Global poverty, women’s empowerment, and higher education pedagogies: a pedagogical case study on an international experiential education initiative for sustainable development

This dissertation examines the pedagogies used to educate students on the global challenges of poverty in higher education. I suggest that in order for higher education to assume both its economic and social-ethical roles in addressing the global challenges of poverty and in promoting sustainable development, we need to understand higher education beyond current mainstream human capital perspective, towards a capabilities approach. Grounded in my pedagogical case study of a yearlong international interdisciplinary experiential education initiative at a large Midwestern US land grant university, this dissertation combines conceptual and empirical work to develop a “capabilities pedagogy” aimed at helping university students engage the broader impacts of poverty and working with people living in poverty. I especially explore pedagogical approaches to working with women living in extreme poverty to collaboratively develop educational initiatives to create the capabilities of both the students in higher education and the people living in poverty. My work follows the yearlong educational initiative as it pushes from “pedagogy about the poor,” to “pedagogy from the poor,” to “pedagogy for the poor.” I suggest the poor need to be a core part of any effort to mitigate global poverty, that is, we need to work towards a “pedagogy with the poor.” Higher education, integrated through the capabilities pedagogies, needs to provide conditions to expand the capabilities of the students to work with the world’s poor, and ultimately, expand the capabilities of the poor.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Cai, Xiuying Sophy

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mayo, Cris
• McCarthy, Cameron
• Dyson, Anne
• Hytten, Kathy

• Global poverty
• Women’s empowerment
• Higher education
• Sustainable development
• Capabilities approach
• Social justice pedagogies
• Capabilities pedagogy
• Pedagogical case study

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Xiuying Cai

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97548

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97548