Multiculturalism, Community Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy (1)

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Multiculturalism , Community Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy :

South Asian Perspective

May , 14, 2012 ,Han yang UniversitySeoul,South Korea



There is no human activity from which every form of

intellectual participationcan be excluded

Antonio Gramsci



Is it not true that the

literates areunknown about the

complete

truth of human knowledge?

Is it not true that ourknowledge

is incomplete with out





Indian culture is the constituent of manyraces, languages and religions.

The caste system in Indian society has

created many distinct identities amongdifferent social groups.

People maintain their caste symbols

through their own caste myth, epics,customs and folklore.

Therefore culture in India is diverse and

complex in its structure and function



Rationalized Mother tongues 1576Other Mother tongues 1796

Languages 122

Scheduled languages 22



India constitute 16 % of worldpopulation

The Census of India (1961) recorded 1652

mother tongues with a much largernumber of dialects which have beenclassified into 300 to 400 majorlanguages

But only 22 of these are “official”languages (Constitution of India) alongwith

English (the associate official



22 major languages ( 21 modern Indian

languages and Sanskrit as classicallanguage)

184 languages with having more than

10,000 popn( 1991) 24 scripts used for writing Indianlanguages:

11 major scripts are used to write themajor languages;

13 minor scripts are used for writing someminor and tribal languages.

North East India, have chosen Roman script.



• Mostly oral in nature

• Functional in domestic and communitydomain

• Expressed in their own language

• Two context of oral tradition

– Sacred ( mythic/ritualistic)– Entertainment ( songs/tales/proverbs /

epics etc)





623 tribal communities, with a totalpopulation of 84.3 million.

This constitutes 8.2% of the totalpopulation (1028.6 million) (Census of India, 2001).

The majority of these 80 million people

live in rural, often remote, andeconomically underdeveloped areas.



1 .Urban – pura-Royal- 2.written –

3.power

4.sound economy5.mobility –

6. rapid change-

7.Language -Sanskrit

8.Upper caste /class

scripted knowledge

1.Rural- Palli –people–

2.oral

3.subjugation 4.poor economy – 5.static – 6. less change

7.Language –regional / local,ethnic minoritylanguages

8. experiential /oralknowledge



Cycle of Oral , written and oral-and – live performance

Rich experiential knowledge in

practice High philosophy of culture where

life is

transcendental

Adaptability of new with oldand

Coexistence of ast and resent



• Children's song

• Lullabies, play song, labour song, forestsongs

• Ritual songs , love songs,• songs in social and

• religious ceremony

• Prose and Poetry Narratives :• Tales, legends and myths

• Epics/caste genealogies

•

Proverbs and sayings



• An integrated worldview where man,

nature and spirit are inseparable• They form the epistemic world

associating the visible with theinvisibles

• Life and plant are

interchangeable( reflected in folktalesand myths)• Belief on life after death(Duma)

underworld and rebirth of ancestor( past connected to the



Dance and music Art and craft

Weaving clothes,

beads and making

ornaments Play and group dance



RURAL TECHNOLOGY

MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD

•

Caging the tiger/ fishing/• • Catching the• animals/birds and• hunting• • Processing the forest• products• • Melting the iron/•

preparation of liquor• • Using herbal medicine



Village as a large family

Village headman as the organizer

Village priest as the protector of thesubjects

Village shaman as the mediator of the

Goddess and the human being Customary law



Marginalized are secluded from thesacred centers

They live in a secluded place

Visible social barrier ( well, tank,temple)

Traditional culture has perpetuated thisin

the society

This inequalities has to be broken by



Folklore has the roots of social justice

Therefore it is created by those whoare marginalized and the oppressor s

It believes in humanization( reflectedin folk tales ethics and morals)

It is a shared knowledge

It is intergenerationally transmittedthrough collective memory



From

Colonial to Democratic MulticulturalEducation



Current education represents the colonialwestern model.

Those who are educated in this system are

also the victim of “Native Colonialism”Due to colonialism, war and authoritarianism,

many local cultures have been eroded andthus

the knowledge system of the country has beendestroyed by the outsiders.

• You are a human ,I am a human why do you

threaten me ?( Kirpi Melaka –a nonliterate girl

from Kondh tribe) She has not studied in any



• Dream

• • Basic Education

• • Vocational skill

• • Spiritual andmoral

• education

• Self sufficient• • Head, hand and

• heart

•

Village self rule

• Reality

• • Much emphasis on

• Higher education

• • Reading andwriting

• skill

• • No vocational skill• • Head only, no

hand,

•

no heart



For us• Village is college• Society is university

• A farmer is a professor of agriculture• An old woman is a store house of

knowledge

But the gap is that• Our college could not represent the

villages• Our University could not meet the social

needs

of the society.



1.The world is swiftly changing towardsGlobalization

2. Three is a need to counteract the deepening

social inequalities and increasingmarginalization and violence.

3. Need to recognize that diversities between

individual and communities is a valuableresources that is different from socialinequality



• 4.Need to educate individuals for a bettercitizen

• 5.Addressing increasing broaderspectrum

of issues

• 6. Co existence of advantages and

disadvantages resulting from the impact



• For Paulo Freire Education means• • A critical understanding of reality• • Making a commitment to Utopia and• changing reality• • Training those who will make change• • Dialogue



Focus on the relationship amongculture ,power and domination

Culture has to be viewed as a domainof struggle where the production andtransmission of knowledge is always acontested process ( Joe Kincheloe)



Do we know that these colonial mindset ..

Influence the school ?

Curriculum and content ?

Teachers attitude ?

School management ? Classroom behaviours ?

Learning of children ?

if this is so , how can we get



• Ensures ethnic identity• Explores local knowledge that is unwritten• Unravel the secrets of the universe•

Maintain bio diversities for a sustainabledevelopment

• Create a world of shared understanding of life

by mutual respect and togetherness• Higher human values like gender equity,

community living, customary law, integratedworldview, maintain natural law, respectindividual freedom



Study coexistence of races, languagesand values due to Inter-state migrationsuggest solution for social

harmony,influence educational policyEco pedagogy by accepting the

indigenous knowledge , and fighting

global disaster Human Rights

Peace and conflict resolution

E ualit of o ortunit b ensurin



Believe that only objective knowledgegiven in the classroom through curriculumis not enough

Students are subjects and cannot be theobject of learning

active participation of teachers and

students can only make learningmeaningful

teachers should be ready to learn from thelearners and end the hierarchy, andestablish mutual learnin rocess



• Teacher is a researcher of his ownschool and community environment

• No school is possible without a

community• community’s culture matter in

student centered pedagogy•

Learning is a joint productive activity• Community has a lot to contribute in

connecting re al world of the childrenwith the curricular learning.



The teachers saysSituation - 1

This children don’t know the book language

.How can I teach them ? Situation – 2

I don’t know the language of the children . Howcan they learn ? Am I really capable to teach

them ? Now..If the children don’t know the school

language , are they responsible or the schoolis responsible?



Do the state curriculum and text booksresponsive to the educational needs of tribal children?

Does the teacher training module containtribal education as the special focus?Howmany sessions for tribal education in themodule)

What are the training needs of tribal areateachers?

What are the learning needs of tribalchildren?

What are the hopes and fears of children



• Do the teachers have training onimportance of mother tongue in earlyprimary classes?

•Do the teachers have training on

acquisition of second language acquisitionskill?

• Do the attitude and behavior of teachers

affect the schooling of tribal children? • Do our teacher- training Institutes have

adequate academic facilities to impart tribal

education below the district level?



Am I really powerful enough to addressthe tribal children in the classroom, if Idon’t know the language of the children?

Why the tribal children are non responsive,

in spite of my efforts?Is the training which is imparted is

sufficient or suitable to me to make thetribal children effective and responsive inthe tribal area schools?Knowingly or unknowingly, do mybehaviour, language hurts the children, anddiscourage them to come to school?



As a teacher do I know the socio-economic and cultural background of thestudents?

Am I concerned with the community as apart of knowledge and resource provider? As a teachers how do I connect me with

the system , whether as a passive

teaching machine or an active thinker of the politics of education.

Is the current curriculum help to meetthe basic needs of the most marginalizedperson of the village where I teach ?



That starts from the situation of the tribalculture; connected to life experience

Strengthening self esteem and expanding

the existing knowledge and skill system of the community/ learners

Creating a community based pedagogy

Practical use of knowledge

Devising an interactive and reflexivelearning teaching process by the teachers



It is not a good enough explanation tosay that

the decisions were taken at the state

level.

If we are to ensure participation of children of

all groups in our secular education,, wewill have

to discuss our curricular choices with



bottom up approach - student andcommunity must understand the type of education they require to meet theirrealities of life.

State ideology must be democratic andshould not consider teachers andstudents as the objects of learning and

finishing the school syllabus. schools should be made free for

innovation and multiple experimentationsto meet the context sensitive issues of

multiculturalism.



Teachers have to take part in thecritical political discourse to restoredemocracy and not just domesticate

the given knowledge of the text bookto the students considering them asthe objects of learning . Students are

intellectuals and they equally sharethe knowledge while learning andteaching



Learning should be a joint productiveactivity

It should be meaningful

It should be connected to the realitiesof life

It should eliminate discrimination byrespecting the students irrespective of race, gender, religion and language

It should be the blend of theory andpractice



Asian world is still not isolated themind from the matter. Sacred trees arestill in some where in South Korea andChina and India and Thailand.

We are not detahced from the natureand our environment . Ourenvironment is simply not the objects

but it is the bearer of knowledge for us



One faith : We belong to the earth

Another faith : The earth belong to us.

We cannot create another earth at thecost of our resources,

we cannot create unrest in the name of power game,

we must foster the sustainable worldin peace and mutual harmony.



If I have to search the South Korean Knowledgesystem where from should I get it ?

From the written canons?

From the existing community knowledge that isunwritten ?

From the urban western educated intellectuals

From the socio- historical processes in whichKorea has witnessed the dehumanization acrossthe decades and urges for a value base Koreaepistemology that will contribute to a greate

mankind?



Understand the Korean knowledge systemfrom the existing community from itscultural resources ( both traditional and

modern ) Restore ecology of the land through

restoring the knowledge of ecology througheco pedagogy

Research and documentation of Korean oraltradition and folklore from the ruralcommunities and study the continuity andchange.



Document the family history of the people affected as well as thesocial history of colonization

from the collective memory andunderstand the gain and loss thathas taken place so far.

Creating a pedagogy of democraticvalues where the futuregeneration have an equilibrium

between the technologized world



Documentation of traditional Korean

knowledge system to understand thesocio-

historical dynamics of the people ( what

do theyknow, what do they think of their own self

and

about the others, what is their culturalattitude to

the nature and culture. What they havegained and lost in their culture.

Stud on modern multicultural



I am thankful to Prof Cha for hisaffectionate invitation to me to come tothe great cultural land of Korea and

share my thoughts with you all. I am also thankful to the teaching

staff, and the students of thedepartment who have been very kind

enough to provide me all sorts of support.

I wish that Odisha and Korea willhave a long term relationship to fosterknowled e and wisdom.



Thank You [email protected]

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Multiculturalism, Community Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy (1)