Education, development and decolonization provides a historical, theoretical and practical inter-disciplinary analysis of the contemporary trajectory of colonization (including internal colonization) through the linked projects of eurocentric development, globalization and the uncritical adoption of colonial modes of education and learning in schools, communities, social movements and the “progressive” church in Asia, Africa and the Americas.

This is the first book to cover existing debates on decolonising and developmental social work whilst equipping readers with the understanding of how to translate the idea of decolonisation of social work into practice. Using new empirical data and an extensive detail of social, cultural, and political dimensions of Nepal, the author proposes a new model of ‘decolonised and developmental social work’ that can be applicable to a wide range of countries and cultures. By using interviews with Nepali social workers, this text goes beyond mere theoretical approaches and uniquely positions itself in a way that embraces rigorous bottom-up, grounded theory method. It will also further ongoing debates on globalisation-localisation, universalisation-contextualisation, outsider-insider perspectives, neoliberal-rights and justice oriented social work, and above all, colonisation-decolonisation of social work knowledge and practice. It also promotes solidarity of, and the struggle for, progress for those in the margins of Western social work and development narrative through an emerging theory-praxis of decolonised and developmental social work. Decolonised and Developmental Social Work is essential reading for students, academics, and researchers of social work and development studies, as well as those striving for a decolonial worldview.

The word Wasáse is the Kanienkeha (Mohawk) word for the ancient war dance ceremony of unity, strength, and commitment to action. The author notes, "This book traces the journey of those Indigenous people who have found a way to transcend the colonial identities which are the legacy of our history and live as Onkwehonwe, original people. It is dialogue and reflection on the process of transcending colonialism in a personal and collective sense: making meaningful change in our lives and transforming society by recreating our personalities, regenerating our cultures, and surging against forces that keep us bound to our colonial past."

Most democratic theorists have taken Western political traditions as their primary point of reference, although the growing field of comparative political theory has shifted this focus. In Decolonizing Democracy, comparative theorist Christine Keating interprets the formation of Indian democracy as a progressive example of a “postcolonial social contract.” In doing so, she highlights the significance of reconfigurations of democracy in postcolonial polities like India and sheds new light on the social contract, a central concept within democratic theory from Locke to Rawls and beyond. Keating’s analysis builds on the literature developed by feminists like Carole Pateman and critical race theorists like Charles Mills that examines the social contract’s egalitarian potential. By analyzing the ways in which the framers of the Indian constitution sought to address injustices of gender, race, religion, and caste, as well as present-day struggles over women’s legal and political status, Keating demonstrates that democracy’s social contract continues to be challenged and reworked in innovative and potentially more just ways.

This open access edited volume offers an analysis of the entangled histories of education and development in twentieth-century Africa. It deals with the plurality of actors that competed and collaborated to formulate educational and developmental paradigms and projects: debating their utility and purpose, pondering their necessity and risk, and evaluating their intended and unintended consequences in colonial and postcolonial moments. Since the late nineteenth century, the “educability” of the native was the subject of several debates and experiments: numerous voices, arguments, and agendas emerged, involving multiple institutions and experts, governmental and non-governmental, religious and laic, operating from the corridors of international organizations to the towns and rural villages of Africa. This plurality of expressions of political, social, cultural, and economic imagination of education and development is at the core of this collective work.