The Imagined Other: Postcolonial Theory and Religious Education

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Abstract
This paper examines one aspect of postcolonial theory ‐ the relationship between culture and its representation ‐‐ and considers the relevance of this for contemporary religious education. The paper provides particular focus on the now widely held premise in postcolonial theory that domination within political and social systems is dependent upon the control and manipulation of cultural representation. The crucial idea here is that such domination is dependent upon the creation of a culturally imagined ‘other’. Arguing that this essentially colonial notion of ‘otherness’ remains ingrained within the language of religious education in England and Wales, the paper concludes with a call to re‐examine the representation of religious culture within a global, postcolonial framework.