Interdependency of Globalization, Adult Education and Development: A Visual Analysis

Running Head: INTERDEPENDENCY OF GLOBALIZATION, ADULT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Interdependency of Globalization, Adult Education and Development: A Visual Analysis

Aden Dur-e-Aden, Clara Kuhlen and Nasim Peikazadi

Dr. Judith Walker

EDST 535

Final Group Paper

December 3, 2014

University of British Columbia

INTERDEPENDENCY OF GLOBALIZATION, ADULT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT 1

Introduction

The current ideas of development regarding international Adult Education in today’s

globalized world have resulted in unequal relations between the so-called “West” and the “non-

West.” Adult education is being used as a tool to reach economic development goals (OECD,

2000), rather than striving for equity and social change. In this paper, we argue that the western

institutions, due to their virtue of being powerful, are implementing their own, often exploitative,

definitions of education in an increasingly globalized world. As a result, unequal power relations

between the “West” and the “non-West” are being entrenched (Hall, 1996).

We begin our paper by using particular theoretical frameworks related to Adult Education

and development, in order to build up a stable foundation for our arguments. This section is

followed by a discussion of our research methodology of visual analysis, informed by Rose

(2001) and Daniels (2006). The purpose of choosing this approach is to gain a more holistic

understanding of the politics of Adult Education globally. We continue on to interpret our

images individually, using visual methodology combined with our theoretical frameworks, to

acknowledge our individual positions as researchers and its impact on our interpretations. The

next section will be a collective discussion about the connections between our interpretations.

Accordingly, we conclude the paper by giving recommendations to improve the understanding of

unequal interrelations that currently exist between the West and the non-West in terms of

internationalization of Adult Education.

Theoretical Frameworks

In this paper, we want to critically examine the interrelations of the West and the non-

West in order to trace the footprints of inequity, which exists in the international Adult Education

systems. Historically, knowledge making has been in the domain of hegemonic western powers.

This knowledge production is not only about subjects or curriculum, but also about the

representations of non-Western subjects (Hall, 1996). They are manifested in different forms,

some of which are seen as superior to others. Because of these different forms of representation,

researchers need to be aware of the hidden power distributions and should not take them for

granted. We employed critiques of neo-liberal perspectives mentioned by Harvey (2007) and

Youngman (2000) regarding prioritization of economics specifically in performed practices of

development and education. Moreover, we also discuss some issues regarding the representation


of non-Western cultures using ideas mentioned by scholars such as Said (1979). This also

informs our discussion about colonization and its influences on the conceptualization of

development, and therefore, Adult Education.

Methodology

The debates about the authenticity of meanings, data and research methods are ongoing in

various disciplines across social sciences (Eisner, 1997; MacLure, 2003). However, for our

purposes, we tried to throw light on alternative methodologies in educational research.

Alternative methodologies, here, are considered as approaches that are not merely relying on

positivist methods for data collection and meaning acquisition in social research; rather, they

take qualitative methods into account for unfolding deeper meanings of the findings. This latter

approach to research requires the researcher to gain a broader understanding of the context.

Qualitative methodologies are increasingly becoming favorable in the field of education,

and have been categorized as the fifth or sixth largest classification for papers presented at

AERA1 (Eisner, 1997). Qualitative methodologies enable researchers to look beyond

quantification of abstract, complicated concepts and rigid answers. They facilitate exploration of

assumptions applied in scientific forms of research, “the usefulness of distinctions between

objectivity and subjectivity,” and “the utilities and limits of quantification” (Eisner, 1997, p.6).

This new look at the methodologies is not limited to qualitative ways of communicating

data, as it also includes alternative forms of data representation, such as arts-based inquiry. The

traditional methodologies cannot cover the nuances between the reality and how it is represented.

The concept “crisis of representation” refers to the fact that language is no longer the only

eligible system of reflecting the reality (MacLure, 2003; Daniels, 2006). Therefore, Daniels

(2006) challenges word-oriented research methodologies as giving researchers a “unilateral

decision-making power” (p.129). For our research, we chose visuals from three different

mediums (video, photograph, artwork), and they are derived from both western and non-western

contexts.

However, the visual in this paper is not only used for representing data, but is also

employed as a methodological tool for exploring current issues relating to globalization,

development and Adult Education. Our visual methodology, inspired by Rose (2001), looks at

images as culturally constructed, and how they shape people’s behaviors and perceptions of the

1 AERA: American Educational Research Association


world. Moreover, images can normalize or impose existing power structures, particularly, of

institutions that are part of capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy (Harraway as cited in Rose,

2001).

Speaking to the issues arising from the conceptualizations of development and its impacts

on Adult Education in a global context, we interpreted the images while having the sites of: i) the

production of the image, ii) the image itself, and iii) the audiences in mind (Rose, 2001). The

following section consists of our individual interpretations based on the above mentioned

methodology.

Visual Interpretations

As individuals looking at and exploring a same theme from perspectives informed by our

different cultural, racial, social and ethnic backgrounds, it was crucial to consider our individual

positionalities (McCorkel & Myers, 2003) while interpreting these images. We viewed these

images as being embedded in discourses that structure the way things are thought and

communicated (Rose, 2001). Furthermore, in order to understand particular discourses, conveyed

through our six images, we see them in relation to other images or texts that were informative to

our critical interpretations.

Image I: The “Brooklyn Sky”

Nasim: In order to begin exploration in the concept of globalization as the core concept of

discussion about Adult Education and development, I chose a piece of art performed by the

Chinese contemporary artist Wang Gongxin. The piece “Brooklyn sky” (Figure 1) was

performed in 1995 and is considered as a site–specific video-installation and addresses the

concepts of communication and globalization. The artist’s inspiration for performing the piece

comes from his personal experience of a nomadic lifestyle travelling back and forth from his

homeland in China to U.S. In 1987, he went to America as a visiting artist in the State University

of New York and resided in Brooklyn. Since then, he began travelling between New York,

Beijing and other cities around the world.


Figure 1- Wang Gongxin, Brooklyn Sky, 1995. Site-specific video installation

For “Brooklyn Sky”, he dug a three-meter deep well in his Beijing home and at the

bottom of the well he placed a small video monitor. The monitor displayed a small piece of sky

filmed from Wang’s home in Brooklyn. His piece has perhaps been inspired by an old American

phrase ‘Digging a hole to China’, that usually refers to futility or pursuit of an “impossible

utopian dream” (Pollack, 2008). Barbara Pollock (2008), an expert in contemporary Chinese art,

sees the piece as a metaphor for the issues and difficulties of cross-cultural communication.

“Brooklyn Sky” was performed in early 1990s, when multiculturalism and globalization were

amongst the popular topics not only in socio-political conversations, but also in the global art

scene. At the time, Wang already had the experience of being viewed as any other Chinese

immigrant in the multicultural context of U.S.

The piece creates a quasi-magic that makes watching the sky of a reverse part of the

world possible through a well in China. Wang clarifies his own positionality (McCorkel &

Myers, 2003) as an Asian artist- researcher perceiving the aspects of global communication. The

monitor could refer to the available frames provided by visual media to see other parts of the

world through a frame. The political approach of the piece resides in that it materializes a

reversed version of the old phrase, by not showing a piece of China sky from the States.

"Brooklyn Sky” speaks to the artist’s status as a global traveler susceptive of the socio-political

structures of the contemporary world. It becomes a sort of knowledge evocative of the situation it

desires to describe (Eisner, 2008). However, rather than providing rigid answers, it generates

more questions about the visual representation of the socio-political structures.


Inversion of the concept of the old American phrase, employing a video monitor,

displaying the image of a bright blue sky and finally putting aside patterned tiles to reach an

image contribute to production of meaning within a visual discourse. Wang’s choice to invert the

old American phrase ‘digging a hole to China’, introduces a new perspective through which the

look is from a non-West position to the West. It is questioning what is naturalized about an often

non-responsive look from the West to non-West objects. Donna Haraway (1988; 1991) criticizes

the unregulated contemporary visual gluttony for seeing everything from a non-specified

position and also for naturalizing this myth. She argues for the view from “a body, always a

complex, contradictory, structuring, and structured body, versus the view from above, from

nowhere, from simplicity.” (Haraway, 1988, p. 589) “Brooklyn Sky” turns this view upside

down and depicts how partial a look from distance could be.

Image II: “This Week at UBC”

The second image is a still from a video released on the University of British Columbia’s

official YouTube channel. This video is an episode of a show called “This Week at UBC”, that

usually highlights some events and developments on the UBC campus. The interpretation of

image(s) in this section is informed by a specific approach to discourse analysis that deals with

institutional discourses imposed on the images of a particular institution. This particular

discourse analysis calls for questions such as: how have power structures of a particular

institution been embedded in images? (Rose, 2001)

Here, the higher education institution is the image producer for unlimited audiences that

can include not only its current students, but also prospective students as well as anyone who has

an interest and access to a high-speed internet. The videos (images) become representations of

the reality and the structures of the very institution simply because they show what they want to

show. However, this represented reality can always include what have been left out. So, the

institution generates a particular “regime of truth” (Foucault as cited in Rose, 2001, p.138), that

is always saturated with power, through displaying a particular set of images. These images are

made available, trimmed, framed and selected by the institution to show the institution.


Figure 2 UBC, from This Week at UBC, 2014. Still from YouTube video

The series is hosted by three students with different ethnic backgrounds. (Figure 2)

However, their representation speaks to the particular discourse of the very institution not only

because of the multicultural image that the selection of the student hosts entails, but also because

they speak English fluently. Both image and sound are employed to depict the prominent

discourse of this very university as a higher education institution promoting diversity through

showing pictures of, seemingly, international students. At the UBC Imagine Day (Figure 3), new

and current students celebrate the first day of classes every year. On the Imagine Day of

September 2014, a billboard-sized mosaic was created by putting together the pictures that

students shared on social media with the hashtag #IAMUBC. In this visual project, new

technology facilitated the creation of an image of the university as a mosaic, which also refers to

the idea of multicultural mosaic in Canada consisting of more than 200 ethnic groups according

to the official census up to 2001 (Statistics Canada).


Figure 3 UBC, UBCevents at Imagine Day 2014 from This Week at UBC, 2014. Still from YouTube video

International students become part of the discourse of the institution and constitute the

picture of the university. Karram-Stephenson (2011) believes that internationalization in

Canadian universities is aligned with Canada’s global citizenship development policy and the

main motivation for internationalization is to develop “internationally knowledgeable students”

(p.87). However, she sees economic motives for the recruitment of international students and

faculty, which is manifested in the advertisements on institutional websites. Therefore,

internationalization is reduced to features of the advertised institution (Figure 4).

Figure 4 a visual analysis of UBC’s visual

branding regulations depicted in its visual

representation on the social media


Education in the era of neo-liberalism is increasingly associated with economic

motivations and the priorities of the market (Harvey, 2007; Youngman, 2000). The primary goals

of development and therefore education are influenced by neoliberal economic views.

Youngman (2000) believes that capitalist development has become the main theme in

conceptualization of development. He criticizes this approach to be opposed to social change,

which was the goal of modern development. The chosen YouTube video is an example of an

embodied hidden discourse in the visual format.

Image III: Malala’s portrait

Aden: Since the end of the (physical) European colonization, the West has been accused

of having an “oriental” gaze towards the people belonging to the non-Western cultures. More

specifically, in relation to the people of the “East,” Edward Said makes the argument that the

West views them as irrational, exotic and backwards (Said, 1978). As a result of this thinking,

the West’s military ambitions are justified in certain countries even today (Abu-Lughod, 2002).

This has resulted in an increase in the anti-American and by extension, the anti-Western

sentiment in some of the non-Western countries. Therefore now, the organic struggles of the

local activists in the region are easily delegitimized as soon as they become even remotely

associated with the West. The case of Malala is a classic example of this phenomenon.

While many people around the globe remember Malala as the girl who stood up for girls’

education, few people know that her actual struggle was not limited to one issue. When she was

only 11 years old, she was engaged in disseminating informal adult education to the local

population, in order to make them aware of their social and political condition. Informal

education is defined as “the lifelong process by which every person acquires and accumulates

knowledge, skills, attitudes and insights from daily experiences and exposure to the

environment” (La Belle, 1982, p.161). She was writing a diary for BBC under a pseudonym to

call attention to the realities of living under the brutal rule of the Taliban (BBC, 2009).

Therefore, Taliban released a letter after they shot her to clarify that they didn’t shoot her

specifically because she was asking for education, but because she was running a “smear

campaign” against them (Imtiaz, 2013). Her struggle is a perfect example of how by focusing on

the issues that affected people on everyday basis, a central tenant of popular education (Kane,

2010), she was engaging her fellow citizens in a process of informal learning.


Figure 5 Arslan, Portrait of Malala from Arslan’s Comics, 2014. Comic drawing

Retrieved from: facebook.com

The above-mentioned image was created by a comic artist in Pakistan who goes by the

name of Arslan (Figure 5). He made a portrait of Malala using the hate messages that circulated

on social media after she received the Nobel Prize this year. Using the three sites of an image

mentioned by Gilian Rose (2001), I analyze this visual by focusing on the following properties:

Production: This image is produced by using comments from the internet, mostly made

by a Pakistani audience. The fact that the discourse is in English, challenges the stereotype that

somehow it is the poor and the illiterate people in Pakistan who are more pre-disposed to anti-

American, hateful or misogynistic thoughts. The use of English language, combined with the use

of internet, can lead one to conclude that people engaging in these conversations have a

somewhat higher educational, social, and class background than the majority of the poor and

rural population in Pakistan. The Image: The background of the image is a lighter pink shade,

while different shades of different colours are used for the text. Certain words such as

“Congratulations Bitch,” “Jewish Agent,” and “America picks up random people,” are typed in

bigger font than others, and also portrayed in darker shades in order to provoke a stronger impact

among the audience. The Audience: While it is hard to predict who the artist intended his


audience to be, I assume that it is mostly the local Pakistani population, as the artist wants to

provoke a conversation in his own society. However, since the image is on the internet, by

definition of the “World Wide Web,” the real audience is definitely global.

As a result, it is at this site of the image where the oriental gaze of the West can come

into play, and end up justifying the fear of those skeptical of anything Western. Therefore, in the

case of Malala, the West needs to engage in a form of “cooperative globalization,” which is

focused on developing the human capacities of individuals around the world, so that the local

activists take the lead and design their own “bottom up approaches” (Walters, 2000). Moreover,

people within the non-Western countries also need to be open to new ideas while being critical.

People around the world can come together for good causes, as the anti-apartheid movement

showed (Walters, 2000). However, the simple aspect of talking about a problem can impact the

effectiveness of any struggle. After all, it is the discourses that have the power to shape reality,

and not always the other way around (Karlberg, 2012).

Image IV: UNESCO Mozambique

The second image that I chose is from the official UNESCO website, posted under the

title “Integrative Approach for Adult Education Program.” The name of the photographer was

unavailable; however, the information on the website clarifies that this image captures a local

community in Mozambique (UNESCO, 2011).

Production: The image is produced by using a camera. However, the modern technology

of internet is being used to disseminate its production to a bigger audience. Moreover, it is

produced in the social context of a very local and specific rural community in Mozambique. The

Image: In this image, one can observe a diversity of age groups and genders. The presence of

older women with children on their arms shows that there is not enough support in the

community for child care, and women cannot shed off their responsibility towards their families

while they engage in Adult Education programs. Moreover, while it is not clear from the image

itself, the description on the website shows that the UNESCO’s program in Mozambique uses

the REFLECT (Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques)

approach to education and learning. People themselves decide where and when they want to

meet, what is it that they want to learn, and how they want to bring change in their society

(UNESCO, 2011; Kane, 2010). The Audience: Due to it being on the UNESCO website, the

audience for this image is global. However, the local and the global audience can create different


meanings while looking at the same image (Rose, 2001). UNESCO might want to portray to the

local audience that they have a lot of agency in determining what they want to learn in this adult

education program. Moreover, UNESCO might also want to portray a specific image to the

world that it considers “education as a human right” (Elfert, 2014), and therefore, is making it

accessible for people around the world while keeping the local contexts in mind.

Figure 6 UNESCO-Mozambique, 2011.

Retrieved from: unesco.org

However, I thought that the image was missing some abstract level concepts. There is no

mention of the history of colonization that created these exploitative conditions in the first place

(Bhola, 2006). Moreover, I was left questioning the extent to which UNESCO will let the local

population determine their own destiny and developing conscientization (Freire Institute, 2014).

It is because UNESCO itself is part of the UN, which is often criticized for being a hegemonic

institution, since more powerful countries exert an extra-ordinary amount of influence in

formulating different social, political and developmental policies globally. Therefore, while the

institutional level discourse at UNESCO is about helping the local population, the

interrelationships between the international organizations, such as the UN, the IMF and the

World Bank for development could mean that only a very specific neo-liberal model of

development is being brought to these countries. As a result, even if people achieve awareness

about their problems, they still won’t have the power to do something about it, because changing

the system is a much harder task.


Image V: Born Into Brothels

Clara: “Born into Brothels” is a documentary which premiered on HBO/Cinemax in

August 2005. The filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffmann give insights to the lives of

children living in Calcutta’s brothels. Briski was having difficulties with filming inside the

brothels of Calcutta, because she was working there in the position of an outsider: “Everyone is

terrified of the camera […] It’s a whole separate society within itself […] it’s another world.”

(Briski and Kauffmann, 2004, 3:22) By teaching the prostitutes’ children how to use cameras and

letting them take pictures of their everyday lives, she gets access to this world. By looking at one

screenshot from the video, I want to further explain the rather hidden, but central role of Adult

Education and reveal its interdependency with globalization and development. (Figure 7)

Figure 7 Briski & Kauffmann, Still from Born into Brothels, 2004. (At 54:42 minutes)

This screenshot shows a white, blonde woman, dressed in a formal and wearing jewellery

at an auction/exhibition in Sotheby’s, New York. She is holding a drink in a precious glass while

looking around in the exhibition room. Her back is turned to the picture on the wall that was

taken by Suchitra, one of the children from the brothels. The picture itself, located within a black

frame, shows a young Indian woman wearing a headscarf, leaning on a wall in Calcutta. Next to


it is the picture’s number for the auction and underneath a list to sign in for interested

auctioneers.

The photography’s token by the children in Calcutta, the non-West, are presented in New

York, hence the West, to fundraise the project, which shows the global influence. According to

Youngman, capitalism has been dominant in the world economy and is therefore dominant in

development theories as well (Youngman, 2000). Consequently, the photographs become

commodities in a global, neo-liberal market and their value is measured in terms of money by the

mainly rich, upper-class customers who might buy them at the auction. Thus, development in

this case is shown as financial support instead of empowering people in the so-called non-

developed world.

In relation to Stuart Hall’s theory of the power distribution between the West and the

non-West (Hall, 1996), several indicators for this inequality can be found. The white woman can

afford to attend the exhibition at Sotheby’s, whereas some mothers of the photographers can’t

afford to see their children’s art when presented in Calcutta, because they have to work in the

brothels (Briski and Kaufmann, 2004). This income gap can not only be seen as an individual

problem, but also on a Meta level. As mentioned before, there are several exhibitions and

auctions in the West, but only one in Calcutta itself, where the art originated. Therefore I argue

that the local origin of the art, the non-West, is considered a less profitable market than the

global market.

Besides examining the places that are not shown in the picture, I want to further describe

the audience that this exhibition/auction was made for. If we consider the presentation of art as

an informal process of knowledge making, and therefore, also as Adult Education (Eisner, 2008),

these people seek for a deeper understanding of the lives of children in Indian brothels. This

global exhibition helps them in their educational process of getting to know other parts of the

world. By paying for the exhibition and buying pictures, the Westerners are financing the

project, hence the children in Calcutta, so they are fostering their development and possibility to

attend school. This is central to the human capital theory (Youngman, 2000).

Though this argument for ongoing Adult Education might be applicable, the obvious

power relations keep me from believing that this is the only reason for attending the exhibition.

The disinterest of the women, shown by turning her back to the picture, leads to the thought that

she decided to go there for voyeuristic reasons, and she wants to ‘see and be seen’ within her


own society. This final argument can be underpinned by Freire’s notion of “the dependent

society”, in this case the brothels in Calcutta, that are “by definition silent” (Freire, 1972, pp.59).

If this exhibition would be supposed to be a space for adult learning about another part of the

world, authentic voices (Frank, 2000) of the children have to be heard, instead of only putting

their pictures on display without considering the contexts.

Image VI: UBC- Native Hosts

The following image is a picture that was taken by us as a group on the campus of the

University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. It shows some buildings and a piece

of art called “Native hosts”, designed by the indigenous artist Edgar Heap of Birds. This art work

consists of 12 aluminum signs which are positioned all over the UBC campus (Helen and Belkin

Art Gallery, 2014).

Figure 8 Edgar Heap of Birds, Native hosts, 1991-2007. Aluminium signs

I will analyze it from two perspectives at the same time; the photographer and the

interpreter. The sign mentions the relationship between the First Nations and British Columbia

and therefore, inevitably, the colonization of Canada by Westerners. At this point, we want to

acknowledge, that UBC, where we study in our roles of students and non-indiegenous people, is

located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam people.

My position within this context of ongoing oppression and marginalization of indigenous

peoples is the starting point of this analysis. We took a picture of a “sign”, because its initial role,


for example in traffic, is to remind people that they should always be mindful. In the case of a

visual analysis, it is inalienable for us to keep the analysist’s, i.e. our, identities in mind.

This approach of positionality applies particularly for research within vulnerable communities

(Daniels, 2006). Considering for example the Canadian history of residential schools and the

exploitation of children and families by researchers (Mosby, 2007), First Nations can be seen as

(such) a harmed and marginalized group. Accordingly, I see my own position challenged when

talking about indigenous peoples as a researcher, as I am a white student, only in Canada on

exchange.

The power relation within higher education and the predominance of white, Western

settlers (Wang, 2013) can be explained by comparing the building on the picture with the sign

next to it. Whereas a building is supposed to persist for a long period of time, signs are often

replaced for various reasons, as it happen with indigenous peoples. If we, accordingly, consider

colonization as a certain form of globalization, it dipossesses people.

One form of expropriation that is especially related to UBC as “a place of mind” and

important to international Adult Education is the value of knowledge. Within the last centuries,

the so-called Western archive of knowledge was considered superior (Hall, 1996). Written

western knowledge remains dominant (Tuhiwai Smith, 2012) over indigenous oral knowledge

within a globalized world. One example is the knowledge economy and its emphasis of the

importance of literacy for development in the non-West (OECD, 2000). By analyzing this image,

I want to challenge these thoughts: The sign shows only the name “British Columbia” written

backwards, which questions the fact that UBC is located on a place called British Columbia,

because this was the name the land was given by colonizers. Thus the signs casts doubt on the

superiority of western knowledge.

Discussion

While all of us interpreted our images individually according to our different

positionalities, the key ideas among our analyses overlapped. It was because our central

argument was focused on the interdependence between globalization, development and Adult

Education, and how exploitative the relations between the Western and the non-Western contexts

are under this model.

At the international institutional level, globalization has entrenched an unequal power

structure where the purpose and progress in education is measured through the lens of neo-liberal


development. International organizations such as UNESCO, World Bank, IMF and OECD are

mostly influenced by the ideologies and narratives of powerful countries, despite having

individual definitions of education (e.g. a human rights approach of UNESCO vs. a commitment

to market economies by OECD).2

On the other hand, at the national level, universities are becoming institutes of profit

making, impeding access to higher education for marginalized populations. As a result,

education in these institutions is becoming a process of “restoring class dominance” (Harvey,

2007, p.29). Education is increasingly becoming a commodity to be sold, as opposed to a

Frierien concept of social change, in which education is a tool that can bring conscientization to

people, so that they can move their society forward in a self-directed way (Friere Institute, 2014).

Apart from formal educational institutions, the discourse within the western media and

art museums reflects similar power asymmetries, albeit more subtly. Documentary film-making

is one such medium which has a global reach. However, while the intentions of the individual

film makers could be to bring awareness about complicated global issues, they cannot always

change the “frame of reference” (Daniels, 2006, p. 135) of the audience who is looking at their

work. As a result, a well-intentioned piece of art can still end up reinforcing the stereotypes,

especially when the onlookers just view it as a means of entertainment, as opposed to a medium

of genuine informal education. Similarly, visiting museums or fancy art galleries has become a

status symbol to certain extent in the West. People look at the images presented in these arenas

as something that is amusing, different, or exotic, as opposed to images that portray real

struggles of real people, living in the same world that they live in.

Finally, specifically in regards to the indigenous population in Canada, all of us struggled

in determining how to characterize their identity in our categories of West vs. non-West. It is

because geographically, they are located in what are considered Western countries today; yet

their conditions and the historical treatment is more similar to the populations of non-Western

countries. They were colonized, their local cultures and traditions were disrupted, and their

languages and means of education were uprooted. As a result, even today, while people have

started to acknowledge their identity as being an integral part of Canada (as is evident by UBC’s

acknowledgement that it is built on traditional Mesqueam territory); “Aboriginal” identity is still

2 For Reference, see OECD’s official website, Available at http://www.oecd.org/about/

http://www.oecd.org/about/


seen as something that is “traditional,” only to be displayed as part of the history, and is not

necessarily a part of “modern” Canada (Adese, 2012).

Conclusion

As a result of our various interpretations based on a solid theoretical background, our

visual analysis enabled us to reveal many interdependencies between Adult Education,

globalization and development. At this point, we will give some suggestions for all the

stakeholders involved in Adult Education in the context of globalization and development.

First, we want to emphasize that the West still remains dominant over the “rest” (Hall,

1996). Therefore, it has a special responsibility to prevent exploitation and reduce the unequal

power distribution. Hence, the West should stop ‘othering’ the non-Western societies. Moreover,

it needs to critically reflect on its own hegemonic gaze and global positionality. In addition,

concerning development, the West has to be aware of its exploitative tendency when it comes to

solely economic development. This form of development often results in competitive

international relations and fosters negative effects of capitalism and neo-liberalism.

As researchers in the western context, we are part of this exploitative complex. Therefore,

we need to consider the abovementioned suggestions while doing research to ensure that the

stereotypes of ‘others’ are not reconstructed. Since research in the field of Adult Education

includes data collection, as well as analysis and interpretation, we have to keep in mind that there

are always things we see, but also things that are hidden. The importance of the researcher’s own

positionality, such as gender, ethnicity, religion or class, and its influence on interpretations,

applies to both Western and non-Western researchers.

Last but not least, we want to encourage the non-Western countries to be critical of the

decisions taken by their political leaders. Alternative concepts of Adult Education, such as

popular education, could be one of the many ways to move towards this direction. Furthermore,

we want to emphasize the role of modern technology that can help to build and support local

social movements. By implementing these reforms on both local and global levels, the future of

Adult Education can be made less exploitative. As a result, a more equal model of Adult

Education can be achieved, which can enable people to strive for a “cooperative” model of

development.


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Interdependency of Globalization, Adult Education and Development: A Visual Analysis

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