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  • Essay / Global social studies attempts to think globally and...

    In the broadest sense, a global studies department seeks to study cultural, political, economic, and social relations in the world with particular attention to the processes cultural and political, the impacts of globalization and the nature of development. According to its website, Wilfred Laurier University's Department of Global Studies seeks to discuss the responsibilities of a privileged society in a world stricken by war and poverty. He seeks to answer how; if possible, it is about “thinking globally” and “acting locally” (Donais, nd). In my research, I delve deeper into the veracity of these statements by exploring the question; How does Wilfrid Laurier University's Global Studies program reproduce colonial discourses? It is important to study this topic because our own socioeconomic and academic backgrounds can influence how one teaches a global studies course and inadvertently reproduce colonial attitudes toward knowledge. To fully understand and study the world and its relationships, we must be aware of how colonial discourses are reproduced in education. I will use the postcolonial concept of the “other” presented by Edmund Said and the poststructuralist investigations into power relations discussed by François Foucault in my research. My first goal is to assess the prevalence of white privilege in the literature and theory taught in my research. the Global Studies department. I will seek to deconstruct cultural legacies within the program and investigate the different ways in which the subject is viewed through a cultural perspective. Secondly, I want to explore the narrative of interculturality within the school curriculum. I will focus on how the ethnic other and the ethnic self are created in the materials and its potential impacts on...... middle of article ...... for the colonial narrative. Given that the mandate of the Global Studies department seeks to discuss cultural relationships rather than differences, interculturality should be a key element of the curriculum. Most research done on post-colonialism in education has been case studies of individual institutions and usually former colonial establishments. subjects. However, few have studied either at the post-secondary level or within a privileged Western society as a former colonizer. Using the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University as a case study, we can study the perpetuation of colonial discourses from within a former colonial power. By examining different aspects of post-colonialism and poststructuralism in this context, I hope to add to existing knowledge and dialogue around education involving the reproduction of colonial discourses..