Inclusion, democracy and philosophy of education: Democratic education as inclusion, Nuraan Davids and Yusef Waghid (2022). Lanham Maryland: Lexington Books

Enslin, P. (2023) Inclusion, democracy and philosophy of education: Democratic education as inclusion, Nuraan Davids and Yusef Waghid (2022). Lanham Maryland: Lexington Books. Journal of Philosophy of Education, (doi: 10.1093/jopedu/qhad071) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

For philosophers of education who hold on to the optimistic hope that democracy education can play a part in halting the decline of democracy, Davids and Waghid point the way towards its potential contribution when approached by making inclusion foundational to democratic education. Taking a poststructuralist approach as the best way to articulate an expanded conception of inclusion, this book makes the case that there is an urgent need for a reconsidered conception of democratic education that appropriately addresses race, ethnicity and gender. This review’s critical appreciation of Davids and Waghid’s book explores their analysis of inclusion, noting its illuminating use of examples of exclusion in South African education which are also relevant to wider contexts beyond the specificities of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. In raising some questions about their arguments, I express reservations about the book’s predominant focus on race, ethnicity and gender as markers of identity. This is at the expense of class and material exclusion—and hence of distributive justice as a dimension of democratic inclusion. The review concludes with a discussion of how philosophy of education itself might be democratically inclusive, in response to the authors’ account of whiteness and their experiences of exclusion.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Enslin, Professor Penny
• Authors: Enslin, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Journal Name: Journal of Philosophy of Education
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 0309-8249
• ISSN (Online): 1467-9752
• Published Online: 31 October 2023