Comparing otherwise: posthumanist drifts in comparative education

Purpose The main objective of this article is to explore the contributions of posthumanist thought to an epistemological reconfiguration of comparative education, understood not only as an academic discipline but also as a situated practice of knowledge production. This exploration responds to the need to shift away from stable, quantifiable and universalist models toward approaches that are more attuned to difference, relationality and the co-production of knowledge within plural and post-anthropocentric contexts. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a postqualitative, diffractive methodology grounded in posthumanist and feminist onto-epistemologies. Rather than following a linear or codified research design, it engages in a relational reading of key theoretical texts in comparative education, posthumanism and postqualitative inquiry. The diffractive approach – drawing on Haraway's and Barad's work – privileges entanglement, resonance and difference over synthesis or categorization. Texts are read through one another to trace conceptual shifts and identify emergent patterns. This methodology positions the researcher as ethically implicated and knowledge production as a situated, affective and world-making practice. Findings The diffractive reading revealed three key conceptual shifts in rethinking comparative education through a posthumanist lens. First, the decentering of the human subject as a stable, autonomous agent, replaced by relational and affective assemblages. Second, the epistemic value of strangeness, where the non-replicable and the singular emerge as productive sites of knowledge. Third, speculative pedagogies that transcend human boundaries, involving co-learning among humans, technologies and material environments. These findings challenge dominant categories such as “student” or “education system” and invite more plural, situated, and ethically engaged approaches to educational comparison in a more-than-human world. Research limitations/implications As a theoretical and conceptual inquiry, this study does not present empirical data, which may limit its applicability to specific educational contexts or policy debates. However, its strength lies in offering a reorientation of the epistemological foundations of comparative education. The posthumanist lens invites scholars to reconsider how educational knowledge is produced, what is compared, and who or what counts in comparative analysis. Future research could expand on these insights through empirical studies, collaborative methodologies or experimental pedagogical practices that embody more-than-human entanglements and plural onto-epistemic commitments. Practical implications This study encourages educators, researchers and policymakers to move beyond anthropocentric, standardized frameworks when designing curricula, assessment tools or international comparisons. By foregrounding relationality, materiality and ethical entanglements, it opens up possibilities for more inclusive and context-sensitive educational practices. In particular, the insights offered can inform the development of pedagogies that embrace difference, technological mediation and multispecies co-learning. Institutions involved in global education policy may also benefit from rethinking comparison not as classification, but as a generative, situated and ethically charged process of engagement across diverse educational worlds. Social implications By challenging dominant narratives of progress, universality and human exceptionalism in education, this study contributes to broader efforts to decolonize knowledge production and foster social justice. It highlights the importance of attending to marginalized voices, non-human agencies and the material conditions that shape learning. The posthumanist perspective invites more inclusive and equitable educational imaginaries, where interdependence, care and ecological responsibility become central. These insights have the potential to impact not only educational theory and practice but also how societies envision collective futures in times of planetary crisis and socio-ecological transformation. Originality/value This article offers a novel contribution by bridging posthumanist philosophy with the field of comparative education – a connection rarely explored in depth. Rather than proposing a new framework, it invites a rethinking of how educational comparisons are conceptualized, practiced and valued. Its originality lies in foregrounding diffractive methodology and embracing complexity, uncertainty and affect as generative forces in research. By unsettling taken-for-granted categories and advocating for more-than-human perspectives, the study opens up new epistemological and ethical pathways for comparative education in the context of global entanglements and ecological urgency.