Beyond exceptionalism

Beyond exceptionalism

Blog Article

The idea of Nordic countries as benevolent, egalitarian nations largely innocent of colonialism, is increasingly challenged by researchers.Yet, there is still reluctance within Nordic education systems to properly examine issues of coloniality, race, and white privilege.In this conceptual paper we first draw on research from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden to deconstruct the notion of Nordic exceptionalism.We highlight a shared history of colonial complicity and ongoing coloniality towards Indigenous and minoritised groups.We also show that the Nordic emphasis on societal equality is based on a narrative of Shopping Motivation and Green Consumption: A Study about Green Buying Behavior of Pakistani Consumers cohesion, an imagined sameness, that increasingly fails to reflect their diverse populations.

This egalitarian ideology results in colour-blindness in society and an unwillingness to acknowledge or confront issues of race, white supremacy, or inequality for fear of disturbing the equilibrium.Using decolonial theory, we then suggest that within education, Nordic exceptionalism has led to a singular historical narrative and attempts to assimilate minoritised groups, in the process valorising Western epistemology.Educators either dismiss, or are ignorant of, what Quijano (2000) terms the colonial matrix of power: the system of Western domination that continues to normalise epistemic violence and devalue other knowledges and perspectives.Educators prefer to protect white sensitivities rather than allow critical discussion and uncomfortable questions of coloniality.We demonstrate that Nordic education needs to decolonise itself, but Investigating the Principles of Indigenous Housing Architecture of Hot and Dry Climate of Iran with the Formal Impact Approach of the Building in Promoting Thermal Comfort of Building Users that this cannot be achieved until it overcomes a discomfort with difference that prevents alternative knowledges and practices from being valued or adopted.

We conclude with some thoughts on how to begin this process.