Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper is an extension of my doctoral work, which explores Western ideological dominance by addressing epistemological authority as well as methodological dogma in education through a multi-layered text that is both written in academicese as well as narrative autobiography and incorporates art, music, web links and poetry to question and comment on Western ideas about knowing and being (Cole, 2018). My work is both an investigation of the International students global perspectives as well as a questioning of Western domination. In this sense this work enters the postcolonial conversation that is echoed in many fields from education (Au, 2009) to history and philosophy (Quijano, 2000; Venn, 2006; Denzin, Lincoln & Smith, 2008) to film studies (Bâ & Higbee, 2012) to trauma studies (Andermahr, 2015). I will interrogate representation (Stam & Spence, 1983; Hall, 1997) using ideas from postcolonial theory (Spivak & Harasym, 2014; Venn, 2006) by deconstructing and questioning the relationship between me, the documentarian/author, and those I am interviewing. As a professor of social sciences, I have developed a relationship with many students who have immigrated from non-Western countries. Through interview footage with students, the content of the film will address the experience of non-Western immigrant students by hearing their voices and examining their art, literature and linguistic projects. Through creative editing, layering of sound and disruptions of time the structure and form of the film will address questions of Western ideological and methodological domination.