Decolonised Knowledge

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://knowledgedemocracydspace.com/handle/123456789/1070

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Author: search.filters.author.Tandon, RajeshEnd date: 1999

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    Creating knowledge: A monopoly? Participatory research in development
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 1982-06) Hall, Budd L; Gillete, Arthur; Tandon, Rajesh
    This book is about participatory research as a political process bound up with questions of power and knowledge production, rather than merely a set of methods. It opens with the Jamaican Drama for Progress literacy project, where a shift from delivering pre-written messages to villagers toward enabling them to write and perform their own material captures the move from research done on people to research done with them. Drawing on the Latin American tradition of investigación acción and Paulo Freire's thematic investigation, the collection questions who is authorised to produce knowledge about poverty and underdevelopment. Five theoretical essays address participation, power and alternative methods, followed by seven case studies from Indonesia, Senegal, Tanzania, England, Chile, Canada and India, and a concluding section of critical reactions. Rather than success stories, what emerges are unresolved questions about initiating participatory work, sustaining ties with political organisations, and balancing theory with praxis in research committed to social transformation.
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    Zapatistas in Chiapas
    (1984-03-23) Tandon, Rajesh
    At a moment when Mexico was entering a new era of economic liberalisation under NAFTA, an unexpected uprising in Chiapas reshaped debates on democracy, land, and indigenous rights. This paper examines the Zapatista movement within the longer history of indigenous struggle while drawing attention to its distinctive way of combining traditional claims with new tools of communication and solidarity. The research also considers how the movement’s vision travelled beyond Chiapas, raising questions about development, autonomy, and cultural survival. In doing so, it argues for seeing the Zapatistas not only as a regional rebellion but as a reminder that struggles over dignity and self-determination can unsettle dominant ideas of governance in ways that remain unresolved.
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    Education for all as determined by the few?
    (Society for Participatory Research in Asia, 1989-12) Tandon, Rajesh
    The text talks about the World Conference on ‘Education For All’ world charter, and the subsequent issues raised by educationalists while examining their documents. The text examines eleven such issues. First, the narrow economistic and utilitarian view of education focused on human capital formation rather than a humanistic vision. Second, education is portrayed as adaptative and socializing rather than transformative and liberating. Third, ignorance being equated with illiteracy, ignoring the knowledge and wisdom of non-literate people and the destruction caused by the literates. Fourth, the documents treat Education For All as a techno managerial problem rather than recognizing it as a fundamentally political decision requiring political will. Fifth, disparities in education are presented as the reason for underdevelopment, ignoring that educational disparities are rooted in socio-economic and political inequalities. Sixth, gender justice receives only superficial attention despite women constituting 70% of those denied education. Seventh, other marginalized groups like the tribals, scheduled castes, the poor, minorities are also largely ignored. Eighth, literacy is underplayed despite being central to Education For All. Ninth, the process is highly centralized, excluding the common people whose learning needs are to be met. Tenth, resource mobilization discussions fail to address debt burdens and defense expenditures that divert resources from education. Finally, the whole process and language of the documents risks new forms of colonization, with educational agendas determined mainly by donors and experts from the North. The paper concludes by calling for this initiative to be critiqued, discussed, and debated to ensure that Education For All becomes a genuine concern of all people.
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    Participatory research meeting in India
    (1979-02) Tandon, Rajesh
    This report documents a Participatory Research (PR) meeting held in February 1979. It was attended by 35 activists, field workers, researchers, and practitioners from across India. It describes case studies shared at the meeting, including West Bengal's Operation Barga sharecropper registration drive, a tribal-led irrigation scheme in Rajasthan, and the mobilization of landless labourers and tribal women through Maharashtra's Shramik Sangathana. The report then turns to debates that emerged on PR's relationship to social action, the overlapping roles of researcher and activist, the risk of fostering dependency, and possible entry points for PR work, along with a comparison of PR and classical research across five guiding principles. It closes by reflecting on the empathy and self-awareness needed in a participatory researcher.