Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education
Atlanta, Georgia – March 5-9, 2017

To problematize is, in one sense, to engage critically with the world, to see things as problems, and to question what we often take for granted as common sense. In another sense, to problematize is to analyze how some things — and not others — come to be seen as ‘problems’ in the first place and how this process engenders certain solutions and possibilities while foreclosing others.

In setting “Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education” as the theme of CIES 2017, we direct attention to the multiple ways that researchers and practitioners in comparative and international education both address and neglect issues of equality and inequality in education. To present this challenge as one of problematizing “(In)Equality” is to suggest that the issue is more complex than one of binary absolutes. It invites us to consider the ways schooling, education reform and indeed comparative research itself may produce and perpetrate inequalities. And it asks us to address the circuits of exclusion and inclusion that in historical and contemporary terms impede and advance educational justice on a global scale.

Under this broad heading we invite proposals for papers, panel sessions, roundtable paper sessions and poster sessions that use comparative and international education work to address the problem and problematization of (in)equality.

I have invited participants in CIES 2017 to pay particular attention to the problem of inequality and have set the 2017 conference theme as Problematizing (In)Equality: The Promise of Comparative and International Education. To suggest that inequality needs to be problematized implies that much that is taken-for-granted needs to be challenged. It also suggests that we consider how inequalities are constructed as problems in the first place and what solutions and possibilities are thereby enabled and disabled.

We have an exciting conference planned, though of course CIES really only comes about because you – the members of CIES (whether long-established or newly entering the field) – come to present your work, come to learn from, and come to engage with one another.

CIES 2017 will feature a number of exciting new innovations including the introduction of Roundtable Paper Sessions to accompany Paper Sessions, Panel Sessions and Poster Sessions. We are also able to offer subsidized on-site childcare.

Our 2017 conference venue, the Sheraton Atlanta Downtown, provides an excellent range of smaller and larger meeting rooms, as well as superb socializing spaces for receptions and conversations over coffee or drinks.  In fact, we’ll be dedicating one ballroom space to serve as a conference lounge area for the informal conversations and meet-ups that make our Society’s conferences as enriching as they are.  Alongside this we have some space available (at no cost) for any groups or teams that want to hold private meetings either before or after the conference.

Professor, Cultural & Educational Policy Studies, Loyola University Chicago
Director, Center for Comparative Education, Loyola University Chicago
President-Elect (2016-2017), CIES