Fundamentals of an African-Centred Syllabus in Higher Education in the Post-Colonial Era: The Tehuti Perspective

Ntokozo  Mthembu

doi:10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.19

Authors

Ntokozo Mthembu Department of Sociology, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2020.09.19

Keywords:

Tehuti, Africa, syllabus, aspects,, fundamentals, order,, knowledge.

Abstract

Socio-political change in South Africa, also known as Azania,¹ brought about the high hopes and opportunities, especially among the black African majority, in this instance, the recognition and revitalisation of their knowledge systems, in particular, in the learning sphere. The name, Azania becomes more relevant in this discussion, as it divulges the basis of indigenous African knowledge and related methodology systems, specifically on issues that encompass knowledge creation, categorisation and classification of events and circumstances. Nevertheless, the review of literature on the significance of aspects of African knowledge creation such as Tehuti perspective is revealed in this instance. This manuscript posits that diverse paradigms often influence the research approach in a particular milieu. It also suggests that the Tehuti perspective will facilitate the eradication of stereotyping imposed by the narrow cultural perspective in the social sphere including education, especially when it comes to research approach. It concludes by highlighting the need for consideration of diverse knowledge value systems, in particular, when dealing with narratives as indicative of a particular milieu rather than a prescriptive.

References

Afegbua, S. I., & Adejuwon, K. D. 2012. The challenges of leadership and governance in Africa. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(9), 141-157.

Amen Ra Un Nefer. 2003. Maat: The 11 Laws of God. Khmait Media Trans Vision: Brookly, New York.

Asante, M.K. 2015. The history of Africa: The quest of eternal harmony (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203752951 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203752951

Asante, M. K. Abarry, A. s. 1996. African intellectual heritage: a book of sources. Philadephia, PA: Temple University.

Ascione, G. 2016. Decoloning the ‘Global’: The coloniality of method and the problem of the Unit of Analysis. Cultural Sociology, 10(3), 317–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975516644843 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975516644843

Beckmann, J. 2016. Exclusion and Education in South Africa: An Education Law Perspective of Emerging Alternative Understandings of Exclusion. Education Provision to Every One: Comparing Perspectives from Around the World BCES Conference Books, 14(1), 295-302.

Berger Glenn (n.d.). The History of the Heart: The Symbol from Ptahhotep to Hallmark.

Cajetas-Saranza, R. 2015. Approaches to Integrating Multicultural Perspectives in PNU-Mindanao: Basis for Multicultural Education Program. International Peer Reviewed Journal, 16, 37-55. https://doi.org/10.7718/iamure.ije.v16i1.1122 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7718/iamure.ije.v16i1.1122

Collinsa, K. & Millard, M. 2013. Transforming education in South Africa: comparative perceptions of a South African social work learning experience. Educational Review, 65(1), 70–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2011.648168 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2011.648168

Do Vale, H. F. 2016. Explaining Education Reforms and Decentralization in Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and Spain. Lex localis - Journal of Local Self-Government, 4(3), 591-612. https://doi.org/10.4335/14.3.591-612(2016) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4335/14.3.591-612(2016)

Ebo S. 2018. The Word in African Ontology. Acta Universitatis Danubius, 12(1): 64-73

Hale, F. 2010. “The impact of apartheid on the educational endeavours of two missionary agencies”, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, XXXVI (2), 167-185.

Heilman, D.C. & Clarke, D.L. 2016. Transformative learning theory: perspectives on Nelson Mandela and application for U.S learners in South Africa. In S.M. Tomlinson-Clarke & D.L. Clarke (Eds.). Social Justice and Transformative Learning: Culture and Identity in the United States and South Africa (pp. 40-57). New York: Routledge.

Higher Education South African. 2014. South African Higher Education in the 20th Year of Democracy: Context, Achievements and Key Challenges HESA presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training Cape Town. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/17037/

Hurskainen A. 20O3. Early Records on Bantu. Studia Orientalia, 97:65-76.

Hurst, E. & Mona, M. 2017. “Translanguaging” as a socially just pedagogy. Education as Change, 21(2): 126–148. https://doi.org/10.17159/1947-9417/2017/2015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/1947-9417/2017/2015

Kincheloe Joe L.. 2011. Critical Ontology And Indigenous Ways of Being. k. Hayes et al., (eds.), Key Work in Critical Pedagogy, 333–349. Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-397-6_25 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-397-6_25

Magema, M. F.1998: The Black people and whence they came. (Eds.): Cope, A. T., University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg.

Manchuelle, F. 1996. The «Régénération of Africa». An Important and Ambiguous Concept in 18th and 19th Century French Thinking about Africa. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, 36(144): 559-588. https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1996.1854 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1996.1854

Masolo D. A. 2003. Philosophy and Indigenous Knowledge: An African Perspective in Africa Today, 50(2):21-38. https://doi.org/10.1353/at.2004.0015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/at.2004.0015

Morwe K., Mulaudzi T. P., Tugli A. K., Klu E. K., Ramakuela N. J. and Matshidze P. 2015. Youth, Youth culture and socialisation in the present technological era in a rural village of Limpopo Province. South Africa. Journal of Social Science, 44(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718923.2015.11893451 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09718923.2015.11893451

Motshekga, M. 2006. Indigenous Knowledge’s Systems in the African Century. Paper presented at the Black Management Forum 30th Anniversary Annual Conference: ICC, DURBAN, 12-13 October.

Mthembu N. 2019. Afrocentric Science Education Approach in a Transformed Curriculum in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Open Journal for Educational Research, 2019, 3(2), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.32591 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojer.0302.03067m

Mthembu, N. 2020. Information and communication technology (ICT) and its mixed reality in the learning sphere: a South African perspective, In Information Resources Management Association (IRMA) African Studies: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice. (Vol. 2). Hershey, PA:IGI Global. Pp.567 – 579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3019-1.ch030

Mthembu, N. 2018a. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Its Mixed Reality in the Learning Sphere: A South African Perspective. International Journal of Virtual and Augmented Reality, Volume 2 • Issue 2 • July-December. 26- 37. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJVAR.2018070102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/IJVAR.2018070102

Mthembu, N. 2018b.Ukusebenzisa indlela eyinqubo-mgomo yase-Afrika yokucwaninga isimo kanye nempilo yomuntu: ukubuyekezwa kwenqubo kaTahuti/ Djehowtey yokuhlaziya izehlakalo nolwazi. Lomsebenzi wethulwa kwinkomfa yonyaka [Annual Congress XXVIII] yenhlangano i-South African Sociological Association, ukusukela ngomhlaka ka 1 ukuya 4 kuNtulikazi 2018, eNyuvesi yaseNtshonaKoloni, Shumbamusha [Cape Town].

Mthembu, N.C. 2017. Black African Township youth survival strategies in post-apartheid South Africa: A case study of the KwaMashu Township within eThekwini Municipality. PhD Thesis, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa.

Mthembu, N. 2016. Youth challenges in the transition to adulthood in a South African township. Youth Voice Journal Online, 6. Retrieved December 18, 2017, from https://youthvoicejournal.com/2016/12/

Mthembu, N. 2014. Finding our head without losing our feet: Morality of circumcision among the Zulus. Wandsbeck: Reach.

Mthembu N. C. 2008. Skills, Equity and the Labour Market in a South African Workplace: A Case Study of Durban Botanic Garden’s Parks Department, eThekwini Municipality. MA Dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Mukuka G. S. 2010. Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Intellectual Property Laws in South Africa. “Reap what you have not sown”. Pretoria University Law: Pretoria. Pp 35- 102.

Nabudere D. W. (2011). Afrikology, Philosophy and wholeness: An epistemology. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.

Nkulu-N'Sengha, M. 2005. African Epistemology. In Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Black Studies African Epistemology. SAGE: Thousand Oaks.Pp. 40-44.

Pinar, W.F. 2009. Understanding Curriculum: An Introduction to the Study of Historical and contemporary curriculum discourses. W.F. Pinar, W.M. Reynolds, P. Slattery & P.M. Taubman (Eds.). New York: Peter Lang.