Asia As Method in Education Studies ─ A Defiant Research Imagination

Unlearning and re-inventing the theoretical frameworks of Intercultural and Asian Studies is central to this book as it is to Chen Kuan-Hsing’s evocative Asia as Method; this book’s inspirational source. Chen insists that studies of Asia move beyond their paralysing fixation on the West as either a positive or negative referent and that they develop their own standpoints, reference points and research agendas. Asia as Method in Education Studies, is therefore, a provocative and suggestive exploration of educational ideas imported from the West. Chen’s challenge provokes the writers in this collection to consider the implications of colonial and imperialist forces for education systems, policies and practices as well as for educational research itself. The writers offer examples of what it means to rethink and re-examine education in Asia beyond both the Western imperialist eye and the post-colonial ‘politics of resentment’. Asia as Method in Education Studies combines the diverse research of scholars from various countries of Asia as they consider, for example:

• Struggles to Construct New Research Imaginations in Response to Chen’s Challenges
• East-West Dialogue: Three Cases in Chinese Educational Research
• "Asia as [a] method" of Complexity and Dialogue
• Generalizing the Self? Asianizing Perspectives on International Education and the Formation of Self
• Against Asia-centric Methods: Australia-China Theoretic-linguistic Knowledge Co-production

Highly anticipated for its novel contemporary perspectives, this book offers researchers specialising in educational studies and policy-making fresh practices of thought.

Hongzhi Zhang is a Researcher at the Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Philip Wing Keung Chan is an Assistant Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Jane Kenway is a Professorial Fellow with the Australian Research Council, a Professor in the Education Faculty at Monash University and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences; Australia.