Beyond borders: trans-local critical pedagogy for inter-Asian cultural studies

Abstract

This paper challenges the apparatus of knowledge in the reproduction of the nationalist narrative of historical trauma that leads to the making of exclusive nationalism and unequal citizenship, particularly in East and Southeast Asia. I take the case of the 1965-66 genocide in Indonesia as an example to illustrate how the cultural trauma that took place in the Cold War Era had marked the turning point for follow-up nation-building and the cooperative distortion of the past through the politics of denial. This phenomenon does not happen only in Indonesia but also in other countries in the Northeast and Southeast Asia. The post-event juridical reform after these historical traumas established the foundation of national constitutions and planted the seeds of unequal citizenship in these countries. The legal practices of the post-colonial modern states repeat colonial strategies, and technique of governmentality reproduces itself through the education system at all levels. I want to suggest that to go beyond ideological borders and avoid the vicious circles of knowledge reproduction requires an innovative educational model of trans-local and critical pedagogy in the form of curricular decolonization. It aspires for a type of the university beyond the borders, beyond the walls. Through a trans-local, interdisciplinary, and cross-referencing critical studies, we then can attend to both the local but also the regional and global contexts. I also want to argue that such a model should bridge university and society to assist us in practicing epistemic decolonization to challenge the current cultural consensus.