| Title | Chapter 2: The discreditation of the notion of development and of modernisation theory |
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| Contributor | Charl C Wolhuter(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2024.BK434.02 |
| Landing page | https://books.aosis.co.za/index.php/ob/catalog/book/434 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Charl C Wolhuter 2024. Licensee: AOSIS (Pty) Ltd. The moral right of the author has been asserted. |
| Publisher | AOSIS |
| Long abstract | In the decades after the Second World War, development and modernisation had been held forth as the big need for nations of the Global South. In this exercise of development and modernisation, education was given a pivotal role. However, it was not long before both development and modernisation became widely discredited in the comparative and international education scholarly community. The relation between education and development or modernisation has also come to be understood as being much more complicated than originally proclaimed by development or modernisation theorists. A central part of the criticism against both the notion of development and modernisation theory is that these are based on the Western experience and, therefore, biased. From the basic theoretical foundations of comparative and international education, it can be accepted – indeed, it sounds logical –that the Western experience of development and modernisation cannot be transplanted to the extra-Western world; that is, the Global South. On the other hand, unconsidered experimentation with alternatives has no proud record to boast. The assignment of comparative and international education scholars in the coming decades is to assist and guide the crafting of Global South context-fitting alternatives to development and modernisation. The Creed of Human Rights and CarlosTorres’ Global Commons are laid down as parameters for the development of such alternatives. |
| Print length | 19 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
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Charl C Wolhuter studied at the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the University of South Africa and Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) in comparative education at Stellenbosch University. He was a junior lecturer in history of education and comparative education at the University of Pretoria and a senior lecturer in history of education and comparative education at the University of Zululand. Currently, he is a comparative and international education professor at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University, South Africa. He has held visiting professorships at, among others, Brock University, Canada; Driestar Pedagogical University, the Netherlands; the University of Crete, Greece; Canterbury Christ University, United Kingdom; the University of Joensuu, Finland; the University of Queensland, Australia; the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy; Mataj Bel University, Slovakia; Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, Ukraine; University of Zhengzhou, China; the University of Namibia, Namibia; the University of the Western Cape, SouthAfrica; the Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen, Germany; the University of Latvia, Latvia; the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; the University of Tarapaca, Chile; and San Martín University, Argentina. He is the author of various books and articles on the history of education and comparative education. He is also the assistant editor of the journal Comparative Education Review.