Decolonising African Higher Education: Practitioner Perspectives from across the Continent
Based on:
Book (2022)
This book looked at how practitioners across the African continent write, think, and struggle around decolonising higher education.
Brief by:
Research collaborators:
Conversations about decolonising higher education are largely theoretical, conceptual, or historical, with less discussion about what is happening today, in terms of current efforts. Many of the mainstream conversations are Western European or US driven. We wanted to specifically tap into the challenges and opportunities that African-based scholars see, to concretely think about what it really means to decolonise.
This book investigated what decolonising higher education looks like in different local contexts including in Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, and Djibouti. It vocalised these conversations to encourage a Pan African discussion.
Key findings
Structures and infrastructures of higher education across the continent are still very colonial and white-centric which means that the funding mechanism is directly tied to the UK, the USA, or the European Union.
For the vast majority of universities on the continent, research funding comes from white-centric spaces outside of Africa.
This means that teaching, scholarship, and service, the three fundamental missions of universities, are done in a colonial context.
Most models, theories, articles and infrastructures are taken from European and Western contexts, even when local universities are trying to teach about how to solve local problems. To decolonise we have to transform the entire university and its infrastructures. This is a challenge because it means not getting funding.
Most efforts that appear decolonial, for example by centring African indigeneity, local Black communities, and local Black languages, are very siloed.
They operate in a vacuum within this larger infrastructure of coloniality. These efforts are powerful but they are not systemic, and they ultimately rely on the work of individuals within a larger system, which is not sustainable.
Africans work within institutions that directly contradict the communities from where they come.
These institutions deny local knowledge bases. For example, Ubuntu is one way of framing African indigenous learning systems. Ubuntu-based education is a collective conversation: individual learning should be shared with and applied in the community. This is contrary to western ideas of learning as an individual pursuit, designed for self-progression. This incompatibility shows how the existing knowledge system denies the existence of African indigenous knowledge.
Proposed action
We have to change the purpose of higher education
Locally, people on the continent need to push back against the Western influence of shaping higher education
To change the purpose of higher education in Africa, we need to change the funding model
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Ramya Zwaal for preparation assistance
We would like to extend a special thank you to Ramya Zwaal, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.
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Decolonising African Higher Education: Practitioner Perspectives from across the Continent
Cite this brief: B. Knaus, Christopher. 'Decolonising African Higher Education: Practitioner Perspectives from across the Continent'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/decolonising-african-higher-education/
Brief created by: Professor Christopher B. Knaus | Year brief made: 2023
Original research:
- T. M., B. Knaus, C., & J. S., Decolonising African Higher Education: Practitioner Perspectives from across the Continent New York: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003158271. – https://www-taylorfrancis-com.proxy.library.uu.nl/books/edit/10.4324/9781003158271/decolonising-african-higher-education-christopher-knaus-johannes-seroto-takako-mino
Research brief:
This book looked at how practitioners across the African continent write, think, and struggle around decolonising higher education.
Conversations about decolonising higher education are largely theoretical, conceptual, or historical, with less discussion about what is happening today, in terms of current efforts. Many of the mainstream conversations are Western European or US driven. We wanted to specifically tap into the challenges and opportunities that African-based scholars see, to concretely think about what it really means to decolonise.
This book investigated what decolonising higher education looks like in different local contexts including in Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, and Djibouti. It vocalised these conversations to encourage a Pan African discussion.
Findings:
Structures and infrastructures of higher education across the continent are still very colonial and white-centric which means that the funding mechanism is directly tied to the UK, the USA, or the European Union.
For the vast majority of universities on the continent, research funding comes from white-centric spaces outside of Africa.
This means that teaching, scholarship, and service, the three fundamental missions of universities, are done in a colonial context.
Most models, theories, articles and infrastructures are taken from European and Western contexts, even when local universities are trying to teach about how to solve local problems. To decolonise we have to transform the entire university and its infrastructures. This is a challenge because it means not getting funding.
Most efforts that appear decolonial, for example by centring African indigeneity, local Black communities, and local Black languages, are very siloed.
They operate in a vacuum within this larger infrastructure of coloniality. These efforts are powerful but they are not systemic, and they ultimately rely on the work of individuals within a larger system, which is not sustainable.
Africans work within institutions that directly contradict the communities from where they come.
These institutions deny local knowledge bases. For example, Ubuntu is one way of framing African indigenous learning systems. Ubuntu-based education is a collective conversation: individual learning should be shared with and applied in the community. This is contrary to western ideas of learning as an individual pursuit, designed for self-progression. This incompatibility shows how the existing knowledge system denies the existence of African indigenous knowledge.
Advice:
We have to change the purpose of higher education
- African higher education is based on individual acquisition of knowledge, which denies the existence of collective African knowledges and languages. Students need to be better equipped to address the global problems that operate locally in their context. They have to understand local contexts and speak local languages. This focus on local manifestations of global problems is a key. Recognising the nuances between different local contexts is important.
Locally, people on the continent need to push back against the Western influence of shaping higher education
- They should spend time investing in what structured local knowledge systems and ways or learning with indigenous knowledge should look like.
To change the purpose of higher education in Africa, we need to change the funding model
- Western research funders should listen and consider how to change the funding infrastructure to reflect local contexts, local purposes, and local languages, including adapting metrics for success and effectiveness. To change the way African higher education operates, western organisations that invest in African development must shift from a western orientation to an orientation of listening to and elevating African indigenous approaches.