Defying Definition: Rethinking Education Aid Relationships in Solomon Islands
Abstract
The discourse of aid—its language, structures and practice—powerfully ascribes roles and attributes to those involved in aid relationships such as developed/developing, partner, recipient/donor etcetera. This discourse is driven by a complex system of diverse and often competing ideas, values, actors and relationships, within which individuals must make sense of their role and agency at both professional and personal levels. While recent years has seen much focus on improving relationships by reordering some of these categories, little research has investigated how individuals themselves make sense of all this, and how it then influences their practice. The research presented in this article investigated the professional subjectivities of a small group of public servants working for the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development in Solomon Islands. The primary aim of the research was to explore the ways in which professional subjectivity is influenced by, and influences, aid relationships in Solomon Islands. The research findings demonstrate the complexity and multiplicity of professional subjectivities within the education sector in Solomon Islands and provide insight into how this impacts on aid relationships and aid effectiveness. The research findings highlight the need to move beyond reified binaries of ‘self’ and ‘other’ and resist the appeal of bounded categorisations of aid actors. Embracing the dissonance inherent in aid relationships and continually reflecting on the dynamic interaction between discourse, professional subjectivities and individual agency are offered as potential means for strengthening education aid relationships across Oceania and beyond.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives is the official journal of the Oceania Comparative and International Education Society. The IEJ, (ISSN 1443-1475), publishes a general volume bi-annually in July and December and also publishes Special Editions occasionally. It is a free, open-access scholarly journal, managed by volunteers. There are no article processing charges, or any charges to authors.
In relation to intellectual property, as of 2020, the IEJ: CP claims only first publication rights; copyright of all work published in the journal remains with the authors under Creative Commons copyright license CC-BY-ND (4.0). Author(s) retain all rights to their works, ensuring that reference to the International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives is clearly stated on any copies made or distribution. Submissions must not involve third parties with a claim to copyright, and be the sole work of the author(s). It is the responsibility of the author(s) to secure permission to reproduce photographs, illustrations, figures or tables. Single images, tables or figures can be re-used . If more than a single image or table are to be re-used authors must attribute first publication to IEJ: CP notify the IEJ: CP Editor. Authors may also make derivative works which are subject to these limitations.
See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ for more detail.
Re-distributed or used material must be referenced to the International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives.