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Costa, Hugo Heleno Camilo (2020). Curriculum in international contexts: for a meditative agenda to live without 

Fear, Transnational Curriculum Inquiry 17 (1) p. 95-100 http://nitinat.library.ubc.ca/ojs/index.php/tci <access date> 
 

 

Curriculum in International Contexts: for a 

Meditative Agenda to Live Without Fear 

 
Hugo Heleno Camilo Costai 

Federal University of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso, Brazil 

 

 
KUMAR, A. (2019). Curriculum in international contexts: understanding colonial, ideological 

and neoliberal influences. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. 

 

 […] the counterposition of local and global resonates with an equation of the 

local with realness, with local place as earthy and meaningful, standing in opposition to a 

presumed abstraction of global space. Massey (2005) 

 

Ashwani Kumar's book provides a unique approach to curriculum studies because curricular 

thinking is so closely associated with his academic career and because of the geographical 

considerations that underpin his interpretation of the topic. For him, the intertwining of such 

elements explains his commitment to the field of curriculum and his attention to the different 

dynamics that influence the production of a curricular experience that is always unique to the 

subjects, but that can also be read in a global context, by understanding economic, political and 

ideological factors. 

 The path chosen by the author is shaped by how global forces institute directives for 

local curricular experiences as well as the ways in which different regional and local 

responses shape curriculum policies. Along this path, he offers discussions of global concepts 

such as neoliberalism (with its corporate lexicon), based on the perspectives of competition, 

comparison, management, reduction of autonomy and creativity, and focus on measurement. 

By using a variety of experiences, case studies, and theorizations that interact with global 

perspectives, and using different scales, places, and worldviews, Kumar helps us understand 

how curriculum is produced under intense political, cultural and religious conflicts, and 

through the ideological control of teachers, students, curricula, and communities. These 

tensions, according to the author, highlight the debates surrounding colonialism, racism, 

sexism, and gender, and emphasize the intersections and ruptures between the global and the 

local. 

 The author has undertaken a presentation of a wide range of curriculum policies, 

enabling us to visit a variety of curricular thinking enacted in different regions and countries 

with him. This brings us into close contact with the way the production of theory occurs in 

unique and enriching ways in different parts of the world. Unique, because theoretical 

production occurs as a continuous response to society; enriching, because exposure to global 

readings of the world tends to lead us to conceptualise these struggles for meaning more 

deeply, and to see their relationship to the varied challenges we deal with in our own reflexive 

tasks. 



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 To follow Kumar's itinerary is to follow a tour of what it is and what can be 

curriculum, through interaction with readings from around the world. This interpretative 

experience, marked by the relationship with otherness and momentary truths, can find 

resonance in Doreen Massey's conception (2008) that space is constituted as a “simultaneity 

stories-so-far", whose consequences are unpredictable and with connections that may be 

absent. This is an interesting view that the work offers to the reader: while general perceptions 

of the world may be widely spread, personal interpretations are constructed in very diverse 

ways. 

 These impressions begin with Chapter 1, which introduces us to Kumar's journey as an 

international educator with twenty years of research in the field of education and leads us to 

approach different themes that have helped the author to develop his view of curriculum 

studies. The trajectory of his ways of thinking began with his entry into the field of 

Geography, from which he began to build an integrated perspective of the world, with 

dynamics and disturbances that are caused by colonial perspectives of economic growth that 

plague Indegenous cultures and the environment, causing impacts on a range of levels and 

scales. The contributions of geographical thinking led him to see commonality among a 

seeming range of perspectives which were breeding many evils within humanity. In a search 

for the construction of a different world view for the future, the author incorporates a 

consideration of spirituality and meditation in his questions relating to the vision of economic 

development that guides international policies. With this, he offers the opportunity for us to 

consider that the lack of awareness of ourselves and our relationships with each other and 

nature lead to a crisis of human consciousness that has caused chaos in all spheres of life, 

from local to global.  

 Kumar highlights the influences of Freire, Giroux, and Krishnamurti – thinkers who 

have made a significant impact on him through their way of thinking about the world and of 

the purposes of education. Like them, Kumar invests in a holistic approach in which he seeks 

to think about the relationship of human needs and consciousness in relation to a whole set of 

global aspects (e.g., economic and political). In this way, Kumar brings our attention to a 

vision that seeks to overcome the structuralist readings or fragmentary tendencies of politics 

using an existentialist and meditative logic. 

 In this interpretative approach, the author ponders the impact of ideology, 

neoliberalism, and colonialism on curricular thinking and proposes a consideration of 

Indigenous, critical, autobiographical, and meditative responses as means of confronting these 

hegemonies. The first of these implies a movement toward decolonizing education implying 

challenging the oppressive, colonial processes and attending to generational traumas, through 

the affirmation of ancestral cultural roots and histories that constitute cultural heritage. This 

response is characterized by a multifaceted spiritual movement of reconnection with culture 

and nature; this would include peace, harmony and holism as an attitude in life, and in the 

processes of learning and teaching. The second, a critical response, invites us to grasp an 

understanding of the different academic contributions that help to criticize the ideologies that 

guide curricular production. Such response helps in the denaturalization of truths and in the 

fight against prejudice, injustice and discrimination in the classroom and in social life in 

general. A third response, autobiographical, constitutes an engagement in a psychoanalytical, 

phenomenological and existential approach to the curriculum, seeking to give consideration to 

the subjectivity at the center [core] of the curricular experience. It is an introspective process, 

focusing on cultural, intellectual, religious and political influences, which, according to the 

author, would help the researcher to connect to the deleterious influences of colonization, 

ideology and neoliberal logic of control. The meditative response consists of a search for deep 

understanding of the consciousness of human nature. This would lead to a move toward 

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fundamental consciousness that connects us all through our shared existence and which 

presently is marked by conflicts and antagonisms. Through this perspective, the author 

considers that it is possible to tap into a collective consciousness, capable of fighting 

prejudice, sectarianism and other negative influences in education at a deeper level within 

human beings. For Kumar, these responses, as a platform for reflection on the curriculum, 

provide opportunities for new ideas and worldviews. Throughout the following chapters, the 

author focuses on the curriculum studies of different countries.  

 In Chapter 2, entitled "Curriculum Studies in South Africa: Colonialism, 

Constructivism, and Outcomes-Based Education", the author notes that both India and South 

Africa are former European colonies which marks a certain similarity in curriculum policies. 

One common feature is the import of European educational solutions that are dissonant with 

local realities and lead to increased discrimination against local knowledge and identities. 

High rates of illiteracy, malnutrition, poor teacher training, and lack of infrastructure, are also 

common to both countries. The first section addresses the historical colonial roots that mark 

South Africa's educational history. Influences are highlighted that harken back to visions of 

education related to slavery and also to those linked to the apartheid period; however, the 

author points out various conflicts that have led to changes in the curriculum policy, in a 

movement to critique Eurocentric conceptions of education and what it means to be educated 

in South Africa. In the second part, he draws attention to a post-apartheid scenario, with 

internal tensions that are defined by the struggle of different segments of society to overcome 

the social injustices constructed by historical segregationism. This period is informed by 

progressive, constructivist and outcomes-based theorizations. The chapter also addresses how 

recent curricular reforms are guided by a drive toward outcomes, instrumentalism and 

managerialism in education, leading to a dissonant construction of the contemporary reality of 

the country which demonstrates the permanence of a colonial logic in curricular politics, 

updated by neoliberal senses. Along with these dynamics, a critical and democratic movement 

is emphasized that reiterates the importance of valuing local culture, daily knowledge, and the 

affirmation of a pedagogy constituted from and for South African values. 

 The third chapter, "Curriculum Studies in Brazil: Marxism, Postmodernism, and 

Multiculturalism," addresses the development of curriculum studies in Brazil, emphasizing 

three main moments of Brazilian thought: a pre-Marxist, Marxist, and a post-Marxist. For 

Kumar, the first moment was marked by the strong influence of Tyler’s and Bruner's thinking, 

with intense instrumentalist and psychological/cognitivist appeal. The period of greatest 

influence of Karl Marx's thinking was characterized by studies that sought to directly connect 

education with the processes of social development. Concepts such as power, ideology, and 

hegemony gained strength as interpretative instruments of the curriculum, and educators 

applied sociological approaches to study curriculum. Such theorizations were constituted as 

criticisms of the instrumental reading of the curriculum and, consequently, of the processes of 

exclusion caused by traditional and behaviorist views. The centrality of the debate on the 

processes of selection and legitimization of knowledge in the curriculum characterizes a 

significant portion of intellectual efforts in the period. It is also emphasized that the 

movements related to Marxist thought had different forms and approaches, mixing 

theorizations of phenomenology and existentialism, for example. The post-Marxist time 

period has been influenced by post-critical, post-structuralist, and post-colonial discourses. 

Such worldviews brought themes such as subjectivity, difference, gender, race, everyday life 

and identity to the curricular debate, mainly from the mid-1990s. For the author, the actuality 

of Brazilian curricular thinking signals a coexistence of different theoretical approaches, 

revealing, through the conception of hybridity, a key for different visions that highlight the 

curriculum as cultural production. 

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 In the chapter “Curriculum Studies in Mexico: Technical Rationality, Curriculum 

Communities, and Neoliberal Globalization”, the author constructs a vision of the 

development of Mexican curriculum thinking with attention to three main phases, the first of 

which is characterized by the importation of technicist and behaviorist logic of curriculum 

modeling. In this first phase, the author highlights the significant volume of translations of 

North American works into Spanish; this would signal an American imperialist movement 

with regard to the formulation of curriculum policies in the country. From the 1970s onwards, 

with the influence of European and Latin American critical thinkers, the number of studies 

grew that criticize the import of solutions and curricular programs from the United States, 

under the accusations of the lack of attention to the context Mexican reality. During this 

period, critical, constructivist, and interpretative theorizations and the discussion on 

professional development began to form part of the curricular debate in the country. Critical 

curricular studies in Mexico constituted a dialogue with different theories such as the new 

sociology of education, reconceptualization, reproduction theory, pedagogy of freedom, 

among others—producing a multifaceted field of studies focused on different Mexican social 

issues. Despite this, economic crises and the consequent dependence on foreign capital led the 

country to undergo strong curricular reforms focused on the defense of education for market 

in the logic of global capitalism. For Kumar, the current state of school curriculum in the 

country is significantly oriented towards instrumental and behavioralist views of education, 

guided largely by global educational reforms and related conceptions of innovation, skills, 

flexibility and outcomes. 

 In chapter 5, Kumar gives consideration to curriculum studies in Asia. Entitled 

“Curriculum as a Process of Conditioning in Asia: Ideology, Politics, and Religion”, the 

chapter draws attention to different case studies, demonstrating distinct processes involved in 

curriculum production of countries in the region. Based on these studies, he outlines three 

focal points that mark the influence of religious, cultural, ideological and political aspects of 

curriculum reforms in these countries. From an ideological point of view, the author 

highlights the cases of Japan, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Malaysia, South Korea, as being 

emblematic. He points out how different political movements fight for greater influence in 

educational policy, seeking to control curricular proposals, the preparation of textbooks, and 

teacher education; this reiterates the description of curriculum field as being characterized by 

continuous conflicts over the definition of the purposes of education. The second focus, which 

encompasses the tension between nationalism, globalization and moral values, includes the 

cases of moral education in China, the inclusion of Kokoro Education in Japan, the 

ideological debate on the incorporation of moral values in Singapore, and the defense of 

values such as harmony and docilization in Macau, as well as the debate on national identities 

in educational reforms in Vietnam and the Philippines. The author points to the exploration of 

moral education as an instrument of hegemonic ideologies in each country as being at the 

heart of the matter, to justify repression, educational control focused on the market and/or, 

with the expectation of valuing pride and national culture in readings on globalization. The 

third focus points to the religious influence on curriculum reforms in Pakistan, India and 

Malaysia. Such reforms led to a setback with regard to human rights, the way knowledge is 

conceived of, and the objectives of national education. Within these movements, there has 

been significant influence from fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist religious groups 

which advocate fighting against Westernization and other religious views. Throughout the 

chapter, the impacts of political and religious ideologies on national curriculum production 

are outlined. In this sense, there is a recurrent sense of reaffirmation of West-East binarism, 

with criticisms of foreign values, and strong opposition to critical freedom in some countries. 

On the other hand, a globalization of opportunities for participation in the world economy is 

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reiterated, with support for educational policies for internationalization. The chapter provides 

a heterogeneous panorama of how different discourses are articulated in different countries, 

building unique policies. 

 In the following chapter, “Indian Social Studies Curriculum in Transition: Effects of a 

Paradigm Shift in Curriculum Discourse”, the case of social studies in the Indian curriculum 

is highlighted. Kumar focuses on the conflict of different discourses on the teaching of social 

studies, drawing attention to the changes in the conceptions of this field of knowledge 

between the reforms of 2000 and 2005. For the author, in the last reforms there was a change 

of perspective, from a traditional view of instruction in social studies to a vision of critical 

social studies. Specifically, the author uses data from research conducted with schoolteachers 

to reflect on how such changes are related to their professional practices. Throughout the 

investigation, he highlights the difficulties and successes of teachers during the most recent 

reforms which provided more critical and experiential perspectives of teaching and learning, 

creating better conditions for critical thinking and questioning in the educational experience. 

Despite this, it points to problems that are gaining momentum in the educational system, such 

as: the idea that the role of social studies is to transmit defined concepts about citizenship and 

society that reiterates a transmission-based logic; the lack of adequate education for teachers; 

and the lack of infrastructure for teaching based on constructivist principles in schools. In 

addition, Kumar points to the strong influence of the perspective of seeing education as 

preparation for outcomes and exams, in a behaviorist-positivist logic of the curriculum, with 

the consequent support for the reiteration of apolitical and atheoretical readings on the process 

of schooling. For the author, despite the improvements that have been made, it is necessary to 

seek to overcome the difficulties mentioned, so the project of social justice and democracy 

through the Indian educational system can be strengthened. 

 The seventh chapter, called “Postmodern Turn in North American Social Studies 

Education: Considering Identities, Contexts, and Discourses”, is a discussion about the 

contribution of post-structural and post-modern thinking to research and teaching in the USA 

and Canada. The author discusses concepts that make up postmodern thought, emphasizing 

the contributions of such theories in the field of social studies and highlighting the 

significance of reflective, critical and democratic engagement. Themes such as the truth, the 

family, normativity, the individual, subjectivity and the power relations involved in the 

production of knowledge are investigated through various case studies. For Kumar, the 

contributions of post-structural and post-modern studies have repositioned concerns in social 

studies, moving them from a transmission-centered view to a critical and reflective one which 

takes into account the need to criticize the modern and western assumptions that guide the 

messianism of critical theory readings. At the end of the discussion, he concludes by 

highlighting the possibilities that post-perspectives bring to research and the teaching of social 

studies, as well as by highlighting proposals and questions about the inclusion of post-modern 

views in educational research, taking into account their conflicting and necessary interactions 

with the thoughts and perspectives of modernism.  

 In the last chapter, “The Menace of Neoliberal Education Reforms: Where Capitalism, 

Behaviorism, and Positivism Meet”, a conclusive discussion is presented on the ramifications 

of neoliberalism in different dimensions of social life, with special attention to how this logic 

impacts the field of education. As a core of his approach, Kumar points to the worsening 

inequalities between people and nations caused by neoliberalism, with its discourses of 

privatization, free markets and a reduction in the role of the state. In the political field, he 

points out that under this view, citizens have a reduced role and agency, which tends to make 

the citizen a mere spectator of political production. In the field of education, this logic leads to 

the formulation of policies based on corporate visions of education, with their defense of 

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standardized tests based on comparison, and more prescriptive and alienating curricular 

proposals. For Kumar, such political dynamics tend to undermine the creativity of teachers 

and students and control teaching and learning in schools. He points out that this can be 

challenged through theoretical investment in a critical educational agenda, the core of which 

is social justice; autobiographical attention to human consciousness and subjectivity; and a 

meditative conception of curriculum, which could link contributions from critical pedagogy 

and autobiographical studies in a quest to query the psychological roots of capitalism. The 

author argues that fear lies at the heart of the dynamics of competition, comparison and 

accumulation. Meditative questioning would call attention to the oppressive, subjective, and 

social relations based on competition; this movement would bring the possibility of 

revolution, from inner-consciousness to the external context (including economic and political 

structures). 

 I conclude with the thought that Kumar's international meditative approach offers us a 

variety of different impressions, such as the consideration of a broader context of economic 

and political- ideological influences, and an essential understanding of multiscale tensions in 

the production of curriculum policies. As a curriculum theorist, Kumar’s unique perspective is 

to emphasize critical and post-critical curriculum perspectives in a quest for reflection on the 

impacts of global educational policies around the world. But, more than that, he proposes a 

deeper study of oneself and one’s relationship to the educational, social, and political 

structures through autobiography and meditative inquiry in order to develop a holistic 

awareness which can allow us to be and to live without fear in the educational and the broader 

context. 

 

Acknowledgements 

I wish to sincerely thank Bonnie Petersen for providing generous help in editing this 

manuscript. 

 

Notes  
 

i hugoguimel@yahoo.com.br 
 

References 
 

Massey, D. (2005). For Space. London: Sage.  

 
 

 

Submitted: June, 15th, 2020. 

 

Approved: July, 27rd, 2020. 
 

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mailto:hugoguimel@yahoo.com.br