Ethnophilosophy as intellectual resources: self-reflective inquiry into the onto-epistemic foundations of global education policy research

This paper exemplifies a way of recasting researchers’ autobiographical narratives as an intellectual resource. In so doing, it aims to describe the inherent complexity and multilayered nature of the onto-epistemic foundations for studying global education policy (GEP). It seeks to achieve this aim through self-reflective thinking about my own trajectory that encompasses my origin and professional experiences. One’s origin and professional experiences interrelate in shaping their decisions about ‘what to study’ and ‘how to study’, decisions that ultimately influence the nature of the knowledge created on political and educational practices in different parts of the world. In reflecting on my trajectory toward becoming a researcher, I am attentive to how my childhood memories, which are coloured by Shinto spiritualities, Buddhist doctrines and Japanese naturalism, gave rise to my interests in actor-network theory (ANT), which has recently become an influential part of the ‘material turn’ in the GEP field.