Asian Century

From the Americas to Asia, neoliberal policy restructuring continues to present major challenges to educational equity. In Hong Kong, teacher educators grapple with training students in pedagogy they believe in, versus the daily status quo of high-stakes exam prep, privatized " shadow education, " and a system seemingly pushed to the brink of neoliberal social efficiency. Indeed, in recent years, Hong Kong has recorded top rankings on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Programme for International Student Assessment, along with record-setting protests and student suicides. Like in the USA, neoliberalization of teacher education in Hong Kong has proffered dilemmas of standardized curricula, evaluation, and licensure, often under the guise of " 21st century skills and technology. " Both regions also face perpetual threats of being under-or de-funded, based on " data-driven " decision-making and leadership that are supposedly more accountable and efficient. Unsurprisingly, neoliberal policies and practices have often exacerbated inequities in teaching and learning, especially for communities labelled as minority or working-class. Within traditions of critical pedagogy, this article's authors engage in a discussion on how educators and students are navigating the neoliberal behemoth and developing more inclusive spaces across local contexts of language, class, and culture. Based on the authors' research in the Americas and Greater China, this article interrogates some of the junctures and ruptures of neoliberal education in Hong Kong, long-held as bridge between " East " and " West. " The article draws from the first author Benji Chang’s action research projects with pre-and in-service teachers in the region, which examines how they are critiquing and challenging dominant discourses of neoliberalism (e.g., positivism, standardization, and market-economy), and what brings hope. Given Hong Kong’s history of colonization with Europe and the USA, and the ever-expanding dominance of mainland China, this article makes a contribution to international scholarship concerned with teacher education and social justice.

This presentation re-reads a selection of critical interdisciplinary theories in an attempt to open a space for cross-cultural dialogues as we enter the Asian century. Theories of globalization (Appadurai, 1996), deterritorialization (Deleuze & Guattari, 1977, 1988, 1994), power/knowledge (Foucault, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1994, 1997) and postcolonialism (Said, 1985, 1995) indicate that students and academics have the ability to re-imagine and influence globalization processes in higher education.  However, the current power effects of global discourses restrict the imaginaries and territories of globalization – leading to specific enactments of globalization in higher education in ways that prioritize western understandings. The authors argue for the need to explore hegemonic discursive formations of globalization to uncover processes of ‘othering’ and the subjugation of knowledges. In this regard, a postcolonial perspective can help by opening up scenarios for the future of higher education in the Asian Century.