This paper critically examines the possibilities of education for social transformation (EST) in the context of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This is a region with a history of colonialism and embodies some of the central dilemmas of globalization, such as inequality and environmental precarity. Thus, conceptually, EST holds great promise for social justice and environmental sustainability. The paper argues, however, that EST can be relevant to the region only if it takes account of the enduring deep-seated legacy of asymmetries of power, exploitation and inequality in the broader society and within the education system resulting from colonialism and now exacerbated by globalization’s processes. Using postcolonial theory as the analytical frame, the paper highlights these challenges to EST in the context of the Caribbean and also identifies educational principles for EST to be a catalyst for social transformation in the region.
This article analyses the relevance of the SDGs to the needs of the Small Islands Developing States of the Caribbean Community. The article situates the SDGs within a critical interrogation of the social change logic of the universalizing global economic system. Thus, I argue that the SDGs, while recognizing some key economic and environmental concerns of the Caribbean Community, are hamstrung by their commitment to the unequal power structure of the neoliberal capitalist development model. Finally, this article calls upon regional and global social movements, and increased economic regionalism as ways of empowering Caribbean social change.
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