Making the invisible, visible: challenging the knowledge structures inherent in International Relations Theory in order to create knowledge plural curricula

Abstract

• Este é um artigo publicado em acesso aberto e distribuído sob os termos da Licença de Atribuição Creative Commons, que permite uso irrestrito, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, desde que o autor e a fonte originais sejam creditados. AbstractThis article problematizes the lack of plurality of knowledges in International Relations theory curricula. The increase in knowledges and scholarship from the South has not seemingly filtered into International Relations theory curricula significantly. Thus Western knowledges still dominates the narrative. It investigates how knowledge structures inherent in the discipline coupled with Western centric ontology and epistemology function to exclude or marginalize knowledge that does not conform to specific criteria. I demonstrate how the third year IR theory curriculum at Wits University, has engaged with discipline's knowledge structures as well as its ontology and epistemology to develop a knowledge plural curricula. Introduction T he aim of this paper is to identify, analyse, and reflect on the complex range of ideas, interests, structures, and decisions that must be navigated in order to develop and deliver a coherent knowledge-plural International Relations (IR) theory curriculum at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). It is particularly aimed at investigating how the knowledge structures embedded in the field of IR theory have privileged a very exclusive narrative as to what constitutes "valid knowledge". These mechanisms operate to elevate knowledge emanating from the West over that of the South. Consequently, Western derived knowledge features almost exclusively in IR theory curricula. One only has to consult the numerous IR theory textbooks published for this to become evident. The problem is not the inclusion of Western centric IR

Meteorological Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Prediction of Rainfall in the Chimanimani District of Zimbabwe and Potential for Community Disaster Preparedness

“…In other words, the discussion is a confluence of three theories. The theories are realism, decoloniality and knowledge-plurality and these have been argued extensively elsewhere (Guzzini, 2017;Matos-Ala, 2018;Ndlovu-Gatshen, 2015). Realism is discussed in Section 3 of this paper as an underpinning theoretical discourse for this paper, while the other two are briefly discussed here.…”

“…It is noted, at least in the literature reviewed, that realism theory has not been explored and applied in the analysis, understanding and documentation of meteorological IKS in communities. Thus, realism theory has been used in this paper as an attempt to advance the already ongoing postulations that indigenous knowledge systems are socio-cultural, geographically rooted, evolving and ontologically juxtaposed (Fonda, 2011;Kaya & Seleti, 2013;Matos-Ala, 2018;Muyambo & Maposa, 2014;Rim-Rukeh, Irerhievwie, & AgbozuI., 2015, Sithole, 2020. The decision for application of realism theory in this paper lies in the fact that reality in the Chimanimani District may not be universally applied in other communities in Zimbabwe or the world at large.…”

“…This situation was borne out of the Western dominant-superiority attitude which largely accounted for imposition of their own knowledge systems to the local citizens (Logan, 2008). Almost without exception, the imposition was made through the implementation of Western based education systems in the colonies with today's resultant effect of westernisation of knowledge and development (Mapara, 2009;Matos-Ala, 2018). Essentially, the paper brings to the fore the little known meteorological indigenous knowledge systems with a focus on three communities of Chimanimani District.…”

Coming of age within ‘implosion’

“…This does not mean excluding traditional paradigms from syllabi, but exploring how we might question their dominance without inadvertently reifying it -asking how we put these paradigms into conversation with other ways of making sense of the world(s) that lay before us and our students. United in the understanding that curricula are not passive, neutral spaces, 77 conversations about how this may be done are already underway, for example, with the publication of new textbooks, 78 proposals to structure modules around issues and themes, 79 and considerations of how creating a 'plurality of knowledges' within curricula can be achieved. 80 These discussions are a vital component of imagining a post-implosion IR, and they fill us with hope of the possibility of a discipline that introduces and opens up multiple ways of encountering and interacting with the world to students.…”

Mapping practices and spatiality in IR knowledge production: from detachment to emancipation

“…32 Students were receptive when convenors localised theoretical applicability, introduced local empirical examples and diversified the syllabus. 33 This highlights the ways in which module convenors are key gatekeepers of knowledge transmission and curriculum design, as well as how the ‘hidden curriculum’ operates within the formal curriculum (De Matos-Ala, 2017; Killick, 2016).…”