Rojava’s ‘war of education’: the role of education in building a revolutionary political community in North and East Syria
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Rojava’s ‘war of education’ : the role of education in building a revolutionary political community in North and East Syria. / Boyle Espinosa, Elise; Ronan, Adam.
In: Third World Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 10, 2023, p. 2281-2299.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Rojava’s ‘war of education’
T2 - the role of education in building a revolutionary political community in North and East Syria
AU - Boyle Espinosa, Elise
AU - Ronan, Adam
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Since the beginning of the Syrian war and Rojava revolution, a new education system has been evolving. Foundational to this education is the ideology of Democratic Nation, which has its roots in the Kurdish political movement from Turkey, and to which radical democracy, women’s liberation and ecology are fundamental. In this article, we explore the makeup of Rojava’s formal education structures, and demonstrate how education has contributed to the creation of a political community whose sense of nationhood stems from the diversity of peoples in the region, united by their shared democratic values, and opposed to the nationalist Syrian regime and broader expansion of ‘capitalist modernity’. We first describe the structure and content of the new education system, and discuss how it has strengthened, and shaped, the political community it engenders. We go on to discuss the implications of its implementation, including the ways in which it both lives up to and contradicts its own ideals, concluding that within the teachings exists the potential for participants to continually reflect and improve. Our analysis of this emancipatory education system contributes to the literature on education and political community.
AB - Since the beginning of the Syrian war and Rojava revolution, a new education system has been evolving. Foundational to this education is the ideology of Democratic Nation, which has its roots in the Kurdish political movement from Turkey, and to which radical democracy, women’s liberation and ecology are fundamental. In this article, we explore the makeup of Rojava’s formal education structures, and demonstrate how education has contributed to the creation of a political community whose sense of nationhood stems from the diversity of peoples in the region, united by their shared democratic values, and opposed to the nationalist Syrian regime and broader expansion of ‘capitalist modernity’. We first describe the structure and content of the new education system, and discuss how it has strengthened, and shaped, the political community it engenders. We go on to discuss the implications of its implementation, including the ways in which it both lives up to and contradicts its own ideals, concluding that within the teachings exists the potential for participants to continually reflect and improve. Our analysis of this emancipatory education system contributes to the literature on education and political community.
KW - education
KW - ideology
KW - nation-building
KW - radical democracy
KW - Rojava
KW - Syria
U2 - 10.1080/01436597.2022.2115884
DO - 10.1080/01436597.2022.2115884
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85138232412
VL - 44
SP - 2281
EP - 2299
JO - Third World Quarterly
JF - Third World Quarterly
SN - 0143-6597
IS - 10
ER -
ID: 345316628