Learning development through the Girl Rising Curriculum: discursive colonialism and subversive potentials

Abstract

ABSTRACT Global development and governance efforts are increasingly geared toward the unique power of girls from the Global South. In the “girling of development” discourse, investing in girls is not only the right thing to do but also the smart way to eradicate poverty and stimulate economic growth. As one iteration of this broader discourse, Girl Rising (GR) is a film turned social movement organization that prizes educating girls from the Global South to unleash positive development outcomes. With the help of the Pearson Foundation, GR created the Girl Rising Curriculum (GRC) to implement in elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States and the broader “developed world.” This article uses a postcolonial feminist framework to interrogate the colonial and capitalist logics of the GRC that, when contextualized in classroom spaces, are both reinforced and contested by teachers and students. While the GRC conceals its discursive colonialism and perpetuation of neoliberal capitalism through uplifting messages of empowering young girls, I argue that teachers and students in the classroom often reinterpret its logics through moments of subversive agency, signifying the discourse’s instability and transformative potential.