Islamic Identity, Postcoloniality, and Educational Policy

This book theorizes a philosophical framework for educational policy and practice in the southern Philippines where decades of religious and political conflict between a minority Muslim community and the Philippine state has plagued the educational and economic development of the region. It offers a critical historical and ethnographic analysis of a century of failed attempts under successive U.S. colonial and independent Philippine governments to deploy education as a tool to mitigate the conflict and assimilate the Muslim minority into the mainstream of Philippine society and examines recent efforts to integrate state and Islamic education before proposing a philosophy of prophetic pragmatism as a more promising framework for educational policy and practice that respects the religious identity and fosters the educational development of Muslim Filipinos. It represents a timely contribution to the search for educational policies and practices more responsive to the needs and religious identities of Muslim communities emerging from conflict, not only in the southern Philippines, but in other international contexts as well.

Includes three new chapters Based on interviews with key Filipino Muslim and non-Muslim educators and policy makers Grounded in ethnographic research in the Philippines, and historical research in U.S. and Philippine archives Offers policy makers new ways forward for the educational development of the Mindanao region, especially after ratification of a peace treaty Posits that the concept of prophetic pragmatism can be used by governments trying balance the demands of a modern education with the demands of Muslim citizens asserting an Islamic identity

Autorentext

Jeffrey Ayala Milligan is Director of the Learning Systems Institute and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, USA.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Education and Ethno-Religious Conflict in Postcolonial Spaces.- 2. Precolonial Culture and Education in the Southern Philippines.- 3. Pedagogical Imperialism: American Education of Muslim Filipinos, 1898-1935.- 4. We Sing Here Like Birds in the Wilderness: Education and Alienation in Contemporary Muslim Mindanao.- 5. Reclaiming an Ideal: The Islamization of Education in Mindanao.- 6. Understanding the Past, Navigating the Future: Theorizing a Way Forward for Mindanao.- 7. Prohetic Pragmatism: Toward a Bangsamoro Philosophy of Education.