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Abstract
This volume has rflected on how teaching and learning in African higher education can be made relevant and sound in an attempt to trascend a number of factors that weigh down the teaching and leraning process in the continent. Five key themes can be drawn from the volume. First, the use of ubuntu philosophy for both humane online mass teaching and for critical thinking skills for both teaching and learning is an essential aspect that has to be taken seriously in African higher education. Secondly, teaching skills can be improved in the continent by taking advantage of brain gain brought by personnel from the developed world and by decolonising the academic work place of indigenous African lecturers. Thirdly, the actual teaching can be Africanised and made inclusive so as to accommodate African realities and exprerience as well as accommodating disabled students respectively. Fourthly, the need to improve teacher knowledge and the use of indgenous languages as media of instruction are important aspects that improve leraning. Lastly, the future of African higher education teaching and leraning can be guaranteed if and only if transformation, quality assurance and gender balancve are achieved through constant reflection and revisiting of pedagogical practices.
Abstract
In this conceptual chapter, we challenge the teaching of philosophy in Zimbabwean universities and present the argument that philosophy ought to be Africanised. Zimbabwean universities are platforms where seemingly opposed epistemological paradigms compete for epistemic space. In the context of the teaching and learning of philosophy in Zimbabwean universities, the dominant and hegemonic Eurocentric epistemology appears to occupy more space compared to the African epistemological paradigm. Reasons for the scenario include colonialism, underfunding, limited indigenous knowledge research and training. The work critiques the domination of foreign epistemological paradigms and argues for philosophy based on the African epistemological paradigm so that philosophy becomes relevant to both the students and the communities in which the universities are grounded. We conclude that to teach Philosophy by Africanising it is to go beyond mere rhetoric.
Abstract
African philosophy of higher education is essentially critical due European hegemony that has historically influenced trends in teaching and learning within the African continent. The purpose of this volume is to reflect on the actual teaching and learning in African higher education with the aim achieving relevance to both African students and communities. Contributors have employed diverse approaches that range from conceptual reflections to empirical investigations. These approaches bring a theoretical and practical balance to the volume. Contributors have shown that teaching and learning in African higher education are often alienated from the existential circumstances, experiences and realities of the African student. Authors have drawn from their experiences of teaching and leraning from a number of African countries that include; Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, it can be argued that theses experiences are applicable to other Sub-Saharan countries in the continent. Contributors to this volume have put forward suggestions for improvement of teaching and leraning and these include; critical thinking, decolonisation, transformation, gender balance, drawing from ubuntu, Africanisation, gender balance and inclusivity.
Chapter 7 Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ Epistemologies of the South
Chapter 5 Towards Knowledge Pluriversality in African Universities
Chapter 2 Does the African University Exist? Perverse and Necessary Dialogical Conditions
Chapter 1 Contextualising African Higher Education Philosophical Debates
Epistemological, Ontological and Ethical Perspectives
How can African philosophy of education contribute to contemporary debates in the context of complexities, dilemmas and uncertainties in African higher education? The capacity for self-reflection, self-evaluation and self-criticism enables African philosophy of higher education to examine and re-examine itself in the context of current issues in African higher education. The reflective capacity is in line with the Socratic dictum ‘know thy self.’ African Higher Education in the 21st Century: Epistemological, Ontological and Ethical Perspectives responds to the demands for reflection and self-knowledge by drawing from ontology, epistemology and ethics in an attempt to address issues that affect African higher education as they connect with the past, present and future.
Epistemological, Ontological and Ethical Perspectives
How can African philosophy of education contribute to contemporary debates in the context of complexities, dilemmas and uncertainties in African higher education? The capacity for self-reflection, self-evaluation and self-criticism enables African philosophy of higher education to examine and re-examine itself in the context of current issues in African higher education. The reflective capacity is in line with the Socratic dictum ‘know thy self.’ African Higher Education in the 21st Century: Epistemological, Ontological and Ethical Perspectives responds to the demands for reflection and self-knowledge by drawing from ontology, epistemology and ethics in an attempt to address issues that affect African higher education as they connect with the past, present and future.
From Critical Thinking to Social Justice Pedagogies
Historically, African higher education teaching and learning have relied on Western models, paradigms, assumptions, concepts and procedures, among other research related aspects. Western hegemony and ideology has influenced and continues to influence the epistemologies and both the methods and outcome of higher education research. The connection between teaching and learning is that teaching generates new forms of learning and learning challenges methods of teaching. Western claims to universality, objectivity and neutrality have dominated research paradigms in African higher education institutions to the detriment of alternative approaches and conceptions of knowledge. Methods aligned to African teaching and learning are often unrecognised and thus underutilised despite calls for the mantra for decolonial research methods. What are the African indigenous ways of teaching and learning? How are they related to the present African university? These puzzling questions provoke the minds of scholars on Africa to confront the discourse on decolonisation of higher education as they engage head-on and interrogate contemporary teaching and learning methods. Mediating Learning in Higher Education in Africa: From Critical Thinking to Social Justice Pedagogies provides critical reflections to some of the above questions that affect African Higher Education as it seeks to transform itself and provide directions for the future.
From Critical Thinking to Social Justice Pedagogies
Historically, African higher education teaching and learning have relied on Western models, paradigms, assumptions, concepts and procedures, among other research related aspects. Western hegemony and ideology has influenced and continues to influence the epistemologies and both the methods and outcome of higher education research. The connection between teaching and learning is that teaching generates new forms of learning and learning challenges methods of teaching. Western claims to universality, objectivity and neutrality have dominated research paradigms in African higher education institutions to the detriment of alternative approaches and conceptions of knowledge. Methods aligned to African teaching and learning are often unrecognised and thus underutilised despite calls for the mantra for decolonial research methods. What are the African indigenous ways of teaching and learning? How are they related to the present African university? These puzzling questions provoke the minds of scholars on Africa to confront the discourse on decolonisation of higher education as they engage head-on and interrogate contemporary teaching and learning methods. Mediating Learning in Higher Education in Africa: From Critical Thinking to Social Justice Pedagogies provides critical reflections to some of the above questions that affect African Higher Education as it seeks to transform itself and provide directions for the future.
Chapter 6 Inclusion and Social Justice
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