Full Description
Timely in its contribution to on-going debates on the decolonization of education, this novel volume charts the development of a scheme of postgraduate transnational education that saw British students sent to Indian and South Asian Universities while political decolonization was still ongoing.
Representing the first book-length publication focused entirely on the educational effects of this aspect of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Scheme, chapters are based on the personal narratives of 40 learners, providing a rich historical, qualitative study which sets the students' experiences in their social and economic context. Demonstrating the changes that took place over time, chapters engage with debates about overt and implicit forms of colonial thinking, as well as discussion concerning cultural and educational decolonization within the academy. Ultimately, this compelling book demonstrates that educational decolonization goes beyond a mere awareness of imperialism and inequalities, instead reaching further towards a genuine, humanist engagement with other cultures.
Offering a first-hand account of an early decolonial venture, the book will be invaluable to academics, postgraduate students and scholars interested in decolonizing and international education, as well as in South Asian Studies. Policy makers in international educational contexts may also find the volume useful.
Contents
PART I: BACKGROUND; 1. Introduction; 2. 1961 The Commonwealth Scholarship scheme begins; 3. Student funding and geo-politics; PART II: THE STUDENTS AND THEIR CONTEXTS - THE 1960s AND EARLY 1970s; 4. The scheme gathers pace as the 1960s proceed; 5. Indian Philosophy, Religion and Sanskrit; 6. Sociological and anthropological research; 7. Studying subcontinental history; PART III: THE STUDENTS AND THEIR CONTEXTS IN THE 1970s; 8. Studying architecture and music; 9. Buddhist Studies and Ceylon/Sri Lanka; PART IV: THE STUDENTS AND THEIR CONTEXTS IN THE 1980s AND 1990s; 10. The polarization of the era is reflected in some of the students; 11. Studying art; 12. Studying art the Baroda University Faculty of Fine Arts 1982-5; 13. Studying art the Baroda University Faculty of Fine Arts 1986-89; 14. The scheme moves towards its end: the 1990s; PART V; SPECIAL CASES PERHAPS; 15. Studying science in the subcontinent; 16. Students of South Asian heritage or ancestry; PART VI: REFLECTIONS; 17. Changing motivations over forty years; 18. Learning from Indians and South Asians; Index
