New cultures new classrooms: International education and the possibility of radical pedagogies

Abstract

Taking as a base understanding that pedagogies are themselves culturally situated knowledges, the intention in this article is to explore the cultural understandings which underpin pedagogies used in international education. It is argued that these pedagogies are expressions of new cultural formations that both characterise and are facilitated by international education. Through an examination of Bauman's development of the consumer cooperative as a metaphor for postmodern culture, the argument is made that cross-cultural pedagogies at the heart of international education have a radical possibility which can be realised if the dialectical relationship between sameness and difference is mediated by an understanding that both students and teachers act and author in the classroom. © 2001 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.