An invitation to an interdependent mode of academic engagement in comparative and global education studies: a response to Edward Vickers’ criticism

Abstract

Since its publication in 2017, the ‘blue cover’ special issue in Comparative Education Review, which I co-edited, has been subjected to criticisms, most notably by Edward Vickers. This paper attempts to treat his criticisms as an opportunity to explore a more conciliatory, interdependent way of mutual engagement in scholarship. It first reviews the notions of ‘being taught by’, ‘interruption’, and ‘let others encounter us’ in Gert Biesta’s writings. It shows how these concepts help us conceptualise a mode of scholarly engagement that takes us beyond adversarial refutation, where its self-reflective and relational aspects are centred. In the rest of the paper, I attempt to put in practice this alternative mode of academic engagement in responding to Edward Vickers’ criticisms. The paper, thus, serves as an invitation to embark upon the lifelong process of disinvesting from usual academic practices that privileges reason, separation, and dominance over self-reflection, emotions, and interdependency.

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