Can Asymmetrical Cooperation Be Legitimised? Habermas, Foucault and Spivak on German-Tunisian Cooperation in Higher Education

Abstract

This study investigates whether and under which conditions certain forms of cooperation that are characterised by a degree of structural asymmetry among partners may nonetheless be considered legitimate. In investigating this question, the study will operate in three theory-driven sections borrowing from critical theory, post-structuralism and postcolonialism. Each section will provide a brief presentation of the main theoretical arguments developed by one philosopher, illustrated with extensive direct quotes from relevant original works. This presentation will then be followed by a critical summary. For the sake of illustration, theoretical arguments will then be confronted with empirical observations based on my own participation in the 'Tunisia in Transition' project. Section one will argue in favour of the possibility of genuinely horizontal argumentative engagement on the basis of Habermas' discourse 'ethics' and theory of communicative action. By contrast, section two will introduce Foucault’s genealogical account of the power/knowledge interplay to reject the possibility of discursive spaces that would be in a position of exteriority to power relations. Section three will then bring in the writings of Spivak on the double aporia of representation in order to highlight the practical obstacles to a subversive use of the Master’s knowledge by the subaltern for genuinely emancipatory purposes.