Winter, C. orcid.org/0000-0001-8622-0642, Kasuji, S., Poh, C. et al. (2 more authors) (2024) Critiquing ‘powerful knowledge’ in school geography through a decolonial lens. Geography, 109 (2). pp. 67-78. ISSN 0016-7487
Abstract
The concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ has risen to prominence in the school curriculum in England, taking on a life both in educational policy and in the work of schools, teachers, teacher educators and students. This article conducts a decolonial critique of ‘powerful knowledge’ in school geography. We begin by reviewing research about ‘powerful knowledge’ in geography education before turning to its interpretation in education policy and curriculum framings. We then offer our decolonial critique. We argue that the concept adopts reductive binary frames and neglects the racialising politics of geographical knowledge production. In doing so, ‘powerful knowledge’ marginalises the everyday knowledge of people globally and glosses over their ‘hidden’ geographies and histories in ways that sustain racialised global inequalities. We conclude by explaining the reasons for the emergence of ‘powerful knowledge’ and arguing for its demise on account of lack of analytical rigour and inattentiveness to social justice.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Geography is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | powerful knowledge; school geography; justice; curriculum; decoloniality |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2024 07:23 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jun 2024 07:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informa UK Limited |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/00167487.2024.2351770 |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:213442 |
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