Using the pluriverse concept to critique Eurocentrism in education

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that teachers need to interrogate and transform how Eurocentrism underpins educational practice. This paper argues that teachers can actively engage with decolonial frameworks and concepts to productively expose how Eurocentric categories of thought shape teaching practice and curriculum. We describe how six teachers "walked with" the decolonial concept of the pluriverse (a sense of multiple coexisting differences) during collaborative reflections about our diversity teaching of culturally safe healthcare. Our research processes drew on the principles of collaborative, reflective practice. We co-participated in conversations, which aimed to collectively explore how the pluriverse concept intersected with our teaching and undertook qualitative coanalysis of themes emerging across these dialogues. The paper outlines how employing the pluriverse concept as a companion to our reflective process enabled us to ask critical questions about Eurocentrism in our teaching practice and content. Our questioning, in turn, generated principles for embedding the pluriverse in the curriculum, pedagogical approaches, and teacher dispositions. The paper discusses what enables and hinders the pluriverse being embedded in curriculum materials and classroom activities and the limitations of our activities in relation to the broader project of decolonising pedagogy.

The role of the Africentric worldview in the Liberatory process

“…The findings of the study addressed a gap in the literature presented due to American educational system's foundation on a Eurocentric worldview that does not ascribe appropriate agency to African persons (McLeod et al, 2019 ). This blind spot in the educational system extends to adult education, a particularly troubling fact given the comprehensive and reflective nature of education for students who have already matured into adulthood.…”

“…These characteristics of the Eurocentric worldview, which evolved from a long philosophical tradition with roots in ancient Greece and Rome, are deeply ingrained throughout Western society and reflect a European historical context (Akpan and Odohoedi, 2016 ). The Eurocentric worldview is not, conceptually speaking, either right or wrong, but, rather, a perspective appropriate for Europeans and those of European descent (McLeod et al, 2019 ).…”

“…However, even as the nation reckons with systemic racism in its more tangible forms, systemic intellectual racism remains more challenging to address (Dei and Linton, 2019 ). In particular, systemic intellectual racism is a product of the American educational system's foundation on a Eurocentric worldview that does not ascribe appropriate agency to African persons (McLeod et al, 2019 ). This blind spot in the educational system extends to adult education, a particularly troubling fact given the comprehensive and reflective nature of education for students who have already matured into adulthood.…”

A systematic review of graduate training on cultural competence

“…Culture, however, has been defined in a variety of ways, oftentimes failing to account for the sociohistorical context and power structures that marginalized individuals must contend with and often bring into the clinical setting. Educational systems often reproduce colonial power structures and fail to include the voices and experiences of marginalized individuals necessary to provide culturally competent clinical care (McLeod et al, 2020). Some argue that clinical care of marginalized groups should include more than just an understanding that they hold distinct marginalized identities (Hansen et al, 2018).…”