Abstract
The African continent continues to grapple with the enduring legacy of colonisation and Western hegemony in its education system. Significant scholarly attention and debate have centred on issues such as decolonising curriculum content and promoting indigenous languages as mediums of instruction. There has also been a growing body of literature exploring indigenous epistemologies and knowledge systems. However, the most critical component of decolonisation in education remains underexplored: the epistemology of education itself. It is the epistemic foundation that underpins curriculum development and instructional methodologies. Without a decolonised epistemology of education, any other educational reforms risk perpetuating colonial ideologies and injustices. In this dissertation, I start the construction of a decolonised epistemology of education – an Ubuntu-enriched epistemology of education.
My study situates itself among developments in social and virtue epistemology that have shaped the emerging discipline of the epistemology of education. I argue that Ubuntu philosophy has value to offer to the epistemology of education in virtue of its community-centred framework, which can accommodate critical intersections between social and virtue epistemology. To construct the basis of the Ubuntu-enriched epistemology of education, I analyse the epistemic aims of education and the critical concepts of teaching and learning. I argue that an Ubuntu-enriched epistemology of education would promote three interconnected epistemic aims: developing the intellectual virtue of epistemic reciprocity – a unique contribution arising from Ubuntu philosophy; cultivating the skill of critical thinking; and furthering the epistemic good of understanding. I then offer Ubuntu-aligned interpretations of
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learning as a collaborative, situated, lifelong process aimed at empowering action; and teaching as a shared, relational endeavour requiring verbal and non-verbal engagement. Based on these conceptualisations, I propose what I call ‘dialogic discourse’ as an appropriate pedagogy that aligns with these Ubuntu-based conceptualisations and explicitly cultivates the three interconnected epistemic aims. I conclude the dissertation by considering the complexity of, and some recommendations for, realising an Ubuntu-aligned curriculum, providing a vital foundation for further inquiry and the construction of a more holistic Ubuntu-enriched epistemology of education.