Educational Infrastructures and Pluriversal Imagination for Equitable Economic Futures

This chapter interrogates the constitutive role of education in shaping economic futures in the Global South, arguing that educational systems function both as narrative infrastructures, i.e., constructing societal grammars of value, success, and belonging, and as systemic design spaces, structuring the material conditions under which these narratives are enacted. Integrating insights from narrative economics, systemic design theory, and decolonial pedagogy, it examines how colonial legacies, neoliberal reforms, and alternative pedagogies influence economic subject formation. Drawing on case studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including Bhutan's GNH schools, Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement, and innovation hubs across Africa, it demonstrates that plural, justice-oriented models are operational realities. The chapter advances a framework for scaling such innovations through policy reform, participatory governance, and post-growth valuation systems, positioning education as a generative commons for building equitable, sustainable, and pluriversal economies.