WHAT IS POST-FOUNDATIONAL?

The Post-foundational Approaches (PfA) SIG was founded in 2014 to open new areas of inquiry within the field of Comparative and International Education (CIE), which could challenge and go beyond some of the limitations inherent in the field's traditional 'foundations' in Western ideas of modernity, society and development. Aiming to open up new conversations in the study of education and schooling globally, the SIG was imagined as fostering exploration and exchange, and stretching the conventional means by which these topics have been studied such as through disciplinary bodies, regional divisions and cross-national comparisons. 

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​"The roots of the term 'post-foundational' lie in the desire to expand the horizons of the CIE field, but the SIG's purpose is not to champion perspectives simply because within certain contexts, they may be viewed as innovative, but to determine how their use can move the entire field forward, by forcing a re-examination of assumptions."
 "The notion of contingent foundations, proposed by Butler as an alternative framing of the debate, could best be described as an ontological weakening of the status of foundation without doing away with foundations entirely. It is on its account, that what came to be called post-foundationalism should not be confused with anti-foundationalism. What distinguishes the former from the latter is that it does not assume the absence of any ground; what it assumes is the absence of an ultimate ground, since it is only on the basis of such absence that grounds, in the plural, are possible. The problem is therefore posed not in terms of no foundations (the logic of all-or-nothing), but in terms of contingent foundations. Hence, post-foundationalism does not stop after having assumed the final ground and so it does not turn into anti-foundationalist nihilism, existentialism or pluralism, all of which would assume the absence of any ground and would result in complete meaninglessness, absolute freedom or total autonomy. Nor does it turn into a sort of postmodern pluralism for which all meta-narratives have equally melted into air, for what is still accepted by post-foundationalism is the necessity for some grounds" (Oliver Marchart, Post-Foundational Political Thought, 2007, p. 14).
"Those of us who are involved in the comparative and international education field do a disservice when we limit our scholarly explorations to themes and research paradigms that fail to respect the vibrancy and complexity of the lived experiences of teaching, learning, policy making and other aspects of what we broadly conceive education to entail. We tend to regularly privilege untested notions of rationality that are not only constricting but are uncritically universalizing, limiting an appreciation for the culturally diverse ways in which we negotiate our responses to educational practices and policies. Those responses can be as emotive as they are cognitive, personal as much as they are social, and spiritual as much as they are material. My hope for this SIG is that we offer colleagues the space to engage in scholarly explorations that do justice to these shared interests that have been to date grossly underserved. In so doing, we should open our eyes to a wide literature representing modern social theory, cultural studies, and indigenous knowledge constructs, emanating from the Global South, that may speak to these issues in creative ways."
Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. (Gide 1952)

​Post-foundational approaches to CIE should seek to destabilize the assumptions we make about what we consider to be true concerning our research questions, the subjects of our research and its objectives.
 
As researchers we are in the business of shaping “truths”, which requires that we build a critical awareness of the kinds of knowledges, the kinds of subjects, and subsequently, the kinds of truths we produce. As scholars, we are responsible for understanding that all truths are partial and contingent. Yet, through our scholarly doings we are responsible even for these partial truths.
 
Therefore, regardless of however small or big our contributions to understanding the world might be, we should never stop to question the subjectively positioned assumptions we make when we engage with each other as colleagues and in examining educational realities.


​Inéditos viáveis;
Liminalities;
Comfort with discomfort.
 
[Insert audio/visual of choice].
[Repeat in language/s of choice].
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Post-foundationalism is a way of studying the world that recognizes the short comings of traditional, 
​Western cannons to explain global realities, and so it seeks to develop a better understanding through the interaction of many perspectives and ontologies, especially those that have been historically marginalized or excluded.

​Post-foundational is a promise.
It is a promise to think more expansively about schools and schooling, education and educating.
To consider more dynamic explanations of global similarity and enduring difference. 
To challenge the idea that education is a problem for some waiting to be solved by others. 
To consider the past as performative and the future as projection.
​To wrestle with the unknown and unknowable.