Critical Intercultural Methodology for Research in Education: The north-south negotiation of epistemologies and methodologies in transnational research teams

Author(s):

Maria Manuela Guilherme(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments

Format:

Paper

Session Information

20 SES 08 A, Intercultural Methodology and Competencies

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

09:00-10:30

Room:

B322 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Carmen Carmona Rodriguez

Contribution

1. This paper attempts to respond to the following questions which were put forward with regard to the conference theme and considered pivotal: (a) What can we learn from our past to help build our future in these turbulent times? (b) Do the ways in which educational research has been used in practice and policy within Europe provide a good foundation for the future? (c) Or do we need to develop different strategies? And (d) Can research be seen as a means to propose radical alternatives? This paper will discuss the speaker’s research plan for a 3-year individual research project on multilingualism and interculturality in scientific collaborations between Europe and South America to be started in 2014. Its overall objectives are: (1) to map the general politics of ethnicity, language and culture in the context of some Latin American Higher Education institutions as compared to those in Europe; (2) to find out about language representation and policies in the Brazilian Academy; (3) to analyse how the three European languages most widely spoken in the world (English, Portuguese and Spanish) relate to each other in the Brazilian academy (Social Sciences and Life Sciences); (4) to critically examine the power relations between the above mentioned languages and, if any, the native/indigenous languages with institutional representation, both in the curriculum and in research; (5) to critically analyse the postcolonial tensions between different multinational and multicultural research team members; (6) to focus on (south-south, south-north, north-south) epistemological exchanges as well as on the corresponding institutional and personal relations. This project aims to research on the representation, positioning and workings of European ‘glocal’ languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish) and of indigenous languages as well as on the promotion of ‘intercultural responsibility’, both through the study of language and intercultural policies in the curricular management of a sample of Language/Culture Departments in Brazilian universities and of intercultural communication/interaction in a sample of research teams, both in the Social Sciences and in the Life Sciences, in the same universities. It aims to carry out document analysis and field research, through observation of meetings and focus group interviews, in Brazil and comparative research while back in Europe. The outcomes of the project will be analyzed and concluded in reference to the results of projects such as ERC-ALICE - on epistemological dialogue between Europe and the global South, and ALFA-RIAIPE3 – on the role of Latin American universities in promoting equity and social cohesion.

I am building upon the idea that there have been different knowledge producing frameworks in the world, profiting from and resisting to unequal relations of power, that correspond to different world and life visions (Mamani, 2010). Science and the academy have been reproducing a successful model, originated in European history and formalized during the Enlightenment, which has since then remained unquestioned and been exported through colonialism. A scientific model has been imposed through all kinds of evaluation procedures and strengthened by the globalized idea of an “entrepreneurial university” (Barnett, 2011), and the English language has been used as a powerful vehicle for this purpose (Guilherme, 2007). However, since the late sixties, academics have considered the incorporation of new possibilities in a movement that is expanding and globalizing (Santos, 2007a/b). In the meantime, academics involved in international research projects have attempted to translate and negotiate the complexity of meanings both for work concepts and for interaction principles. This proposal therefore aims to give voice to such practices and remaining difficulties at the grassroots level.

Method

1. The “north/south” metaphor shall be adopted here in order to represent different world visions, a variety of knowledge producing frameworks, as well as different perspectives about concepts such as multiculturalism, interculturality and the transcultural. There have been several Latin American authors developing this metaphor in a critique of Eurocentric imposed views, meaning that the south is also entitled to have a say in world politics and economy and, moreover, that its contribution is indispensable for the world’s ecological balance and, therefore, its sustainability (e.g. Estermann, 2010; Mignolo, 2000, 2011; Santos, 2009, 2010a/b). This paper will start by describing the epistemological perspective upon which it is based. 2. With the unfolding of colonialism and globalization, which have constituted different phases of a continuing process led by capitalism at an early and later stage, the North and the South have, to some extent, been de-territorialized, and therefore permeated every society in both hemispheres, although symbolic representations remain geographically situated (Canclini, 2005). Therefore, terms such as “multicultural”, “intercultural” and “transcultural” are now all becoming quite common around the world, both in the academy and in official policy documents. Each one of them is more or less familiar to each society, either with positive or negative connotations, depending on the academic traditions and the historical developments of each one of the terms in each context. This means that such terms are not universal signifiers either, although they are often paradoxically understood as such despite their own particular reference to difference. This paper will therefore discuss the different meanings of the concepts referred above. 3. Since the study is to be focused on the operationalisation of complex concepts, such as “intercultural responsibility”, knowledge translation, language dynamics, and “glocal languages”, it seems justified to use complementary sources of data that will enable the elucidation, as far as possible, both in breadth and in depth, of their operationalisation. The novel aspects of the methodology are: (1) the particular topic focus within the field – the understanding and implementation of complex concepts in multilingual and multicultural groups/teams; (2) the target group – the scientific community; (3) the approach – intercultural; (4) the process - the triangulation of data collected through different methodologies and assessment of instrument and data organization adequacy to the topic, in particular, and to the field, in general. This paper will promote a critical discussion about the optimal use of both quantitative and qualitative methods and their complementariness, in this particular field, which is increasingly demanding more expertise.

Expected Outcomes

- it will bring about theories about linguistic and intercultural communication, epistemological exchange in the contexts of transnational academic work, also due to the introduction and input on the definition of new concepts, such as those of ‘glocal language’ and ‘intercultural responsibility’; - it will focus on critical reflection combined with experiential learning and critical agency; - it will come to offer a new approach to language education; - it will examine the plurilingual and intercultural dynamics of multicultural group work in scientific ‘communities of practice’; - it will raise questions about the functioning of scientific communities, their knowledge production methods and principles in a globalizing, multilingual and multicultural world, namely: (a) Which are the main possibilities and challenges in epistemological exchange within and among multilingual and multicultural research groups? (b) Which are the main historical pressures to be overcome? (c) What initiatives can higher institutions take in order to make research international networking more effective? (d) In what directions should research in the field go?

References

Barnett, R. (2011) Being a University. London: Routledge. Canclini, G. N. (2005) Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for entering and leaving modernity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Estermann, J. (2010) Interculturalidad: Vivir la diversidade. La Paz: ISEAT. Guilherme, M. (2007) English as a global language and education for cosmopolitan citizenship. In Language and Intercultural Communication, 7:1, 72-79 Mamani, F. H. (2010) Vivir Bien/Buen Vivir: Filosofia, políticas, estratégias y experiencias regionales. La Paz: Bolívia. Mignolo, W. D. (2000) Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Mignolo, W. D. (2011) The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global futures, decolonial options. Durham: Duke University Press. Santos, B. S. (orgs.) (2007a), Another Knowledge is Possible. Beyond Northern Epistemologies. Londres: Verso. Santos, B. S. (orgs.) (2007b). Cognitive Justice in a Global World: Prudent Knowledge for a Decent Life. Lanham: Lexington. Santos, B. S. (2009) Una epistemología del Sur: la reinvención del conocimiento y la emancipación social. México: CLACSO & Siglo XXI. Santos, B. S. (2010a) Descolonizar el saber, reinventar el poder. Montevideo: Ediciones Trilce. Santos, B. S. (2010b) Refundación del Estado en América Latina. Perspectivas desde una epistemología del Sur. Lima: Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Sociedad.

Author Information

Maria Manuela Guilherme (presenting / submitting)

Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

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