Transnational Curriculum Studies: Reconceptualization Discourse in South Korea

Abstract

Creating transnational spaces of curriculum inquiry calls for dialogic encounters between East and West. This article makes visible, both for Western and non‐Western curriculum scholars, the historical development of curriculum studies in South Korea over the last 3 decades. Focusing on reconceptualist approaches to curriculum, the article argues for a reconfiguration of Western discourses in terms of local and regional knowledges. Beginning with the initial translation of Western texts in the 1980s and moving into the contemporary production of Korean texts on Korean practices of curriculum and schooling, the paper offers a case study in the creative challenges of merging global and local priorities. Writing “regional tales,” it is argued, sets a critical example for Western curriculum scholars while at the same time inviting links to curriculum studies and researchers in other non‐Western countries.