Abyssal lines and cartographies of exclusion in migration and education: towards a reimagining

Abstract

Educational institutions across the Western world, from schools through to universities are increasingly being drawn into highly ideological spaces of immigration control, integration and securitisation. This paper outlines the complex contours of this 'education-migration nexus' and contributes to the critique of the way that education is becoming yoked to different political and social agendas. It also seeks to offer an analysis of the way in which the experiences, knowledges and practices of those from non-western contexts become disqualified and rendered non-existent.Drawing on the work of Boaventura de Sousa Santos I develop a postcolonial analysis which exposes the partial and distorted framing of migration, migrants and integration, a framing which gives rise to the current highly restrictive role of education. The paper concludes with a reimagined conceptualisation and suggests a draft agenda for education and migration studies. This calls for a more dynamic understanding of education which is open and flexible, and prepared to enter into dialogue between different knowledges and practices, rather than seeking only to assimilate and construct learners according to some pre-determined image.

‘It’s Like You Are Trapped in a Small Place’: Language Skill Acquisition and Settlement Outcomes of Ageing Cambodian Refugees

“…However, Gibb (2015) explains that programs are largely designed and delivered based on universal or national understandings of language and literacy. Therefore, they diminish immigrants' and refugees' embodied ways of knowing and being (Morrice, 2019). Cambodian refugees, upon resettlement in Canada, were incorporated in a language regime driven by government-constructed competency standards .…”

“…According to Gibb (2015) standards based on reading, writing, listening and speaking proficiency, invariably position language as mechanistic and ignore cultural, political and social norms associated with it. Thus, in a globalized world, language, literacy and issues of newcomer integration in host societies highlight both difference and systems of inequality (Blommaert, 2010;Gibb, 2010;Morrice, 2019). Significantly, first-generation Cambodian Canadians' experiences have revealed that literacy and language are intertwined with social power relations which relegate them to the margins of Canadian society (Thobani, 2007).…”

“…Critical transnational and postcolonial analyses reveal a distorted framing of migration and integration which create a paradoxically limited role for education -one that is based on stabilizing Canada's sense of a national identity, securing its borders and framing migrant integration (Morrice, 2019). To counter this role, which produces exclusionary practices that result in the marginalization of learners, migrant education should be interrogated.…”

“…To counter this role, which produces exclusionary practices that result in the marginalization of learners, migrant education should be interrogated. Its pedagogical approaches should centre on intercultural dialogue and the structural barriers to integration should be removed (Guo & Maitra, 2019;Morrice, 2019). Language regimes and educational programs directed at first-generation Cambodians have perpetuated exclusion and models of social control.…”

Transformative learning theory and migration: Having transformative and edifying conversations

“…Gibb, 2015, Morrice, 2014, Webb, 2015, Wildemeersch, 2017. This is not surprising, as Morrice (2019) asserts that current western-centric framing reflects colonial logics and privileges, employing an assimilationist approach: 'Integration has become an identity issue with migrants having to prove their willingness to integrate by attending classes and passing tests' (Morrice, 2014, p. 156). Migrants are held responsible to demonstrate their willingness and ability to adapt (Morrice, 2019).…”