‘#FactsMustFall’? – education in a post-truth, post-truthful world

Abstract

Taking its inspiration from the name of the recent '#FeesMustFall' movement on South African university campuses, this paper takes stock of the apparent disrepute into which truth, facts and also rationality have fallen in recent times. In the post-truth world, the blurring of borders between truth and deception, truthfulness and dishonesty, and non-fiction and fiction has become a habit -and also an educational challenge. I argue that truth matters, in education as elsewhere, and in ways not often acknowledged by constructivist, postmodernist and postcolonialist positions.'Imfihlakalo yasemhlabezi iqiniso. ' ('The truth is the world's secret. ' -Zulu proverb) Introduction: the decline of truthThe phrase '#FactsMustFall' has been inspired by the name of the recent '#FeesMustFall' movement on South African university campuses that was preceded by '#RhodesMustFall' . The association is significant for an additional reason, given this movement's ideological proximity to black consciousness and Afrocentrism, and its explicit endorsement of the Africanisation of higher education. Part of the latter is also a disavowal of 'Eurocentric logic' , 'Western rationality' and 'Northern epistemology' (see Seepe, passim 2004; De Sousa Santos, passim 2007; Cross and Ndofirepi, passim 2017).A further important inspiration for this paper has come, of course, from recent political events and their global impact: the stay-vs.-leave referendum in the UK, the US presidential election, the appointment of creationist Betsy DeVos as the US Education Secretary, Vladimir Putin's prevarications about the Russian arms build-up, not to mention developments in the Eastern Ukraine (e.g. the denial that there are any Russian troops there), Turkey (e.g. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decision to

‘Rigour’, ‘discipline’ and the ‘systematic’ in educational research – and why they matter

“…But then, if one opinion is as good as any other, you might as well make it up, so long as you can do so with sufficient brazen self confidence. (See, on this, Horsthemke’s paper in this special issue and Horsthemke, 2017. )…”

“…But then, if one opinion is as good as any other, you might as well make it up, so long as you can do so with sufficient brazen self confidence. (See, on this, Horsthemke's paper in this special issue and Horsthemke, 2017. ) Worse, from my point of view, 'post truth' politics seems to have gained legitimacy from an academic world in which social scientists in particular (and including educational researchers) themselves subscribe to a 'post truth' epistemology: 'there is no such thing as truth' is a warning I hear routinely at educational research conferences -and it is rarely contradicted.…”

“…and the respective emphasis on locality, subjectivity and standpoint perspectives – have contributed to the current climate in which truth, facts and rationality are treated with disdain. (Horsthenke, 2017: 274)…”

Traversing Pasifika education research in a post-truth era

“…Crucial to Keyes' argument regarding the genesis of post-truth is the refutation of the idea of 'a literal truth' present in modernist thinking and theorising (Keyes, 2004). The idea of the post-truth era has been influenced by postmodern, constructivist, and postcolonial theorising which emphasises locality and subject position rather than objective truths (Horsthemke, 2017;McIntyre, 2018). The term post-truth in a temporal sense suggests a movement away from truth as if the era of truth that once was, is no longer.…”

Disciplining thought: Between ideology and anything goes

“…Fetish or fundamental?’ (the products of which are collected in the present special issue), David Bridges draws attention to the ‘post truth’ politics that surrounds us now and provides a spirited and welcome defence against its influence in educational research (Bridges, 2017). He quotes approvingly Kai Horsthemke’s remark that ‘the current climate’ is one ‘in which truth, facts and rationality are treated with disdain’ (Horsthemke, 2017: 274), and he offers an account of the disciplines in which rigour is seen as a cardinal virtue in the upholding of commitment to truth.…”