Skip to main content

Humanism, Postcolonialism, and Education

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
  • 619 Accesses

Synonyms

Colonialism; Postcolonialism; Humanism; Anti-Humanism; Eurocentrism; Universalism; Cultural Difference

Introduction

It is not unreasonable to claim that humanism has been, and perhaps continues to be, a foundational principle for education. While it may be the case that fewer scholars and teachers would explicitly refer to humanism in the contemporary era, traces of its influence can be seen in the ideals and commitments expressed by educators from the early childhood through to the tertiary sector. Schools that promote themselves as developing their students holistically, as persons, are just one example of this. However, humanism has encountered a range of critiques since the burgeoning in the 1960s of structuralist and poststructuralist theories. This entry will seek to outline some of the ways in which postcolonial theory has critically engaged with humanism and the effects of this for education. Though it is a term widely used, humanism, ultimately, cannot be neatly...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Boyd, W. (2009). Emile “Afterword”. In S. M. Cahn (Ed.), Philosophy of education : The essential texts (pp. 246–251). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial thought and historical difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanon, F. (2001). The wretched of the earth. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fanon, F. (2008). Black skin, white masks. New York/Berkeley: Grove; Distributed by Publishers Group West.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandhi, L. (1999). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, L. E. (2003). Islamic humanism. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I. (1960). Education (trans: Churton, A.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loomba, A. (2005). Colonialism/postcolonialism (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Said, E. W. (2003). Orientalism. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seth, S. (2011). Where is humanism going. The UNESCO Courier, 64(4), 6–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, R. (2004). White mythologies: Writing history and the west (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Chatelier .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this entry

Cite this entry

Chatelier, S. (2016). Humanism, Postcolonialism, and Education. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_184-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_184-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-532-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics