Archives enclose knowledge and are implicated in the colonial state. Because of the role of western archival practices in upholding epistemicide (Grogsfoguel, 2013), archives are by their very nature exclusive, selectively preserving records that shape the sorts of knowledge production possible (Foucault, 1990). These techniques of exclusion and elision help substantiate eurocentrism which itself is codified through the creation of its own dichotomies: east/west, primitive/civilized, magical/scientific, irrational/rational (Quijano, 2000). Furthermore, settler colonial pasts, and the enduring structures of oppression forged in colonialism, undergird much of what is sayable in historical narratives.

Telling history also obscures oppression by viewing differences between Europe and the rest of the world as natural (read: racial or cultural) and not as a consequence of domination and dispossession (Quijano, 2000). Eurocentricity, in the framework of coloniality, draws upon a vision of history that positions European formation as central to the development of the world (Quijano, 2000). Historians and social scientists have posited that stories must be told, in spite of the difficulties with locating certain archival materials (Townsend, 2004)

This paper draws from a larger research study on the history of punishment in British Mandate Palestine from 1920-1948 to consider several methodological and epistemological challenges in the writing of subaltern histories. Informed by theories of coloniality, knowledge enclosure, and accumulation by dispossession, this paper aims to explore two interrelated dilemmas related to writing colonial histories: how to repurpose colonial documents for decolonial ends and how to logistically address the lack of data and eurocentricity in archival systems. This paper explores the racism of the colonial gaze and its conjuncture with statistically inscribed colonial forms of rendering people into abstract populations (Foucault, 2007).

The first dilemma this paper parses are questions of what happens when you use the colonial archive for decolonial ends. The second dilemma this paper engages regards the challenges in the lack of data when studying vulnerable populations in a state of ongoing occupation, especially when trying to engage in mixed archival methods and the construction of data sets. This research too is bound by coloniality--the number of sources, lack of access to them, problems with eurocentric search engines and OCR that makes conducting research on the Arab press digitally challenging. The paper ends with reflections on the possibilities of what Hall and Tandon (2017) call knowledge democratization. As a counterpoint to enclosure, we propose several steps forward to opening the archive including community based collaborations, school-community cooperation, and two current attempts to open the archive through the establishment of a school-based collaboration in Palestine and the integration of material into the undergraduate classroom at a small liberal arts college.

This study seeks to investigate the profound implications of transnational higher education (TNHE) within local settings, focusing on the educational experiences of individuals through a historical lens. Specifically, it examines higher education institutions geographically proximate yet intrinsically linked to esteemed foreign elite universities. TNHE, as an integral facet of global internationalization, has recently gained scholarly attention within the history of education. Despite recent advancements, historical inquiries into TNHE remain underappreciated compared to the longer history of internationalization within higher education, traditionally regarded as a fundamental pursuit. Since the early 1990s, 'the transnational turn' has introduced a new analytical framework highlighting the escalating circular movements of individuals, goods, information, and symbols propelled in TNHE (Vertovec, 2009). This includes initiatives such as international branch campuses (IBCs), where the establishment of IBCs often involves intricate interactions between diverse cultural and educational systems. Against the backdrop of geopolitical changes and increased focus on soft power, the societal value of higher education and its multifaceted impacts on socioeconomic status and human capital have undergone significant evolution. Consequently, an examination of the circulation of ideas and concepts within TNHE necessitates a nuanced consideration not only of their origins but, crucially, of the intricate conditions of their reception. This exploration is intrinsically linked to a transformation in the social character and situation of the social class since the advent of mass higher education. It provides an opportunity to reconsider how relationships between the center and periphery in education have been approached, seeking to dismantle the historically pervasive epistemological and cultural domination within educational processes and institutions. A transnational perspective demands attention not solely to the transformation of national cultures with the movement of ideas but, notably, to the recipients—primarily, the students. Students' experiences are deemed a pivotal link connecting IBCs and TNHE to the sustainable development of broader higher education systems in both host and home countries. In essence, the student experience embodies a bottom-up process, necessitating an investigation into TNHE implementation through a microhistorical lens (Ginzburg, 2013). This method harnesses students' perspectives to offer nuanced insights transcending prevailing evaluations of TNHE. Utilizing an extensive array of data from oral history interviews mitigates the ever-present risk associated with relying solely on pure archival materials, positioning the interview and archival sources as mutually reinforcing supplements to enhance scholarly inquiry. (McCulloch & Richardson, 2000). Meanwhile, this research is not limited to traditional historical materials, but uses various images collected from fieldwork as historical evidence (Burke, 2001). The diverse sources proved invaluable in tracing and understanding the evolution of print culture within TNHE (McCulloch, 2004). This endeavor aims to illuminate the historical, social, and cultural underpinnings, contemporary contextual dimensions, and diverse global engagements of TNHE. The collected data reflect intriguing phenomena, subtly intersecting with the theoretical framework. In alignment with the conference's thematic call, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on globalized education. It echoes the conference's commitment to critically re-evaluating educational histories and advocating for more inclusive and equitable paradigms within the realm of transnational higher education.

This contribution develops an analysis of the ‘problem’ of school disengagement circulating in Australian educational policy material produced between 1990–2020. Activating techniques of historical and discursive analysis (Bacchi & Goodwin, 2016; Foucault, 1972, 1980), the paper examines the changing formulation of school disengagement matters in policy documents concerned with school participation and student behaviour. Its sources are procedural policy materials designed to direct schooling practice, as well as the framing documents and legislations that inform these guidelines.

The paper makes the case for a significant recalibration of disengagement matters over the period under study. Drawing on evidence accrued in my PhD thesis, I argue that concerns about the participation and achievement of longstanding ‘problem’ students—Indigenous, culturally diverse, rural, and young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds—blended with newer concerns about the inclusion of students with diverse physical, mental, and social abilities. In doing so, the problem of school disengagement both expanded and gained new inflections. This development registers in the documentary material under investigation as a move from a focus on maintaining school order and classroom discipline to a greater focus on the solutions of family-school partnerships, individualised support, and targeted interventions. The aim underpinning this ‘softer’ focus was to keep more young people connected to school for longer, with greater involvement, and with more experience of learning success. As the Effective Schools are Engaging Schools: Student Engagement Policy Guidelines (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2009) puts this, the goal was to ensure that “all children and young people, regardless of their circumstances and background, participate and engage in a world class education system and emerge equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the future” (p. 1).

Drawing on corroborative historical scholarship, (Campbell & Proctor, 2014; Connell, 2015; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010), the paper offers an abbreviated genealogy of this shift to a more inclusive treatment of school dis/engagement; paying attention to its conditions of possibility, the specificities of its expected day-to-day enactment, and, the contradictions inherent in such an expansive aim. The central contribution of the paper is the analysis of the meshwork of historical events, intersecting systems of reasoning, and associated knowledge practices that made it simultaneously important for all students to engage successfully with school, and yet difficult for some to do so.