A mapping of theoretical approaches in the field of comparative education in Latin America

JORGE M. GOROSTIAGA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XV Congreso Mundial de Educación Comparada; 2013

World Council Comparative Education

Akin to a view that considers comparative and international education as an agonistic space of contested interpretations and negotiated realities, this paper presents a preliminary mapping of the diverse theoretical approaches adopted in the field of comparative education in Latin America between 1990 and 2012. The paper employs the social cartography methodology  --a combination of textual analysis and visual representation-- originally used by Rolland Paulston to map the theories in the field of comparative education (mainly for the US and Europe) for the period 1960-1990. It focuses on texts that are the result of studies conducted by scholars and analysts based on Latin American institutions. The analysis of some thirty texts ?an interpretative close reading?serves as the basis for the identification of the main theoretical approaches (and their underlying ideological, epistemological and methodological choices), which in turn are situated in a bi-dimensional map that allows for a spatial patterning of difference. This preliminary mapping, which needs to be further developed by identifying additional texts and by contrasting its findings with the academic community, shows the diversity of approaches employed in the field at the regional level, and how these approaches relate to different worldviews and epistemological perspectives.