Teachers’ Cultural Maps: Asia as a “Tricky Sort of Subject Matter” in Curriculum Inquiry

Abstract

The refocussing of Australia–Asia relations is manifest in a combination of national policy moves in Australia. Parallel shifts have been made in Europe, the United States, Canada and New Zealand. In Australia, the curricular response to this shift has become known as “Asia literacy.” This study is drawn from a wider project that explores representations of Asia literacy in both espoused and enacted policy. Teachers in this study are welcoming of Asia literacy, however lack confidence in their ability to engage with it as “tricky sort of subject matter” that requires significant theoretical work to “know Asia,” and “Asian culture” in an “authentic” way. A seemingly insurmountable barrier is created by assumptions that knowledge of Asia can be discretely inserted into curriculum. Critical reflection on residual imperial notions that are evident in such assumptions can in turn open new possibilities to theorise curricular responses to Asia literacy.

Navigating Discourses of Cultural Literacy in Teacher Education

“…Keddie, Gowlett, Mills, Monk and Renshaw (2013, p. 17) argue that dominant discourses of critical and everyday multiculturalism take up forms of culturalism or cultural essentialism that attempt to "describe relations ….based on ascriptions of race, ethnicity and/or colour". In another analysis of policy and curriculum tensions, Salter (2014) discusses the tensions in enacting an Asia focused cultural education and highlights the agency of teachers in constructing culture as 'other' or 'different' rather than a search for meaning.…”

“…As Muller (2006, p. 15) contends "the globally, culturally literate citizen may come to a position of empathy and 'informed tentativeness' regarding cultural identity and cross cultural understanding where "to know the other, one must other the known". As much research (Banks & Banks, 2004;Smith, 2009;Gay, 2010;Keddie, Gowlett, Mills, Monk, & Renshaw, 2013;Lewthwaite & McMillan, 2010;Salter, 2014) argues, models of culturally 'responsive' education can take up forms of culturalism, that while they may be seen as progressive also reinforce fixed group identities and a sense that these cultural groupings can be 'known'. While our curriculum intent is to disrupt culturalism and promote an informed tentativeness, we are still bound by curriculum, policy and public discourses.…”

“…For example 'Intercultural Understanding' as a general capability and 'Engagement with Asia' may foster dualisms rather than complex situated notions of cultural practice (Keddie et al, 2013;Salter, 2014). Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives is also a cross curriculum priority, and like the Queensland government framework it adds in discrete knowledge.…”

A reconceptualisation of ‘knowing Asia’ in Australian education

“…(3) Policy in context 3 : Investigating how mediated representations are represented by those in contexts left to enact them; in this case, nine teachers were interviewed in order to gauge their representations of Asia literacy (Salter, 2014).…”

“…For teachers, epistemological struggles over an 'authenticity' discourse (Salter, 2014) demonstrate uncertainty around 'knowing Asia'. To claim to 'know Asia' in a definitive way is highly problematic (Williamson-Fien, 1994) and leaves teachers in a position 6 P. Salter where they acknowledge Asia as complex, but struggle in a 'stuck place' (Nakata, 2012) to find a way to move forward with this recognition.…”