Literaturnachweis - Detailanzeige
Autor/in | Abdi, Ali A. |
---|---|
Titel | Eurocentric discourse and African philosophies and epistemologies of education. Counter-hegemonic analyses and responses. |
Quelle | In: International education, 36 (2006) 1, S. 15-31Infoseite zur Zeitschrift |
Beigaben | Literaturangaben |
Sprache | englisch |
Dokumenttyp | gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz |
ISSN | 0160-5429 |
Schlagwörter | Erziehung; Formale Bildung; Kulturdifferenz; Entfremdung; Informelles Lernen; Kolonialismus; Erkenntnistheorie; Weltbild; Eurozentrismus; Tradition; Afrika |
Abstract | The author undertakes a historical and contemporary examination of the very category "education", illustrating in the process how Eurocentric conceptions have clashed with African conceptions, to the detriment of the latter. He points out that before colonialization there were both African educational systems (formal and informal) as well as accompanying African philosophies and epistemologies. Colonial powers marginalized traditional systems, which were portrayed as primitive, ineffectual, and inappropriate and put (limited) European formal education in their place in colonies around the world. One of the enduring effects has been that much of the world, including African countries, now consider European style formal education as constituting education. The authors argues not only that traditional African education was viable, appropriate, and utilitarian in pre-colonial African community contexts but that the underlying philosophies and epistemologies of those traditional educational systems can and should inform contemporary education in Africa. European paradigms (including epistemologies and ontologies) as well as languages should not be considered benign or neutral "advancements" but rather a continuation of the process of alienation of Africans from their own values and worldviews. The author asserts that, at the very last, the double-edged nature of the dominant models of contemporary education in Africa should be exposed and countered. He proposes what he describes as counter-hegemonic platforms be put in place in African education to counter the hegemony of Eurocentric education. He makes clear that what he is proposing is not an exclusivist nativist African educational system. Rather he is interested in fostering a future educational systems that does not eschew but rather embraces and incorporates African worldviews (ontology, epistemology, axiology) into the educational system, juxtaposed with and in overt conversation with European derived paradigms. The ultimate goal is not a choice between African and European models as such but rather the evolution of what he describes as "indigenously inclusive and globally inclusive knowledge systems and ways of knowing that benefit all." (DIPF/Orig.). |
Erfasst von | DIPF | Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main |
Update | 2007/4 |