Analysing the “Ordinary Extractivism” of British Elite Schools Overseas Branches through the Lens of Racial Capitalism: Epistemic, Social and Racial Justice Implications

The proposed contribution focuses on British elite schools and examines the epistemic, social and racial justice implications of the “sister” or “satellite” campuses that they have developed over the past two decades.

While elite British schools are categorised as charities, and enjoy tax breaks accordingly, the overseas branches that they have established around the world - and particularly in South-East Asia and the Middle-East – are commercial ventures, operated through subsidiaries according to various franchise models. These are typically very expensive quasi-replicas of the British schools known for their exclusionary practices and role in the social reproduction of British elites. Through these financial arrangements, the UK-based schools can profit from the export of their ‘brands’, extracting capital from their overseas branches and channelling it back to the UK.

Drawing on interviews with staff of these satellite schools and on documentary analysis (including Charity Commission reports), we use the lens of racial capitalism to analyse the relationships between British elite schools and their overseas branches. We argue that through their overseas operations, British elite schools engage in extractive practices and are complicit in processes of enclosure and dispossession – including that of knowledge, as white British ways of knowing and being are positioned as superior. These processes, legitimised by a commercial logic, are also premised along racialised lines and ultimately ensure that the promised ‘British eliteness’ remains out of reach for those who subsidise its social reproduction.