Approaching Southern theory: explorations of gender in South African education

Abstract

This article draws on the five other papers from South Africa in this issue of Gender and Education to consider how Southern theory has been developed and is developing in relation to gender and education in South Africa. We argue that Southern theory is not an on-the-shelf solution to global geopolitical inequalities but a work in process that is important both for the global South and to simultaneously dethrone and enrich Northern, mainstream theory. The article begins with a prologue explaining the origins and profile of the particular politics of knowledge production discussed in this issue. In the next section, we consider the notion of the ‘global South’ and trace the way in which knowledge itself is imprinted with the legacies of imperialism and colonialism, both in the North and in the South, with different agendas for theory arising from the historical positions of each. We then offer a very brief contextualisation of the issue in the specific context of South Africa, drawing on the articles to explore the particular nuances and issues raised by its particular historical and geopolitical location. In so doing, we point to some of the very difficult questions raised by the relationship between indigenous and modernist (Northern) knowledges. We move on to suggest some ways of thinking about intervening to challenge and potentially alleviate inequalities, showing that policy is not enough. In conclusion, we return to Southern theory, noting some of the limitations to which a journal like Gender and Education can contribute and the journey yet to travel while celebrating the fact and nature of this issue as a contribution to the development of Southern theory from and in South Africa.