discourses
Essentialisms
Intolerance
Rigid management
hierarchy
Reliance on external
knowledge
Lack of willingness
to work from the
ground up
Internal learning
De-contextualised
Imposed problems,
and solutions from
external sources
Traditional
pedagogy
Language choices
Marketing and
advocacy unit
Non-participatory
and ad-hoc decisionmaking
Learning retreat
Expenditure choices
Agenda-making
process
Imposed readings
Traditional
pedagogy
Selection of
panelists and
participants
Lack of participation
from communities
and schools
Traditional schooling
Mainstream development
Hegemonic formations
Quality Assurance
Intertextual referencing of
quality from policies
Following dominant models
of measurement
Interventionist
Renovation of central office
and other expenditure choices
Research ignored
Priority and expectation
shifting
Ghost centre
Manchar Lake
Mallah culture
Inside a Mallah ‘house’
SEF Community-Supported School
SEF CSS
Participation as an ‘empty signifier’
Participatory, Bottom-up development approaches
Targeting poorest members of
each village
Contextualised and qualitative
knowledge
Organic development
Environment-centred and
against micro-credit
PVDP
PRSP
Non-participatory, Top-down development approaches
General targeting of ‘the poor’
De-contextualised and
quantitative knowledge
Policy-orientated, donor-reliant
development
Primary emphasis on macroeconomic growth
‘Participation’ in Sankar village, Thar Desert, Pakistan
Fuel-efficient stove programme
Education efforts
Water conservation efforts
Education as a floating signifier: Policies and organisations unified
through a logic of difference that education is necessary
Organisation
Lens
Education practices – general summary
DFID
Governance
Supporting the PRSP – education capacity building and resource allocation
CIDA
Poverty reduction with
government and CBOs
Supporting small NGOs in health, education, human rights and gender in specific districts
USAID
Democracy and governance
ICT, mainstreaming madrassahs, science education, quality education and literacy
attainment
UNICEF
Children
Physical infrastructure of schools and health. Also teacher training activities and funding
other education/literacy NGOs
Maa Haul
I-NGO
Environment, sustainable
development
Conservation education, community environmental rehabilitation work
Bachay
I-NGO
Children’s empowerment
Politically oriented non-formal education similar to ActionAid’s Reflect method. Circles
for discussion, problem-solving and literacy facilitation mainly with refugee
children
Aurtayn
N-NGO
Female rights
Educating women about their legal rights as well as their reproductive needs, creating
awareness on other rights issues
Fauqiyat
N-NGO
Formal education
School improvement through ICT integration, health curriculum teacher training,
infrastructural improvements
Taleemi
N-NGO
Formal education
Reforming government schools through various community-based and private-sector
initiatives. Also programmes of non-formal education for child labourers and
literacy for women.
Adbiyaat
L-NGO
Women’s literacy
Phonic-based, critical literacy approaches mainly with women. Facilitated by women
who have gone through the same process
Basti
L-NGO
Poverty reduction
Environmental organic activities, aversion to micro-credit, health initiatives, community
participation, learning and education woven throughout, formal education sidelined
Siyaasat
movement
Peasant and landless rights
Political awareness and social mobilisation particularly amongst landless workers and
fisherfolk
Education as a floating signifier: prioritisation of objectives and nodal
points across key development and education policies in Pakistan
Universal literacy
UPE
Vocational/techn.
Madrassah
Quality
MDGs
Islamic education
UPE
Quality
Literacy
EFA
NEP
PRSP
NPA
T-YP
ESR
Literacy
UPE
Secondary
Quality
Pakistan
Const.
CRC
HRD
Qu’ran
SAP
UPE
Adult literacy
ECE
Quality
UPE
Adult literacy
Madrassahs
Quality
Nodal points: UPE, quality, literacy and
non-formal awareness
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UPE: policies, donors, SEF and PVDP
Quality: policies, donors, ITA and IUCN
Literacy: policies, donors, SCUK and Khoj
Non-formal awareness: policies, donors,
Shirkat Gah and PRM
Logic of equivalences (within nodal points) in
this study: SCUK, Khoj, Shirkat Gah and
PRM
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum school
PFF school
Baloch Women’s Empowerment Literacy Programme Centre
Arabian Sea coast –
near the WWF Conservation Centre
What about EE?
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EE as an ‘empty signifier’ (Gaudiano 2005)
What are the nodal points within EE?
What are the logics of equivalence within EE? Why
does this matter?
ESD as dominated by assumptions within
mainstream development discourses (more than
EE)
The problem with ‘defining’ EE/ESD in a different
context – missed opportunities on both sides
SO what next?
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Applications of hegemonic theory
Strength of hegemonic formations of mainstream assumptions within
dominant education and development discourses and social practices
Fragility and tenuous spaces for logics of equivalence to retain
hegemonic articulations and avoiding ‘the empty signifier’
Phenomenon of the empty signifier: how to make this into a strength
rather than a weakness inherent in movements of resistance
Avoiding interventionism?
The issue of labelling – clash of the external versus the internal
Post-development theory
Getting to grips with complexity: Theories of complexity – mapping
Tension between policy and donor expectations, organisational
expectations and individual preferences
‘Practicing what you preach’
Critical research
Understanding the influence of wider networks more
My new job
Using hegemonic theory to map
conceptions of education within
the development field in Pakistan