Decolonizing the “Subject” in Qualitative Research: Doing Qualitative Educational Research from Decolonial Perspectives

Any radical re-imagining of qualitative research (especially in comparative education) requires a decolonial problematization of the ‘Enlightenment subject’ that has been so central to qualitative research in general and in comparative education in particular. The ‘Enlightenment Subject’, needs to be understood in the overall context of the decolonization movement or what Passada (2019) calls the South Global regard. The enlightenment subject (which is present in not only the positivist research but is also an integral part of the critical and ‘post’ foundational qualitative research) is an integral part of the continuing colonizing project. In this paper I examine the alternative articulations of the ‘subject’ from vantage point of decolonial studies/movement. I argue that articulations from this position not only provide legitimate locations of inquiry in comparative education but also provide more adequate frameworks for analysis of educational dynamics in a world where the modernity/coloniality/Western project is ongoing. Specifically, I postulate that the decolonial subject must not be ‘chosen’ a priori and the researcher must not try to ‘determine’ what the subject’s problem and issues are. It must be the subject that identifies both herself, the context, and her issues that need to be researched. I further argue that, decolonial articulation of subject (not as an epistemic construction) is necessary to abolish the ontological, epistemological, and epistemic privileges that the colonial researcher carries along with the methodological dispensations that accompany the colonial privileges. Finally, I argue that the decolonial articulations of ‘subject’ provide an interlinked set of methods and strategies that are better suited for research on issues in contemporary comparative education. I end the paper with a brief elucidation of these methodological strategies