ABSTRACT
This sets out the theoretical framework and provides the overall context for the book. It draws from postcolonial and decolonial theorists and argues that in spite of formal decolonisation processes, many elements of colonialism still exist today and continue to reproduce racial and cultural hierarchies. The authors contend that educational discourse in Ireland, specifically in relation to Africa, remains predominantly rooted in deficit perspectives overshadowed by colonial continuities. This impacts on the experience of the Black African diaspora and people of African descent living in Ireland, as well as on majority ethnic (White) thinking and behaviour. The outcome is symbolic violence on the one hand, with racialised responses on the other, creating a cocktail of injustice and discrimination, which undermines the possibility of ethical and equitable relationship. The authors make a case for ‘global justice education’, which involves recognition of historical processes and contemporary inequalities (including economic realities), which encompasses critical and political dimensions of thinking and practice, and which, in the process, impacts on race relations in the local context.
