Thematic Dossier: Educating in the (Ultra)periphery: identities, powers, challenges

Guest Editor: Nuno Fraga, University of Madeira, Center for Research in Education (CIE-UMa)

BRIEF PRESENTATION

With this thematic dossier “Educating in the (Ultra)peripheries: identities, powers, challenges”, from Revista Lusófona de Educação, the aim is to broaden the academic debate on education systems in the outermost regions (OR) of Europe: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, Saint Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain), which together are home to about 4.8 million citizens.

The ORs, although geographically distant from the physical centers of decision and power, are part of the European Union with all the rights and duties associated with membership. However, “according to Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), specific measures and derogations in EU legislation help these regions to deal with the major challenges they face due to geographical remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, economic dependence on a few products.” ⁽¹⁾.

By the TFEU, the specific status assigned to the Outermost Regions has allowed, since 2004, the development of European strategies in favor of the challenges faced by these regions, especially in terms of supporting and exploiting their assets. Gradually, the European Commission consecrated the specificities of the ORs in 21 of its proposals for future programs of the European Union, of which we highlight in the field of education and research policies: the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes, thus intensifying by example, the cooperation of the outermost regions and third countries and the initiative "Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence” from the Horizon Europe program with the aim of ORs to develop and expand their potential in a broader framework and under construction established as European Education Area, whose aim is to enable "all young people to benefit from the best education and training, and find jobs throughout Europe." ⁽²⁾

It is in this context, of expanding its potential, that we evoke Paulo Freire when he states, “that the role of education needs to be reexamined, although not being able to do everything, is a fundamental factor in the reinvention of the world”. ⁽³⁾ [free translation]. Education is, in itself, synonymous with hope, empowerment and social transformation, so the option for extension models of education reifies its transformative potential, normalizing it, submitting it to a Global, messianic, propagandistic Agenda, and domestication (Freire, 2002) ⁽⁴⁾. This possible scenario imposes to recognize that "the abyssal line that divides the world between metropolitan sociability (and subjectivity) and colonial sociability (and subjectivity) prevails today as much as in the time of historical colonialism", [there being no] possibility of liberation while the line abyssal is not confronted." (Santos, 2018, p. 478) ⁽⁵⁾ [free translation].

In line with Santos (2018), we resort to Teodoro (2001) ⁽⁶⁾ and discuss the reconstitution of the State, the normalization of educational policy or the replacement of policy by planning in the path of a European summons, or even the international legitimation of a new mandate for education. In these discursive scenarios, which open space for multiple critical analyses, it is also considered that “the process of globalization loosens the territorial linkage of power. Transnational power formations, which appear as “quasi-states”, are not linked to any given territory. They are not telluric.” (Han, 2017, p. 107) (7) [free translation]. However, “power is centralizing” and “if its impulse towards the one establishes it as something absolute, then what subsists beside it, or the multiple, is perceived only as what has to be suppressed”. (Han, 2017, p. 108). ⁽⁷⁾ [free translation]. We are therefore faced with anti-dialogical processes, with cultural invasion, conquest and manipulation. (Freire, 2018) ⁽⁸⁾ [free translation].

Going into the specificity of the Dossier, it is intended to receive contributions that help us to analyze and critically reflect the positioning of educational systems in the ORs in local, regional, national and transnational education narratives, revealing identities, powers and challenges. The aim is not only to understand the logics of interest, conflict, power and negotiation in the educational policy arena in the ORs, but also to problematize conceptions of education, dialogicity and liberating practices. For this, the proposals to be submitted to this Call must meet the respective thematic axes of the Dossier, and the article suggestions may be associated with the following questions: What organizational models and analytical and comparative perspectives have been developed in the educational systems of the ORs?; What or which theoretical frameworks are dominant in the conception, development and implementation of models and practices of educational administration in the ORs?; How is the founded the management of the school curriculum in the ORs based on the ideological, global and local dimensions of educational policy? What narratives, identities and powers embody the political and historical framework of education in the ORs? What challenges are facing 21st century education in the ORs?

THEMATIC AREAS

1. Educational systems in the Outermost Regions of Europe
2. Models and practices of educational administration in the Outermost Regions: extensions and/or idiosyncrasies
3. The curriculum, the global and the local in the Outermost Regions
4. The political and historical framework of education in the Outermost Regions: narratives, identities and powers
5. The challenges of education in the Outermost Regions of Europe

LANGUAGES

Portuguese, Spanish, French, English

DEADLINES

Submission Dates - Until January 30, 2022

Valuation Dates - Until April 30, 2022

Publication dates - 1st half of 2022

Authors must submit a proposal between a minimum of 30,000 and a maximum of 40,000 characters (with spaces, including abstracts in the 4 languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French and English), graphics, tables, images, notes of end of text and references, these should not exceed 25.

All proposals will be submitted to the Editorial Committee of the journal and subject to “blind review”. However, the organizers reserve the right to make final decisions regarding publication. 7 scientific papers will be selected for the dossier.

Read the submission rules at: revista.ulusofona.pt/submissions

Submissions should be sent to:rle.educacao.ultraperiferias@gmail.com

^*(1)ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/pt/policy/themes/outermost-regions

^*(2)ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/european-education-area_pt

^*(3) Freire, P. (1997). Política e Educação. (3.ª ed.). São Paulo: Cortez.

^*(4) Freire, P. (2202). Extensão ou Comunicação? (12.ª ed.). São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra.

^*(5) Santos, B. S. (2018). O Fim do Império Cognitivo. A afirmação das epistemologias do Sul. Coimbra: Almedina

^*(6) Teodoro, A. (2001). A Construção Política da Educação. Estado, mudança social e políticas educativas no Portugal contemporâneo. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.

^*(7) Han, B-C. (2017). Sobre o Poder. Lisboa: Relógio D’Água.

^*(8) Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogia do Oprimido. Porto: Edições Afrontamento.