Educational Neocolonialism and the World Bank: A Rancierean Reading

In this article, I employ Jacques Ranciere's conception of an explicative order to explore how the World Bank contributes to the global project of educational neocolonialism. I argue that the Bank operates as a Master Explicator who taps into students' "inability" to learn by themselves. It explicates concepts such as "development" and "educational reform" as if the so-called Third World is unable to identify and solve its own problems. I also discuss how the Bank's self-described role as a knowledge bank is based on biased notions of research knowledge and evidencebased practice. In the name of objectivity, the Bank promotes particular kinds of knowledge, which steer educational policies and reforms towards neoliberal capitalism. I conclude the article with some implications that Ranciere's conception of emancipation and equality may provide for imagining alternative futures.