THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF EDUCATION IN TIMES OF CONFLICT, CRISES AND PANDEMICS ONLINE LECTURE SERIES. Thursday’s at 1pm – 2.15pm, October 8th -December 10th, 2020. Online on ZOOM

Thursday’s at 1pm – 2.15pm, October 8th -December 10th, 2020 Online on ZOOM

The Political Economy of Education in Conflict Contexts Research Network (PEER Network), funded by the AHRC through Global Challenges Research Fund Network Plus Grant and led by the Universities of Ulster, Cape Town, Nazarbayev and Sussex in conjunction with United Kingdom Forum on International Education and Training (UKFIET) and the Centre for International Education (CIE) University of Sussex are organising a global, online lecture series exploring the theme of ‘the Political Economy of Education in Times of Conflict, Crises and Pandemics’.

This series will be led and hosted by the Centre for International Education (CIE) University of Sussex between October and December 2020 and will be openly accessible, free and online and aimed at scholars and students of international development and education, and all those who seek to better understand the complex situations facing education systems around the world in a period of increasing instability, where education systems are challenged by war, environmental crisis, financial austerity and pandemics that threaten the futures of a generation of young people. The lecture series will be recorded and uploaded onto a designated webpage and contribute to an open source bank of materials and resources on the Political Economy of Education that will be produced by the PEER Network team during the lifespan of the project.

The Political Economy of Education in Times of Conflict, Crises and Pandemics

Whilst the current COVID19 pandemic has brought home to many citizens in the Global North, the fragility of their existence, their education systems lack of resilience, and exacerbated and revealed widespread learning inequalities; in the Global South this is but one more crisis in a long list that have punctuated daily lives and educational journeys. This lecture series seeks to challenge its speakers and participants to go beyond narrow understandings of education and its relationship to economy and society and to critically explore the complex ways that education systems are linked to war, peace, ecological crises, financial crises and pandemics – not merely as victims but also as drivers and catalysts. In doing so we seek to highlight that education systems and actors have agency, capable of producing conflict ridden and crises prone systems as well as succumbing to these factors, and that policy and practice matters in the pursuit of more socially just and equitable educational systems that can contribute to a fairer and better world. We also seek to highlight how education systems are affected by particular crises and what policy options they might have to redress this.

In that sense the series also seeks to recognise that education policy and practice is about power and its projection into the education system by competing social forces. For that reason we seek to draw upon a wide range of contexts and examples to highlight these contestations and their effects on issues of education and social justice/injustice in times of conflict and crises.

Calendar of Events

1. Thursday 8th October, 1-2.15pm (BST). Introduction to Lecture Series and Overview (Mario Novelli, CIE, University of Sussex, UK)

2. Thursday 15th October, 1-2.15pm (BST). The Politics of COVID 19 and Education (Prachi Srivastava, Western University , Canada)

3. Thursday 22nd October, 1-2.15pm (BST). The Political Economy of Education Privatization in Times of Crises (Antoni Verger & Clara Fontdevila, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)

4. Thursday 29th October, 1-2.15pm (GMT). Evidence & Education Policy Making in the Global South during Covid19: Pundits, Social Movements and Policy Makers in an age of unpredictability (Yusuf Sayed, University of Sussex, UK)

5. Thursday 5th November, 1-2.15pm (GMT). The Construction and Survival of an Intellectual Community during Structural Adjustment in Africa (Nimi Hoffman, University of Sussex, UK)

6. Thursday 12th November, 1-2.15pm (GMT). Towards a Political Economy of Education and Conflict in South Africa’ (Azeem Badroodien and Yunus Omar, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

7. Thursday 19th November, 1-2.15pm (GMT). Academics For Peace & The Political Economy of Repression in Turkey’s Higher Education Sector (Birgul Kutan, University of Sussex, UK & Mehmet Ugur, University of Greenwich, UK).

8. Thursday 26thth November, 1-2.15pm (GMT). The Politics and Policy of Education in Iraq (Kelsey Shanks, University of Ulster, UK).

9. Thursday 3rd December, 1-2.15pm (GMT). Gender, Education, Conflict & Crises (Naureen Durrani & Hélène Thibault Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan )

10. Thursday 10th December, 1-2.15pm (GMT). Rethinking Peace Education: A Cultural Political Economy Approach (Sean Higgins, University of Sussex, UK)

Please Register for each lecture on the link below, and you will be sent a ZOOM link prior to each event. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-political-economy-of-education-intimes-of-conflict-crises-tickets-119873546003

Since early 2020, the world is at war with an invisible and elusive enemy that has forced all countries to implement extraordinary measures. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease outside mainland China, all countries have had to impose quarantine and the lockdown and confinement of entire cities, close their borders, and severely restrict their citizens’ freedom. Central Asia has not been sparred by the virus. After having been able to contain the deadly virus in the early Spring of 2020 thanks to the imposition of strict quarantine measures, it has unfortunately been severely hit by a second wave a few weeks later. Needless to say that this pandemic may leave behind profound political and social changes and ought to force societies to learn lessons from their fight against this virus. This situation raises numerous questions, namely:

-what has(have) been the main vector(s) of contamination of the Covid-19 in Central Asia? Has(have) is(they) been different from the one(s) elsewhere in the world?

-how can we explain the lack of readiness of the Central Asian health care systems?

-following what surveys and polls have shown, people of Central Asia have shown a lot of skepticism about the virus and have displayed a significant lack of trust toward their government which has also led to the development of a growing number of conspiracy theories. What are the reasons that can explain this phenomenon?

-what will be the long-term socio-economic impacts of this virus on Central Asian republics?

-with China’s economy aiming to recover very quickly from this crisis, will this lead Central Asian republics to open their respective economy to their Eastern neighbor? If it is the case, could this lead to a geopolitical shift in the region?

Scholars are invited to study these questions (and many more) in an upcoming edited volume on the impacts of the Covid-19 virus on Central Asia to be published with Palgrave MacMillan in The Steppe and Beyond: Studies on Central Asia series. Those interested are invited to submit a 500-words proposal to Jean-François Caron (jean-francois.caron@nu.edu.kz) and Hélène Thibault (helene.thibault@nu.edu.kz) by October 30, 2020. Scholars whose abstract will be accepted will then have until the Spring of 2021 to submit their final chapter.