Recent years have seen sustained challenges to the dominance of ‘Western’ theoretical and methodological approaches, cultures and research modalities across the social sciences, in the humanities and within the field of comparative and international education itself. These are important developments that have profound cross-cultural and epistemological implications for how comparative research is carried out, who might best lead such work and what this might mean for authors, editors and publishers worldwide.
Responses to such challenges in many fields have generated increased engagement with interdisciplinarity and collaboration, along with the emergence of innovative forms of international research partnerships, challenges to traditional North–South researcher roles and positionings, recognition of Indigenous knowledge, and the creative exploration of more fluid conceptions of insider/outsider researcher relationships. In such ways, the ‘voices’, lived realities, perspectives, values and priorities of research participants can be more clearly acknowledged and addressed: voices from the ‘grassroots’ level, and of practitioners who are too often marginalised in the worlds of academia and policy formulation. Perhaps most pertinently, the contemporary decolonisation movement has drawn increased attention, across all fields and disciplines, to the priorities and worldviews articulated by and within the Global South.
The Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education was launched by Bristol University Press at the start of 2023. The series, founded by Professor Michael Crossley, has a distinguished 30-year history that has been enhanced by the support of additional series editors, a diverse international Editorial Advisory Board, and a collective commitment to publish ‘books that critically engage with education from comparative, international and interdisciplinary perspectives, with particular interest in education for social, environmental and epistemic justice’.
The series builds upon the original rationale to publish high-quality research that bridges theory, policy and practice, while supporting early career researchers and the publication of studies led by researchers in and from the Global South. Reflecting this commitment, the book covers for each volume feature an image of traditional bark cloth, or ‘tapa’, from Papua New Guinea in Oceania.
Current trends are clearly demonstrated by the first book in the BUP era for our series: Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa: A Social Skills Ecosystem Perspective. This innovative publication was researched and written by a team of 20 African researchers who formed and led the VET Africa 4.0 Collective and wrestled with the challenges and dynamics of co-produced research and equitable joint authorship within the context of an externally funded international research partnership.
A focus on global social challenges also commands increased academic attention in today’s contemporary times – times characterised by tensions between intensified globalisation and heightened respect for issues of diversity, inclusivity, identity and sustainable development. The second volume in our BUP series, titled Decolonizing Education for Sustainable Futures, thus reflects upon the globally influential UNESCO Futures of Education Report in positive and forward-looking ways, at the same time as critically interrogating ‘the Western-centric assumptions underpinning education and development agendas’ and ‘the crucial connection between the idea of sustainable futures and the demand to decolonize education’. In the 12 chapters of this book, a combination of theorists, policy makers, practitioners, advocates, agency personnel and activists combine to engage with the formulation, implementation and critique of emergent international agendas and UNESCO’s efforts to ‘reimagine’ education for a more just and equitable world. It is hoped that this cross-cutting and transdisciplinary publication will contribute to the ongoing development, contextualisation and impact of this most recent UNESCO global initiative.
Both of these books, therefore, challenge much existing international literature across the social sciences by disrupting dominant development paradigms, advocating transformational change to the global development architecture, engaging with contemporary decolonial and environmental discourses, and exploring the potential for greater epistemic diversity and ‘ways of knowing’ in comparative and international research in education and the wider social sciences.
Subsequent volumes focus on innovative analyses of policy mobilities through assemblage theory, decolonial perspectives on teacher professionalism in the Global South, ethnographic accounts of schooling, conflict and peace in the Southwestern Pacific and collective memory work in post-conflict Peru.
The countries and contexts covered in detail to date span the Global South, ranging from the Caribbean and Central America, across sub-Saharan Africa, and within Latin America, Asia and Oceania; with contributions being made by a diversity of leading scholars, early career researchers, policy makers and practitioners drawn from nations and cultures in six of the seven continents.
Looking to the future, the momentum for the series is strong, with numerous cutting-edge volumes scheduled for publication in 2025, and leading scholars across a range of fields and disciplines submitting high-quality and innovative proposals for peer review consideration.
Together, this sequence of books and the emerging profile of this Bristol University Press initiative points to the significance and potential of social, environmental and epistemic justice as key themes in contemporary comparative and international education, and across the wider social sciences and related professions. This is challenging and critical work that has considerable potential to contribute to the forms of ‘social transformation and futures of education’ envisaged in the UNESCO Futures of Education Report, and by Bristol University Press itself.
Michael Crossley is Founding Series Editor of the Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education series and Emeritus Professor of Comparative and International Education, Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol.
More about the series
The Series Editors for the Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education are Professors Michael Crossley, Leon Tikly and Angeline M. Barrett all at the University of Bristol, and Professor Julia Paulson, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. For more information about the series and how to submit a proposal visit the series page here: Bristol University Press | Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education
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