SheLeads and CHILeaD card games philosophy

While realism (House, 1991) proposes that one reality exists, relativism (Hollis & Lukes, 1982) proposes that multiple realities exist. Zarrouk Initiative ontological position is between critical realism (Gorski, 2013) and bounded relativism suggesting that mental constructions of reality are equal in space and time within boundaries such as cultural, moral, and cognitive. Epistemologically, we intend to create knowledge as constructionists because we also think that meanings are created from interplay between the subject and the object. Starting from the statement that subjects construct the reality of the object, we propose to act on the subjects (our target: children and adults). Consequently, the philosophical orientation that guides our action is the Critical Theory. In other words we opt for critical pedagoy (Gruenewald, 2003). We start from the streams of emancipation and liberation because we think that research and theory could be used to change situations. Zarrouk Initiative focuses on power relations, critique assumptions and embraces William D. Nordhaus' call to evolve from empowering to enlightenment. Nordhaus, the 2018 Nobel prize laureates call is in fact an invitation to evolve from the emancipatory theoretical perspective proposing that subjects should be empowered to theoretical perspectives proposing their enlightenment. Thus, we combine two theoretical perspectives to reach the enlightenment of our subjects. First, advocacy and participatory which suggest that politics and political agendas could be accounted for. Second, feminism which proposes that the world is patriarchal and the culture it inherits is masculine. Zarrouk Initiative is thrilled to attract world-class partners to the project and to respond to a global issue which is closing the gender gap.

REFERENCES:

Gorski, P. S. (2013). “What is Critical Realism? And Why Should You Care?” Contemporary Sociology, 42(5), 658–670.

Gruenewald, D. A. (2003). The Best of Both Worlds: A Critical Pedagogy of Place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3–12.

Hollis, M., & Lukes, S. (1982). Rationality and relativism. MIT Press.

House, E. R. (1991). Realism in Research. Educational Researcher, 20(6), 2–9.

William D. Nordhaus’ speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2018.