1.1 Introduction: Giving Thought to an African Philosophy of Education
On having been introduced to massive open online courses (MOOCs), we contrived to devise, develop and implement an online course that would be both relevant and responsive to our pedagogy , more specifically, teaching and learning encounters. As it happened, African philosophy of education became the central focus in relation to which we could situate our educational research interests. We chose the idea of an African philosophy of education premised on the following three considerations. First, we envisaged focusing on a MOOC that would attract students to other ways of knowing, doing and being. Put differently, we considered a MOOC on African philosophy of education because we endeavoured to bring to masses of students a pedagogic discourse which could foreground the African condition . Second, having been initiated into dominant Western discourses of thinking and acting, we thought it apposite to introduce a platform of learning (and teaching for that matter) that foregrounds less dominant discourses, which often have to endure caricature on the part of those who hold a view of education prejudiced towards Western studies. Third, our interest in African philosophy of education has been stimulated by a notion of ubuntu (human interconnectedness and co-existence ) through which justice for all might be possible. It is, therefore, not surprising that we selected the figure of the late President Nelson Mandela of the first democratic South Africa as our backdrop to the publicity of the MOOC . As has been argued elsewhere, Mandelaâs educational contribution is constituted by at least three aspects: an education for non-violence guided by deliberative engagement and compassionate and reconciliatory actions, exercising responsibility towards others and cultivating a reasoned community of thinking (Waghid 2014a: 4).
Literature on African philosophy of education is much in vogue, as is evident from at least three major volumes on the subject: The African philosophy reader (Coetzee and Roux 2003), A companion to African philosophy (Wiredu 2004), and African ethics: An anthology of comparative and applied ethics (Murove 2009). One of the reasons that African philosophy of education is gaining prominence in scholarly texts today is because it has been criticised for existing mostly in the oral tradition , while most philosophical works are documented in texts (Waghid 2014b). Instead of refuting the criticism that the oral tradition dominates African philosophy of education, inasmuch as Socratesâ ideas were documented in the dialogues of Plato (both Greek philosophers of ancient times), we rather refer to literature on African philosophy of education to explain the concept. Although we have not specifically identified a notion of African philosophy of education, we have nevertheless used the concept to elucidate a philosophy of education that is other than what we have encountered in our learning. Our notion of an African philosophy of education emanates from our engagement with scholarly texts in and about education in Africa . In addition, our inferences most often rely on what we think an African philosophy of education foregrounds, instead of drawing on elucidations of the practice. Small wonder that many critics of an African philosophy of education take issue with an enunciation of the concept, as they contend that such a concept is not known to Africa. This in itself, we argue, is contentious considering that any philosophy of education represents a situatedness connected with the idea of where the particular philosophy of education has manifested. In this way, to talk about an African philosophy of education is related to the ideas that frame such a philosophy of education and, in our case, we draw on ideas espoused by African scholars and those whose ideas we aver resonate with African thought and practices. Thereafter, we consider how this concept of an African philosophy of education will influence educational relationships among people. We focus specifically on how constitutive features of the concept guide pedagogical actions such as teaching and learning . Later on, we also look again at the notion of democratic citizenship education as another way in which African philosophy of education has guided ideas in and about democracy , citizenship and education in multiple ways.
Our own interest in the texts of African philosophy of education is guided by an initiation into an Anglo-Saxon analytic philosophy of education , which focused overwhelmingly on the quest for meaning and understanding in and about the texts that informed educational change in post-apartheid South Africa. Our exposure to African philosophy of education gained much prominence vis-Ă -vis the seminal thoughts of the Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu (an African now living in Florida in the United States). By far the most poignant claim that Wiredu makes in terms of an understanding of African philosophy of education , is that which is connected to the integration of a plurality of views. Wireduâs claimâthat one would not necessarily compromise oneâs African identity if one draws on other âtruthsâ outside of oneâs own African tradition of thought (Wiredu 2005)âhad a major influence on our own scholarship in the field of African philosophy of education. His recognition of a plurality of âtruthsâ influenced a particular understanding of an African philosophy of education, to which we are drawn. In his words,
Any African effort to construct a philosophy for contemporary living by combining the insights of traditional philosophy with those originating from elsewhere is an effort in the Africanisation of philosophical studies . (Wiredu 2005: 17)
What is significant about his integrationist perspective of an African philosophy of education are the following. First, he couches such a philosophy of education as one that invokes âcontemporary living â experiences. This claim in itself is significant in the sense that Wiredu (2005) immediately opens the doors to an idea that is in consonance with what is âcontemporary â. Being attuned to contemporary living experiences today is not the same in a different time and space. For this reason, he immediately announces the open-endedness associated with a philosophy of education linked to Africa . Second, Wiredu (2005) is adamant that what is traditional philosophy is insightful. In other words, he recognises that in indigenous philosophy , there are discernments that are worthwhile considering. The point is that, in articulating an African philosophy of education, he recognises the importance of what is indigenously linked to Africans. Third, he does not discount philosophical thought from âelsewhereâ. This in itself is recognition that not everything about African philosophy of education should be attributed to African scholars but that discerning thoughts from othersâalbeit Western scholars âare not necessarily to be held incongruent with what constitutes an African philosophy of education. By implication, an African philosophy of education invokes traditional and non-traditional thoughts in enduring educational practices.
Moreover, whereas our interest in African philosophy of education is guided by an attempt at Africanising philosophy of education, the discourse also offers opportunities for those interested in enacting justice in and through their educational experiences (the focus of Chap. 3 of this book). In Chap. 3, our focus will be on some of the reasons why philosophy of education from an African perspective potentially offers possibilities for just human relations in and through pedagogic encounters , and more specifically through teaching and learning in a university setting. The rationale of Chap. 3, namely that an African philosophy of education engenders just action, also underscores the notions of decolonisation and decolonialityâideas that have gained much prominence in African academic circles, most notably nowadays in South African universities. Inspired by the #FeesMustFall movement, decolonisation and decoloniality have often been associated incorrectly with the rejection of everything other than African , as if African philosophy of education is absolute and untainted by any form of otherness as has been espoused earlier. The notion of decolonisation, on the one hand, argued for in this book, is tantamount to a pedagogic response that connects educational encounters with the attainment of just human action. On the other hand, decoloniality , which will be elucidated in Chap. 7, has some bearing on the transformative pedagogic discourses along the lines of attempts at deculturating such discourses from the overwhelming neo-colonia...