Decolonisation as Democratisation – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

Cognisant of the globalising context in which we find ourselves, as intellectuals we ought to ensure relevance in what we teach. This orientation, which prizes pedagogic relevance, has been raised as an objection to the decolonial call, being – at times – used to resist democratic change in the South African University. The contributions in this volume highlight the implications of the global relevance discourse through revealing the impact of decontextualised curricula.

Similarly, institutional democratisation and decolonisation ought not to be a turn to fundamentalist positions that recreate the essentialisms resisted through calls for decolonisation. As a critical response to such resistance to democratisation, this book showcases how decolonisation protects the constitutionally enshrined ideal of academic freedom and the freedom of scientific research. We argue that this framing of decoloniality should not be used to protect interests that seek to undermine the transformation of higher education. Concurrently, however, it is critical of decolonial positions that are essentialist and narrow in their manifestation and articulation.

Decolonisation as Democratisation suggests what is intended by a curriculum revisionist agenda that prizes decolonisation through bringing together academics working in South Africa and the global academy. This collaborative approach aims to facilitate critical reflexivity in our curriculum reform strategies while developing pragmatic solutions to current calls for decolonisation.

Format : 240mm x 168mm (Soft Cover)

Pages : 248

ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2600-5

Publish Year : February 2021

Rights : World Rights

Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Chapter 1: Educational Desire as the South African Epistemic Decolonial Turn

Part I – Concerns of and Approaches to Decolonial Agendas

Chapter 2: How to Decolonise Knowledge without too much Relativism

Chapter 3: Complexities and Challenges of Decolonising Higher Education: Lessons from Canada

Chapter 4: Beyond possession: decolonising the educational relationship

Part II – Philosophical Contextuality, Pedagogies and Decoloniality

Chapter 5: Socratic Social Criticism in Higher Education

Chapter 6: The Anatomy of Epistemicide and the search for Epistemic Justice: Towards a Relevant Education

Chapter 7: Embracing an Ethical Epistemological Approach in African Higher Education

Chapter 8: Decolonisation and Displacement: Mbembe and Decolonising the University

Chapter 9: Funda-mentalities: Pedagogic twists and turns in South African Philosophy (of Education)

Chapter 10: Futurity, Decolonisation and the Academy – Where to from Here?

Afterword

About the authors

Index

About Authors | Editors

Siseko H. Kumalo, holds a Master of Arts (Cum Laude) in Political Philosophy from the University of Pretoria’s Department of Political Sciences. He received his formative training from Rhodes University where he read in Political and International Studies, Anthropology and Philosophy. His research and teaching interests centre around themes of education decolonisation in the South African academe. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Decolonising Disciplines, a journal dedicated to decolonising disciplinary knowledge across faculties in higher education. His research aims to substantively engage Indigenous epistemes in the South African university through focusing on the intellectual contributions of Indigenous intellectuals such as SEK Mqhayi, WW Gqoba and Mazisi Kunene. Siseko serves on the Literary Association of South Africa’s Executive Committee and is a Mandela Rhodes Scholar (2017).

Endorsements

This book makes a timely, insightful, and thought-provoking contribution in the critical debate and discussion on the decolonisation of the academy. The well-argued ideas presented are deeply captivating, challenging, and incisive. I cannot recommend this book strong enough to any scholar or researcher who wants to engage at a deep level with the topical ideas on decolonisation and democratisation of knowledge creation. It is a reservoir of fresh and inspiring ideas.

Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor, Rhodes University

In the course of South Africa’s 2015-16 student protests for “a free, decolonized education,” there followed a flourish of publications on decolonization in an effort to make sense of that historic moment on university campuses. Then, few of those rather rushed writings contributed “deep thinking” on this complex subject. Now, with skilful editorship, Siseko Kumalo brings together the best thinking from education and philosophy to explore the vexed question of the decolonization of knowledge in relation to the democratic project. Nuanced, courageous, and always self-critical, this powerful book is unflinching in its treatment of vexed topics in the decolonization debates such as indigeneity, blackness, desire, dogmatism and of course, solidarity. I have no doubt that Decolonisation as democratisation will become a prescribed text in university curricula where its very presence decolonizes taken-for-granted knowledge from our troubled pasts.

Jonathan D Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University

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