Transnational curriculum inquiry : building postcolonialist constituencies and solidarities

In this paper I explore some theoretical and practical possibilities for building new transnational and transcultural solidarities in postcolonial curriculum inquiry. I argue that building such solidarities requires a rethinking of the ways in which we perform and represent curriculum inquiry, so that curriculum work within a global knowledge economy does not merely assimilate national (local) curriculum discourses-practices into an imperial (global) archive. I draw on the initial stages of research on internationalisation, inclusivity, and innovative knowledge work conducted with colleagues at Deakin University, and elsewhere, which focuses on the possibilities of producing knowledge in transnational virtual spaces. This includes studies of the formation of new (and we hope more inclusive) transnational scholarly communities and constituencies, and of strategies to improve modes of intercultural communication that facilitate transnational knowledge work. I situate part of my discussion of these arguments and issues in the practicalities of establishing Transnational Curriculum Inquiry (TCI), an electronic open-access journal that is both a site for transnational scholarly conversations and a site for inquiry into the ways that electronic publishing procedures facilitate and/or constrain inclusive knowledge work and postcolonialist curriculum inquiry.