NON-WESTERN

PERSPECTIVES ON
LEARNING AND KNOWING

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO
NON-WESTERN
PERSPECTIVES
ON LEARNING
AND KNOWING

TEAM 4
EHRD 630
SPRING 2017
TEAM-4
 Y:
MD
O
T N ANERN
O R ST
H TE
ICWES N-W
E
Definition of
D NO Dichotomy:
A division or
contrast between
two things that are
or are represented
as being opposed
or entirely
different.
WESTERN COUNTRIES
INCLUDE:

NORTH AMERICA,
WESTERN EUROPE,
AUSTRALIA,
AND NEW ZEALAND.

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 UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE
UNDER THE DICHOTOMY OF WESTERN AND
NON-WESTERN

Western considered the gold standard

deprives non-western countries of exhibiting
their knowledge which sets them apart from
the western norms.
What counts as legitimate knowledge?
Who constructs this knowledge and about
whom?
How is this knowledge transmitted?

Delorias analysis of the current educational system:

Separation of Knowledge
separates knowledge into two parts-
1. Professional expertise. 2. Personal growth.

The separation of knowledge has led to

basic schooling:
Adult learners to have a difficult time
thinking of their learning as anything but
participation in formal classes.
Informal learning which adults engage T E A M -in
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on a daily basis is rarely identified as

 CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES

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 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Many Definitions of Culture:

Basically, culture consists of the shared
behavior and symbolic meaning systems
of a group of people.
Hofstede: The collective programming of
the mind that distinguishes the members
of one category of people from another.

Interwoven with Culture is Language:

Language is defined as the culture
expressing itself with sound. It is also an
identity that will always define us as
members of a sociocultural family.

Western languages encourage the use of

nouns which encourages the
categorization of objects meanwhile
Western thought is more analytic.
Eastern languages encourage the use of
verbs which encourages the emphasis of
relationships meanwhile EasternT Ethought
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is more holistic and relational.
 LANGUAGE AND COLONIZING

Western culture brought with it an

educational system requiring the learning of
languages of the colonizer.
For decades, Native Americans, Aboriginal
and Maori peoples, people in Latin America
and in the British colonies such as India
were forced to learn the language of their
colonizers, suppressing their own cultural
identity.
While efforts have been underway for some
time now in reclaiming and valuing native
languages and employing them in schooling.

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 LEARNING AND CULTURE-
EXAMPLES
Jegede: African Culture:
Orality predominates, whereas in western thought
Learning is documented.
Learning is a communal matter whereas in the West,
learning is an individual enterprise.

Merriam & Muhammad: Malaysian Culture

Cultural values shaping older adult learning in
Malaysia, view learning as a spiritual or
philosophical quest and as a responsibility of and
a means of giving back to their communities.

Abdullah: Values
Compares cultural interpretations of values:
individualistic or more Western with
collectivistic or more Eastern.

Understanding differences in values is crucial to

managing a multicultural workplace:
Westerners value freedom and independence
whereas Easterners value
belonging, family, security, and guidance.
In the West, success is materialistic, in the East it
is relationship/friends based.
In the West, the communication style is direct
T E A M - 4 and

to the point-whereas in the

 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
Indigenous knowledge is defined as local or
community knowledge that is commonly
generated and transmitted over a period of time in
geographic and and historic space (Fasokun,
Katahoire, & Oduaran, 2005, p. 61).

It is knowledge generated to deal with local

problems and issues such as health, farming,
warfare, education, culture and the environment
(p. 61).

This knowledge is produced by people who

occupied lands prior to populations who now
share or claim such territories according to the
World Council of Indigenous Peoples.

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 Indigenous Knowledge/
Academic Knowledge
Indigenous knowledge differs from
official/academic knowledge in the
following ways:
It is generated within the daily lives of
people (organic) rather than by planned
procedures and rules (George, 1999, p.
80).
It is passed from one generation to the
other in oral rather than written form.
Knowledge is conveyed through story-
telling, poetry, metaphor, myth,
ceremony, etc
Honors indigenous elders as cultural
professors (Graveline, 2005, p. 308).
Brock-Utne (2002, p. 239) recount the
African proverb: When an elder dies in
Africa, it is a library that burns.

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 EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LEARNING AND KNOWING

Tacit knowledge (Indigenous knowledge) is

experience bound, either individually internalized or
collectively shared.

Explicit knowledge is exchanged through dialogue,

making it accessible for systematized and shared
understanding. A society can promote effective
learning by paying attention to the links between
spheres of tacit and explicit knowledge.

Aboriginal people of Western Australia learn by

watching and listening rather than asking questions.

If educators were exposed to different worldviews it

could impact their practice as adult educators in a
number of ways for example they could go from largely
transmitters of validated Western information to a
more compelling form of analysis engaging students in
the interpretation of various knowledges and modes of
knowledge production.

Another purpose in becoming familiar with other

knowledge systems is the benefit this knowledge will
have in affecting our practice with learners having other
than Western worldviews.

Exposure of perspectives outside of western views lead

to reflecting on our own ideas in new ways, and hearing
others stories about their learning contributesT Eto our
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own meaning-making.
 NON-WESTERN
PERSPECTIVES ON
LEARNING AND KNOWING

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