Education and Decolonial Futures in the Philippines

This book is a unique and provocative study that weaves personal and historical narratives, diverse theoretical frameworks, and futures thinking. Using critical bricolage methodology and the Indigenous method of pakikipagkuwentuhan (storytelling), Rodriguez-Fransen amplifies the voices of Filipina educators as they interrogate and re-conceptualize colonial mentality as a systemic rather than an individual problem, and bridges the gap between educational theory and practice by creating new teaching and research tools, for scholars and practitioners in various sectors around the world: the Decolonial Portals and Decolonial Design Futures frameworks. This book takes readers on a journey through time, highlighting the interconnectedness and fluidity of past, present, and future stories of our world; it encourages all of us to recognize colonial mentality as a global problem, and calls for transdisciplinary, cross-sector, and cross-country collaborations in order to decolonize education and our futures.

Bea Rodriguez-Fransen is a scholar-practitioner originally from Malabon, Philippines, and now resides in Arizona, USA. She is co-founder and director of Arizona State University Next Lab, a Senior Global Futures Scholar, and a TED-ED Innovative Educator. She has served diverse communities in the Philippines, the United States, and Africa. Her 2024 TED Talk, "Unlocking Indigenous knowledge: A new path for education," highlights practical ways educators and practitioners can decolonize education.