3 - Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies: A Pathway to Acknowledging African Knowledge Systems in the Arena of Mainstream of Knowledge Production?
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 13 No. 1-2 (2015): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies: Border Crossing
Abstract
This article proposes an idea which to most might seem misplaced and unrealistic. Its aim is to demystify myths around African scholarship and rural learning ecologies that are misrepresented in discourses dominant in the global North. Sustainable rural learning ecologies located within African-centred philosophy should be understood in this context as a transformational agenda and a vehicle for knowledge construction. The concept of sustainable rural learning ecologies is simply about acknowl- edging knowledge constructions within the rural contexts as knowledge embedded in African value systems. Knowledge construction in a rural learning context should be celebrated for its strengths and opportunities, as having its own comparative and competitive advantage in the global discourse arena. Sustainable rural learning ecologies (SuRLEc) should be understood as an epistemological discourse that makes meaning and critiques the dominant body of knowledge by affirming rural context and cultural constructs. The paper examines hegemonic dominant discourses that try to monopolize knowledge production systems and domesticate other parameters for the interpretation of realities as historically obsolete, irrational and pre-modern. It argues that SuRLEc is a platform that holds people’s experiences as sources for the construction of forms of knowl- edge. I therefore argue for learning ecologies that acknowledge different formations and foundations for the construction of pyramids of knowledge. I conclude by dismissing views that hold that any one pyramid of knowledge is by its nature eminently superior to all others.
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- Achebe, C., 1997, ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness’, inHopes and Impedi-ments: Selected Essays, New York: Anchor, Print.
- Adorno, W.T., 1974, Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life, translated by E.F.N. Jephcott, London: New Left Books.
- Asante, MK., 1997, ‘The escape into hyperbole: communication and political cor- rectness’, Journal of Communication 42 (2): 141–47.
- Cabral, Amilcar, 1979, ‘The Role of Culture in the Liberation Struggle in Commu- nication and Class Struggle’, Volume 1: Capitalism, Imperialism, New York: International General.
- Delgado Bernal, D. and Villalpando, O., 2002, ‘An apartheid knowledge in academia: the struggle over the “legitimate” knowledge of faculty of color’, Journal of Equity and Excellence in Education 35 (2): 169–80.
- Derrida, J., 1995, ‘Deconstruction and the Other’, in Richard Kearney, ed., States of Mind: Dialogues with Contemporary Thinkers in the European Mind, Manches- ter: Manchester University Press.
- Foucault, M., 1976, ‘Politics and the study of discourse’, Journal of Ideology and Consciousness 3: 7–26.
- Foucault, M., 1979, Power and Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, New York: Patheon.
- Foucault, M. 1988., Michel Foucault. Politics, philosophy, culture: Interviews and other writings, 1977–1984. Translated by Alan Sheridan and others. Edited with an introduction by Lawrence D.
- Kritzman, New York and London: Routledge.
- Foucault, M., 1997, Michel Foucault. Ethics, subjectivity and truth. Edited by Paul Rabinow.
- Translated by Robert Hurley and Others. Essential Works of Foucault 1954–84. Volume 1 Edited by James D. Faubion. Translated by Robert Hurley and Others, New York: The New York Press.
- Foucault, M., 2004, Society Must Be Defended. Lectures at the College de France, 1975–76, London:
- Penguin Books.
- Gitlin, T., 1979, ‘Prime time ideology: the hegemonic process in television entertain- ment’, Journal of Social Problems 26 (3): 56–73.
- Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, W.T., 1972, Dialectic of Enlightenment. Translated by John Cumming, New York: Continuum.
- Huber, L.P., 2009, ‘Disrupting apartheid of knowledge: testimonio as methodology in Latina/o critical race research in education’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 22 (6): 339–654.
- Kalla ay, P., 2002, The History of Education under Apartheid, 1948–1994: The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Ltd.
- Mahlomaholo, M.G., 1998, ‘Signification of African cultural identity, individual African identity and performance in mathematics among some Standard Nine African pupils in Mangaung High Schools’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Western Cape.
- Mahlomaholo, M.G., 2004, ‘Empire talks back: Interrogating indigenous knowledge systems in postgraduate curriculum’, unpublished paper presented at the pos- tgraduate seminar Central University of Technology, Free State.
- Mahlomaholo, M.G, and Nkoane, M.M., 2002, ‘The case of emancipatory qualitative research: reflection on assessment of quality’, Journal of Education as Change/ Onderwys as Verandering 6 (1): 89–105, Faculty of Education and Nursing – Rand Afrikaans University.
- Makgoba, M.W., 1998, South African Universities in Transformation: An Opportunity to Africanise Education. Black Perspectives on Tertiary Institutional Transfor- mation, Vivlia Publishers and University of Venda.
- Makgoba, M.W., 2005, The African University: Meaning Penalties and Responsibili- ties. Towards African Scholarship. Public Affairs and Corporate Communication, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
- Mekoa, I., 2006, Introducing Afrocentric Studies in the Newly Merged University of KwaZulu Natal: Systematic and Thematic Principles for an African University.
- Nkoane, M.M., 2006, ‘The Africanisation of the university in Africa’, Journal of the Centre for the Study of Southern African Literature and Languages/ALTERNA- TION 13 (1): 49–69.
- Nkoane, M.M., 2012, ‘Critical emancipator research for social justice and democratic citizenship’, Perspectives in Education 30 (4): 98–104.
- Nkoane, M.M. and Lavia, J., 2012, ‘Rethinking Education in South Africa: Amplifying liberation pedagogy’ in J. Lavia and S. Mahlomaholo, eds, Culture, education and community – expression of the postcolonial imagination, New York: Pal- grave Macmillan.
- Nkomo, S., 1992, ‘The emperor has no clothes: rewriting “race into organisations”’,Academy of Management Review 17 (3): 487–513.
- Odora-Hoppers, C.A., 2002, ‘Indigenous knowledge systems and the transformation of thinking and practice of academic institutions in South Africa’, unpublished paper presented at HSRC, Pretoria.
- Said, E.W., 1996, Representation of the Intellectual, New York: Vintage Books Editions. Seepe, S., 1998, ‘Towards Africentric Understanding’, in Seepe, S., ed., Black Perspectives on Tertiary Institutional Transformation, Thohoyandou: Vivilia Publishers and University of Venda.
References
Achebe, C., 1997, ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness’, inHopes and Impedi-ments: Selected Essays, New York: Anchor, Print.
Adorno, W.T., 1974, Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life, translated by E.F.N. Jephcott, London: New Left Books.
Asante, MK., 1997, ‘The escape into hyperbole: communication and political cor- rectness’, Journal of Communication 42 (2): 141–47.
Cabral, Amilcar, 1979, ‘The Role of Culture in the Liberation Struggle in Commu- nication and Class Struggle’, Volume 1: Capitalism, Imperialism, New York: International General.
Delgado Bernal, D. and Villalpando, O., 2002, ‘An apartheid knowledge in academia: the struggle over the “legitimate” knowledge of faculty of color’, Journal of Equity and Excellence in Education 35 (2): 169–80.
Derrida, J., 1995, ‘Deconstruction and the Other’, in Richard Kearney, ed., States of Mind: Dialogues with Contemporary Thinkers in the European Mind, Manches- ter: Manchester University Press.
Foucault, M., 1976, ‘Politics and the study of discourse’, Journal of Ideology and Consciousness 3: 7–26.
Foucault, M., 1979, Power and Knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, New York: Patheon.
Foucault, M. 1988., Michel Foucault. Politics, philosophy, culture: Interviews and other writings, 1977–1984. Translated by Alan Sheridan and others. Edited with an introduction by Lawrence D.
Kritzman, New York and London: Routledge.
Foucault, M., 1997, Michel Foucault. Ethics, subjectivity and truth. Edited by Paul Rabinow.
Translated by Robert Hurley and Others. Essential Works of Foucault 1954–84. Volume 1 Edited by James D. Faubion. Translated by Robert Hurley and Others, New York: The New York Press.
Foucault, M., 2004, Society Must Be Defended. Lectures at the College de France, 1975–76, London:
Penguin Books.
Gitlin, T., 1979, ‘Prime time ideology: the hegemonic process in television entertain- ment’, Journal of Social Problems 26 (3): 56–73.
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, W.T., 1972, Dialectic of Enlightenment. Translated by John Cumming, New York: Continuum.
Huber, L.P., 2009, ‘Disrupting apartheid of knowledge: testimonio as methodology in Latina/o critical race research in education’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 22 (6): 339–654.
Kalla ay, P., 2002, The History of Education under Apartheid, 1948–1994: The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Ltd.
Mahlomaholo, M.G., 1998, ‘Signification of African cultural identity, individual African identity and performance in mathematics among some Standard Nine African pupils in Mangaung High Schools’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Western Cape.
Mahlomaholo, M.G., 2004, ‘Empire talks back: Interrogating indigenous knowledge systems in postgraduate curriculum’, unpublished paper presented at the pos- tgraduate seminar Central University of Technology, Free State.
Mahlomaholo, M.G, and Nkoane, M.M., 2002, ‘The case of emancipatory qualitative research: reflection on assessment of quality’, Journal of Education as Change/ Onderwys as Verandering 6 (1): 89–105, Faculty of Education and Nursing – Rand Afrikaans University.
Makgoba, M.W., 1998, South African Universities in Transformation: An Opportunity to Africanise Education. Black Perspectives on Tertiary Institutional Transfor- mation, Vivlia Publishers and University of Venda.
Makgoba, M.W., 2005, The African University: Meaning Penalties and Responsibili- ties. Towards African Scholarship. Public Affairs and Corporate Communication, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Mekoa, I., 2006, Introducing Afrocentric Studies in the Newly Merged University of KwaZulu Natal: Systematic and Thematic Principles for an African University.
Nkoane, M.M., 2006, ‘The Africanisation of the university in Africa’, Journal of the Centre for the Study of Southern African Literature and Languages/ALTERNA- TION 13 (1): 49–69.
Nkoane, M.M., 2012, ‘Critical emancipator research for social justice and democratic citizenship’, Perspectives in Education 30 (4): 98–104.
Nkoane, M.M. and Lavia, J., 2012, ‘Rethinking Education in South Africa: Amplifying liberation pedagogy’ in J. Lavia and S. Mahlomaholo, eds, Culture, education and community – expression of the postcolonial imagination, New York: Pal- grave Macmillan.
Nkomo, S., 1992, ‘The emperor has no clothes: rewriting “race into organisations”’,Academy of Management Review 17 (3): 487–513.
Odora-Hoppers, C.A., 2002, ‘Indigenous knowledge systems and the transformation of thinking and practice of academic institutions in South Africa’, unpublished paper presented at HSRC, Pretoria.
Said, E.W., 1996, Representation of the Intellectual, New York: Vintage Books Editions. Seepe, S., 1998, ‘Towards Africentric Understanding’, in Seepe, S., ed., Black Perspectives on Tertiary Institutional Transformation, Thohoyandou: Vivilia Publishers and University of Venda.