Deferred epistemologies: cyclical theory importation and knowledge governance in China’s foreign language education in schools

Abstract This article contributes to Southern Theory by interrogating the cyclical dynamics of knowledge production in China’s basic foreign language education. It argues that reforms in this domain have long been shaped by a recurring pattern of theory importation and reactive problem-solving, whereby imported frameworks are used to address perceived deficiencies in previous reforms without disrupting the deeper epistemic structures that shape them. Through a Foucauldian lens, the study identifies a persistent epistemic deferral: the relegation of local theorisation to a belated, reactive position within global knowledge hierarchies. Analysing three major reform phases since 1949, the article demonstrates how foreign language education in China has been governed not only by shifting pedagogical logics but by a structural silence around indigenous knowledge-making. While recent efforts to construct independent knowledge systems signal a desire for epistemic autonomy, they remain constrained by the same temporal and discursive logics they seek to resist. In revealing this patterned deferral, the article calls for a rethinking of localisation, not merely as spatial adaptation, but as a political act of epistemic authorship.