Suchergebnisse

Drawing from the capabilities approach (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2000) and reflecting on Fricker's (2007) epistemic (in)justice, this paper seeks to explain how a participatory oral history project enabled youth researchers in Palestine to increase their capabilities to participate in political and social life in their communities by fostering their attachment to the land and by increasing understanding of their cultural heritage. Due to the occupation, Palestinian youth researchers have been exposed to epistemic inequalities. They have been systematically prevented from exercising their political functionings; they cannot voice their ideas on freedom, heritage and land. Findings show that through participatory research, the youth researchers took an active role in their communities to cultivate their epistemic abilities to be the narrators of their own stories and to create public advocacy. Whilst acknowledging the intersectional power dynamics and oppression that govern their lives, the paper explores the possibility of participatory research in redressing epistemic injustices caused by structural inequalities and in disrupting colonial relations of domination. The research indicates that even in politically fragile contexts, participatory research can promote critical reflection, challenge the social imaginaries stigmatising the youth, and provide opportunities to develop political capabilities for social and public advocacy.

This research explores the dynamics, actors, and political authority through which early education policymaking is formulated and negotiated using a Gramscian perspective. Drawing on interviews with teachers, teacher trainers, and parents, we argue that the educational landscape in Turkey is driven by a prevailing neoconservative and hegemonic agenda and is mediated by a domestic history and politics that produce a monolithic understanding. We first present the political mediations that shape the interplay between the conservative ideology of the care and childcare market and then tease out the complexities of the top-down policymaking approach that leaves little room for deliberation with civil society and various educational stakeholders. We conclude the paper by discussing the initiatives that allow social access and opportunities in early education along with the implications of how and why 'early education policy' seems to be trapped between discourses of the raw childcare market and neoconservative gender essentialism.

This article discusses the changes in basic education in Turkey, with a particular focus on religious education and its ramifications for the education system. The latest education reform, 4+4+4 (or 4+), the largest education reform in recent Turkish history, has brought radical changes to the school system regarding religious education. For this research, journalists and teacher unionists were interviewed to investigate civil society's perspective on the reform. Several themes were extracted from the data analysis but this article focuses on one dominant theme, namely the rise of religiosity. We argue that the state and its private associations (i.e., media, unions, and political parties) are actively encouraging a process of Islamisation and a gradual but stronger emphasis on Islam in public sphere in order to consolidate its hegemonic dominance.