Transformative learning through collaboration : experiences of education beyond borders’ members from Canada and Kenya

Transformative learning results in profound shifts in worldview that affect how individuals think and act. This dissertation explores the transformative learning experiences among the members of Education Beyond Borders (EBB) from Canada and Kenya who collaborated closely with each other face-to-face over three summers in Nanyuki, Kenya. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand how the educators from the Global North and Global South navigated issues of power, privilege and hierarchy through the collaboration process. Often, NGOs have a donor relationship with the locals from the Global South where the donors are positioned to ‘save’ the ‘Others,’ a phenomenon known as “White Saviour Complex (WSC).” This research shows how the participants from EBB faced and navigated disorienting dilemmas resulting from wanting to have a more equitable working relationship with each other as a community of practice instead of a donor relationship. I argue that EBB members engaged in border work as they questioned cultural differences and issues of power and reflected on/developed critical consciousness of educational practices vis-à-vis the colonial legacy in Kenya. Some elements of the indigenous African philosophy, Ubuntu, especially the cohesiveness of community began to develop as a result of the educators engaged in border work. To varying extents, the participants experienced transformative learning that resulted in deeper self-awareness and a sense of solidarity with each other. Transnational collaboration profoundly changed the ways these educators thought about their roles as educators in a globalized world.