Decolonisation In Context Of South African Education

Decolonisation is a very complex and controversial topic to discuss. While many try to avoid this topic, it is a real issue that needs to be faced in South Africa. Colonisation is described by Kennedy in his article Decolonisation, A Very Short Introduction as “the imposition by a foreign power of direct rule over another people”. He later describes decolonisation as the “withdrawal from its former colonies of a colonial power; the acquisition of political or economic independence”. In this essay I will discuss decolonisation of the curriculum in a South African context. I will discuss various forms of decolonisation, some that I agree with and some that I do not, and discuss how I think that we should move forward as a country.

In 15th century South Africa was colonised by the European world powers. These missionaries travelled around the world, sharing their religious beliefs and Western ways as they wanted to enlighten the rest of the world. They landed in South Africa and took over, taking the land and enslaving the indigenous. From this began Apartheid, where there was severe discrimination against certain individuals based purely on the colour of their skin (the lighter skinned missionaries being portrayed as superior to the darker skinned indigenous people). Many individuals (particularly those from the political party African National Congress) fought hard and gave up their lives to fight against the Apartheid government and the laws that they had put in place which made all non-white South Africans seem less than human. In the 1994 elections, the ANC (lead by Nelson Mandela) won the elections which meant that there was freedom for all South Africans. Although we are no longer ruled by a foreign government or by a racist Apartheid government, many of the policies and practices that were put in place by the colonisers are still followed today.

The education system is still based on the Western ways of education and the knowledge that is taught is knowledge on Western history, literature, etc. Although there have been many attempts and protests for South Africa to decolonise its education, one being the protests on Fees Must Fall where the students were protesting for free and decolonised education, the curriculum that we follow is still centred around Western knowledge.Jansen (2017) discussed six different forms of decolonising the curriculum. I will briefly discuss some of these types of decolonisation and then explain which I agree with and which I think would be helpful moving forward. One of his forms of decolonisation involves the “decentring of European knowledge”. This is a soft approach to decolonisation where African thinking is prioritized. The knowledge in the curriculum would be focused on African lived experiences, African philosophy, ideas, values and aspirations and we would study African poets, philosophers, thinkers and authors. The knowledge in the curriculum would be more relevant to the African people. This type of decolonisation, although focussing on African knowledge, does not exclude other (Western) knowledge.

Another involves the displacement of colonial knowledge which is referred to as the “Africanisation of knowledge”. This is a hard form of decolonisation which argues in favour of indigenous knowledge and is less accommodating of Western knowledge. It instead votes for the removal of Western knowledge and for it to be completely replaced with African knowledge. Third, he suggests an “additive-inclusive” approach, where African knowledge is added to the edges of the curriculum but the main focus is still on Western knowledge and traditions. In this form of decolonising the curriculum, African knowledge is marginalised and not prioritised.

Finally I would like to discuss decolonisation as “encounters with entangled knowledges”. This from of decolonisation recognises that all knowledge has been created from the interwoven knowledge of both the colonisers and the colonised over time. This form of decolonisation acknowledges that we are all entangled by knowledge and experience and looks at how we can move forward in this entanglement. I strongly disagree with the additive-inclusive approach to decolonisation of the curriculum. I believe that this form of decolonisation does the bare minimum just to make everyone happy and does not see the value and importance of African knowledge. It marginalises African knowledge and does not benefit South Africans.

I also disagree with the Africanisation of the curriculum. I agree with Mbembe (2016) where he states that this form of decolonisation can be dangerous for South Africa as it could marginalise the universities. Unfortunately, if you want to be taken seriously as an academic then you have to conduct your knowledge and research in a particular (Western) way. If South Africa pulls itself completely away from the Westernised standards, will we still be able to compete globally with our academics? Will our work still be considered and acknowledged as academic articles and formal knowledge? What will happen to our ranking in the world? These are all questions that need careful consideration before such drastic measures should take place. Mbembe argues that if we were to completely break away from Western knowledge we would risk all of our universities becoming “bush universities”. I do however agree with the “decentring of European knowledge” and the “encounters with entangled knowledges”. I agree that there needs to be a movement towards acknowledging the importance of teaching and learning African knowledge and that it should play a main, centred role in the school curriculum. As someone who has recently finished the CAPS school curriculum, I cannot say for certain that - through my education - I feel particularity connected to and have a broad understanding of Africa and African knowledge but I would probably have more to say on European knowledge and ideas. I am also aware that we South Africans are largely connected to the rest of the world through technology and social media.

Over the years, our knowledge has become intertwined with the knowledge of the rest of the world and I do not think there is any means by which these knowledges can be separated. I believe that the knowledge that we work with has grown and has developed and has been influenced by Western knowledge due to our interconnectedness. Western knowledge is embedded in our African knowledge and African knowledge has been embedded in Western knowledge and I do not believe that there is any way of turning back.