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- Convenors:
-
Aditi Arur
(Christ University)
Joan DeJaeghere (University of Minnesota)
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- Chair:
-
Aditi Arur
(Christ University)
- Discussants:
-
Anita Rao Mysore
(CHRIST (Deemed to be University))
Mikateko Mathebula (University of the Free State)
Rituparna Chakraborty (CHRIST University)
- Format:
- Thematic Panel
- Theme:
- Equity and social inclusion
Short Abstract:
This panel is part of a two-part series that brings together scholars from different disciplinary perspectives and locations to extend the use of a capabilities approach in examining intersectional inequities in secondary and tertiary education.
Long Abstract:
This panel is part of a two-part series that brings together scholars from different disciplinary perspectives and locations to extend the use of a capabilities approach to examine intersectional inequities in secondary and tertiary education.
A capability approach has been used extensively in education (DeJaeghere & Walker, 2021) and a considerable amount of this research takes an intersectional approach, particularly examining racial, poverty and gendered inequities (Balsera, 2014; Mkwananzi, 2019). Intersectionality is foundational to a CA (Robeyns, 2017; 2021), yet the use of intersectional approaches in different contexts reveals both similar and different conditions that foster equity and wellbeing. The use of intersectional approaches benefit from drawing on disciplinary, theoretical and methodological pluralism. The papers in these panels aim to engage with pluralism and bridge different disciplinary perspectives and ways of knowing that can push the uses of a capabilities approach in new ways in educational research.
Much research using a CA in education is conducted by educators using qualitative approaches, such as narrative, participatory, and ethnographic approaches to show how aspirations and agency matter in achieving wellbeing (Mkwananzi, 2019; Owens et al., 2022; Walker & Mathebula, 2020). At the same time, knowledge produced in the disciplines/fields of economics, health, development studies, and psychology have focused on quantitative measures of equity and wellbeing (Alkire, 2008; Unterhalter et al., 2022; White et al. 2016), and social structures that can inhibit them. By drawing on different disciplines and ways of knowing, we aim to deepen our understanding of the complex and intersectional ways that aspirations, agency, equity and wellbeing are connected.
Inequities in education are complex, dynamic, and intersecting and occur at the level of systems and structures (e.g. lack of quality educational resources or policies that do not equitably distribute resources); through discourses of policy and curriculum (e.g., how students are represented in racialized, gendered or other ways), and through interpersonal interactions (teachers’ pedagogy and students’ interactions) (Tikly & Barrett, 2011; Unterhalter et al, 2022). Furthermore, the complexities of intersecting inequities within education are further affected by systems (policies and practices) outside education, including health and welfare (e.g., disability policies), social (family, community), economic (employment), and political (representation in policymaking). Integrating interdisciplinary perspectives and different ways of knowing can help advance research and practice on advancing equity in and through education.
In this second panel, the papers focus on capabilities and wellbeing in and through higher education, using participatory, storytelling and reflexive approaches. These papers also situate knowledge production and education more broadly within local values and perspectives.
The first paper describes how higher education for rural youth in South Africa is mobilized for sustainable livelihoods in rural communities. Importantly, the analysis considers how gender, race, socio-economic conditions and geography interact and affect young people’s opportunity sets and agency.
The second paper uses storytelling as a pedagogical tool to disrupt caste and socio-economic hierarchies in higher education classrooms. These digital storytelling practices also focused on regional perspectives and knowledge from minoritized people within India. The study, using quantitative and qualitative data, shows how storytelling as a pedagogy can be useful to shift power dynamics in the classroom and develop equitable perspectives.
The third paper uses autoethnographic methods by a teacher educator to examine how pedagogical practices in a course on gender and education can foster capabilities among students and in turn foster greater equity in teaching and learning practices among educators.
Together these papers offer innovative methodological approaches to examine how capabilities developed through higher education can create greater equity and wellbeing for individuals and society.
References
Alkire, S. (2008). Concepts and measures of agency. Working Paper. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
Balsera, M. R. (2014). Young migrants’ aspirations, expectations and perspectives of well-being investigated using biographical narratives, the capability approach and intersectionality.
DeJaeghere, J. and Walker, M. (2021). The capability approach. In T. Jules, R. Shields, and M. Thomas (Eds.) Bloomsbury Handbook of Theory in Comparative and International Education, (pp. 461-474). Bloomsbury.
Mkwananzi, F., (2019). An Intersectional Analysis of Capabilities, Conversion Factors and Aspirations. Higher Education, Youth and Migration in Contexts of Disadvantage: Understanding Aspirations and Capabilities, 207-229.
Owens, J., Entwistle, V. A., Craven, L. K., & Conradie, I. (2022). Understanding and investigating relationality in the capability approach. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 52(1), 86-104.
Robeyns, I. (2021). The capability approach. In The Routledge handbook of feminist economics (pp. 72-80). Routledge.
Tikly, L., & Barrett, A. M. (2011). Social justice, capabilities and the quality of education in low income countries. International journal of educational development, 31(1), 3-14.
Unterhalter, E., Longlands, H., & Peppin Vaughan, R. (2022). Gender and intersecting inequalities in education: Reflections on a framework for measurement. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 23(4), 509-538.
Walker, M., & Mathebula, M. (2020). A participatory photovoice project: Towards capability expansion of ‘invisible’students in South Africa. Participatory research, capabilities and epistemic justice: A transformative agenda for higher education, 189-213.
White, R. G., Imperiale, M. G., & Perera, E. (2016). The Capabilities Approach: Fostering contexts for enhancing mental health and wellbeing across the globe. Globalization and health, 12(1), 1-10.
Accepted papers:
Paper short abstract:
This paper expands the tapestry of capabilities literature that explores diverse ways in which gender and education intersect with other conversion factors like race, ethnicity, socio-economic class and material resources, place and space (see DeJaeghere, 2018; Cin, 2017; Unterhalter, 2012).
Paper long abstract:
There is rich literature on rural youth experiences in South African higher education (Agumba, Simpson & Ndofirepi, 2023; Timmis et. al, 2022; Mgqwashu et al., 2020; Walker & Mathebula, 2020; Timmis et. al, 2019). This literature describes how students from rural backgrounds interact with and are shaped by urban higher education, painting vivid pictures of what these journeys look like, including the complex challenges rural youth face to succeed at university. However, little is presented in this literature about how the lives of rural youth continue to unfold after university, or how this unfolding is affected by gender and geography.
This paper presents narratives that were constructed from qualitative data collected over three years (2021-2023) through a series of annual life history interviews, focus group discussions and storytelling workshops with the same group of 34 graduates (24 men, ten women) who come from rural villages and towns in South Africa. The narratives presented focus on what life looks like for the youth – describing the lives they can actually lead (Sen 1999) – and the everyday realities of navigating life after university. These narratives foreground how the youth understand and describe their own situations and highlight important commonalities, whilst considering how gender and socio-spatial dynamics influence the achievement of valued capabilities.
Specifically, the paper describes the extent to which university education has broadened graduate capability sets to enable their functioning as agents of transformation in rural communities. Importantly, transformation is conceptualised in capabilities terms and situated within discussions about various dimensions of justice (Sen, 2009) - as opposed to discussions about modernisation (which encourage rural-to-urban migration and/or misrepresent rural identities in sub-Saharan Africa; see Chigbu, 2013). Instead, the concern with transformation from a capabilities standpoint focuses on achievable ways to improve rural conditions by increasing the set of valued opportunities that are effectively available for individuals and collectives to make living in rural areas more sustainable (Chigbu, 2015). The paper thus contributes to discussions on gender justice which from a capabilities perspective, can only be achieved if we examine and remove injustices that leave women with unreasonably limited opportunities or choices in life (Nussbaum, 2002; 2000). The paper simultaneously contributes discussions on spatial justice (Soja, 2010), which again through a capabilities lens, can only be reached if we identify and remove socio-spatial injustices that leave rural communities with limited opportunities or choices in life.
Paper short abstract:
This pedagogical intervention study involving 75 students, used alternative-position digital storytelling as a critical pedagogy in Indian media psychology classroom. The study focussed on developing a sense of agency and regional relatability among participants and questioned 'deficiency' model.
Paper long abstract:
Hierarchical dynamics in traditional psychology classrooms come from two areas. The first deals with the educator-learner hierarchy, and the second is where a ‘deficiency approach’ is taken to shape the discourse of pathological development instead of a ‘capability approach’. Importance of using the capability lens in education was emphasized by scholars extensively (DeJaeghere & Walker, 2021). Sen (1989, cited in Hattaka & De, 2011) explained the need to focus on enhancing people's real freedoms, subjective aspirations, and a sense of agency.
Resonance (Gerbner, 1960, cited in Mosharafa, 2015), i.e. close reflection of real-world phenomena, if properly implemented, can become a tool for enabling subjective aspirations among learners. Narasimha (1996) described the need for resonance in the Indian education system, through tailoring traditional pedagogies to cater to specific socio-cultural needs. Digital storytelling capitalizes on the power of narrative to engage students, foster critical thinking, and enhance knowledge retention (Pratt, 2019), and consequently fostering a sense of intellectual agency among learners.
This research explored the potential of digital storytelling as a critical pedagogy while emphasizing the significance of alternative-position storytelling in media psychology classrooms in India. The focus was on bringing out the regional narratives and integrating them into the larger discourse of media psychology pedagogy. Following Nussbaum’s (1998, cited in Von Wright, 2002) framework of ‘narrative imagination’, higher education needs to develop critical thinking skills among learners, so that they can take up others’ perspectives neutrally. This can be considered a capability in making them truly ‘democratic cultivated citizens’. Alternative- digital storytelling, as a form of regional storytelling, has the structure and possibility of nurturing this capability of ‘narrative imagination’. This study aimed to explore whether alternative digital storytelling could be used to shift the dynamics in the classroom and give voice to individuals who apparently do not hold power positions. Using a pedagogical intervention study design, we delved into the importance of telling regional narratives, minority narratives and non-mainstream media narratives in a classroom of 75 students. Findings showed that the media psychology course students realized the shift of dynamics, developed more equitable perspectives regarding the creation and influence of media content and found a sense of agency and relatability to regional representations. Learners extensively questioned and discussed the need for a capability approach in analysing pathologies, where subjective aspirations and well-being were redefined, and the deficiency lens was deconstructed.
Keywords: Classroom Equity, Alternative Digital Storytelling, Deconstruction, Equitable Education
Paper short abstract:
I will share my reflections facilitating the course, "Gender, School, and Society," to preservice teachers in southern India, using an autoethnographic narrative approach, and with the Capabilities Approach as the framework.
Paper long abstract:
In a country as diverse as India, with pronounced gender, region, religion, caste, and several other intersectional diversities, a greater number of PK-12 learners are enrolled in rural areas than in urban areas, and in public schools than in private schools. Teacher Education Programs must prepare preservice teachers, who are as diverse as the nation’s PK-12 learners for teaching for equity and inclusion.
In my paper, I will share my reflections facilitating the course, "Gender, School, and Society," to preservice teachers at a private Catholic university, in a cosmopolitan city in southern India, using an autoethnographic narrative approach, with the Capabilities Approach as the framework. In my class, on the continuum of gender-sensitive preservice teachers, on one end are those who have egalitarian views about the genders, who use transformative teaching practices, and are on the threshold of taking on a social action approach (Banks, 2016) for gender equitable policies; at the opposite end of the spectrum are those preservice teachers who have strong views about male superiority, male physical prowess, and who question gender equality; and, in between are those who unquestioningly practice patriarchy. Thus, there seems to be a danger that teachers might continue to reinforce social inequalities (Jeffrey et al., 2003), including gender, among PK-12 learners and in society. There is a need for PK-12 teachers who use their agency in positive ways to foster the capabilities and agency (Sen, 2000) of the marginalized or oppressed genders in their classrooms. DeJaeghere’s (2019) Capabilities Approach framework looks promising for the Global South: preservice teachers must be led to recognize their agency; that educational practices can develop capabilities of recognition as well as of imagining alternative futures; transcending the focus from the individual and from being aware of systemic, unjust social structures to making social changes.
In terms of the conference theme, with respect to issues of gender: there is a crisis in society, and apparently in some of my post-pandemic generation of university students and in their PK-12 school learners; co-existing capabilities in society and in my students, sustain our motivation to keep navigating the course on gender; and, as a teacher educator, I commit to the cause of ensuring educational equity to all genders, and wish that all my preservice teachers would commit themselves as well to bringing educational, including gender equity to their PK-12 learners.