Conclusion: Postcolonial Strivings

Abstract

We have offered the reader eleven critical essays, through which contributors have formulated, argued, proposed, and critiqued subject positions in response to the questions: Can education contribute to cultural confidence of peoples and communities who have endured centuries of oppression and marginalization? If so, what is education, and what is education for, given such historical circumstances? In reviewing the historical circumstances that have been referenced, it is important to note that the contemporary circumstances of globalization and imperialism of colonized peoples are rooted in the historical relations with colonial encounter. In this light, a project of postcolo-nial imagination emerges to expose and provoke dialogue and action to articulate new imaginaries and agendas for change.

“Despite or perhaps because of the fragmentation and relativism of our time, it appears that we must reach for a conception of the good that will affect the directions of our lives.”

—Maxine Greene, Releasing the Imagination¹