Trashing Tradition: Decoloniality and the Rise of Ideological Dogmatism in Comparative Education

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Trashing Tradition: Decoloniality and the Rise of Ideological Dogmatism in Comparative Education
Language: English
Authors: Edward Vickers (ORCID 0000-0002-5061-6204), Erwin H. Epstein
Source: Comparative Education. 2025 61(4):481-504.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 24
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Descriptors: Decolonization, Ideology, Politics of Education, Comparative Education, Scholarship, Epistemology, Educational Assessment, Inquiry, Beliefs, Educational Attitudes, Western Civilization, Ethnocentrism, Foundations of Education
DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2024.2429297
ISSN: 0305-0068
1360-0486
Abstract: The early twenty-first century has seen the emergence of a dogmatic strand of decolonial scholarship, often relying on racialised identity discourse and "ad hominem" critique, that rejects the 'Western' foundations of comparative education as irredeemably colonial. The rise of dogmatic decolonialism constitutes the latest and most far-reaching of several inflection points within the history of the field. This article begins by reviewing the development of comparative education as a scholarly tradition, considering its foundational epistemological orientations and challenges to them. This allows us to analyse the challenge posed by decolonialism from a historical perspective. We show that, far from injecting fresh historical nuance and complexity into comparative scholarship, dogmatic decolonialism is entrenching itself as an intolerant new orthodoxy. The threat this poses to rigorous, open and balanced scholarly debate underlines the need for an urgent renewal of comparative education as a robust and relevant field of scholarly enquiry.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1495537
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:The early twenty-first century has seen the emergence of a dogmatic strand of decolonial scholarship, often relying on racialised identity discourse and "ad hominem" critique, that rejects the 'Western' foundations of comparative education as irredeemably colonial. The rise of dogmatic decolonialism constitutes the latest and most far-reaching of several inflection points within the history of the field. This article begins by reviewing the development of comparative education as a scholarly tradition, considering its foundational epistemological orientations and challenges to them. This allows us to analyse the challenge posed by decolonialism from a historical perspective. We show that, far from injecting fresh historical nuance and complexity into comparative scholarship, dogmatic decolonialism is entrenching itself as an intolerant new orthodoxy. The threat this poses to rigorous, open and balanced scholarly debate underlines the need for an urgent renewal of comparative education as a robust and relevant field of scholarly enquiry.
ISSN:0305-0068
1360-0486
DOI:10.1080/03050068.2024.2429297