PIAAC and the South – Is Southering the new Othering? Global Expansion of dominant Discourses on Adult Literacy

Abstract

Large-scale studies such as Programme for the international assessment of adult competencies (PIAAC) are currently the most influential variant of literacy research. PIAAC is undergoing a process of regional expansion towards countries located in the geographical south. Based on the finding that large-scale studies can create stereotypes about social groups, this contribution examines the extent to which this danger also exists with regard to countries and regions. For doing so we suggest the term southering. Southering brings together the discourses about the South with the concept of othering, introduced by Said (1978). The presentation of the results as tables and world maps can result in exposing countries of the South to a pronounced deficit perspective. The contribution does not pursue the goal of questioning the legitimacy of international studies. Rather, we would like to point out the necessity of exercising due care in the interpretation of corresponding study results.

Beyond Winners and Losers: Ranking Visualizations as Alignment Devices in Global Public Policy*

“…Arguably, the global "need" for quantification and performance measurement has never been as perceivably legitimate as it is since the introduction of the SDGs framework. Simultaneously, there has never been as much attention paid to how global performance measurement may be a form of "southering" (Grotlüschen & Buddeberg, 2020) that presents developing countries as regions of persistent deficit, under the surveillance of Western institutions through different forms of quantification (Arora, 2016).…”