Education and social change in post-conflict and post-disaster Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

The paper analyses the context in which education in Aceh acts strategically to advance an agenda of social transformation. Applying a cultural, political economy analytical framework, it identifies ways in which education is embedded in key cultural, political, economic and social struggles at present. They include: (1) the redistribution of educational opportunities and access; (2) ambiguous spaces for democratic representation in a decentralised educational structure; (3) competing notions of how diversity is acknowledged within Indonesia and Aceh Province; and (4) conflicted approaches to reconstruction following the 2004 tsunami and end of conflict in 2005.