African Epistemologies In Higher Education Research

Bringing a needed perspective on African Epistemologies on the critical topics of higher education in relation to knowledge systems, this book highlights how knowledge creation processes influence higher education systems, society, and African development. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to frame the connections between academic knowledge systems. Specifically, it seeks to answer questions on the trends in knowledge mobility, histories, and sociological dimensions in knowledge production in post-colonial Africa. The discussion explores how existing knowledge systems can better align with past and present narratives throughout African history and philosophies. The primary thought behind this book is to deconstruct the idea of a free market, the issue of corruption, racism and the neoliberalist approach to knowledge creation and transmission. Thus, it seeks to answer questions on the history and sociological dimensions of knowledge production in higher education. The book argues that African epistemologies can be better understood by investigating present sociologies and histories shaping African higher education research. Researchers and university students in the field of sociology of education, economics of education, higher education and policy will find this book very useful.

African Higher Education in the 21st Century explores the philosophical dimension of higher education systems in Africa by analysing its ontological, epistemological and ethical foundations.

This volume focuses on current demands, challenges and expectations facing African higher education institutions in general, and those in South Africa in particular. Subsequently, transformative curricula, pedagogies and epistemologies that define diverse practices of access and inclusion within the context of transformation and decolonisation are explored.

This book enters the discourse of the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education in Africa. The book provides critical insights comprising topical themes from transformation, citizenship and gender, researching to ethical perspectives of teaching and learning.

This book contributes to the understanding of regional and global perspectives on the development and challenges the higher education sector in sub-Saharan Africa faces in the era of globalization. It focuses on the critical aspects of the higher education sector in the Global South, with a particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together empirical, theoretical and philosophical perspectives from researchers in some of the leading universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The book highlights the higher education sector’s stages of growth and development and the contemporary challenges it faces in aligning its goals and capacity globally, and maintaining its image and public identity locally. This book covers neoliberal educational reforms, leadership and governance, pedagogy, technology, the global knowledge economy, and digital advancement. It delves into how the nature and practice of learning, teaching, research, and community engagement as core functions of higher education are re-oriented to contribute to societal transformation in Africa. Further, the book discusses the implications of contemporary issues in higher education: internationalization, employability, leadership and management, and accountability and autonomy in teaching, research, and community engagement.

Students with disabilities who are not able to perform to the best of their abilities often find themselves learning in inaccessible environments and subjected to increased stress levels due to the haphazard provisioning of education characterized by physical, communicative, and unsuitable teaching and learning approaches. Very often this is a result of various shortcomings including unfair assessment practices. Misconceptions and a lack of knowledge with regard to the implementation of inclusive education detract from the successful admission of students with disabilities and their retention and active participation. The Handbook of Research on Creating Spaces for African Epistemologies in the Inclusive Education Discourse explores the concept of inclusive education in an African context. It advocates for the monitoring and evaluation of inclusive education and proposes interventions where reasonable accommodation or lack of accessibility is a reason for students with disabilities to not benefit from this system. Covering topics such as barriers to learning, rural schools, and student support, this major reference work is an essential resource for administrators, advocates for students with disabilities, policymakers, researchers, pre-service teachers, educators, academicians, and students.

Across the African continent, college student activists have long fought to decolonise African institutions. Reflecting ongoing Western colonisation, however, Indigenous African languages, thought, and structures remain excluded from African universities. Such universities remain steeped in Eurocentric modes of knowing, teaching, researching, and communicating. Students are rarely afforded the opportunity to learn about the wealth of knowledge and sustainable wisdom that was and is generated by their own home communities. Such localised Indigenous African perspectives are critical in a world committed to anti-Black racism, capitalist materialism, and global destruction. This book thus clarifies decolonial efforts to transform higher education from its anti-Black foundation, offering hope from universities across the continent. Writers are university administrators and faculty who directly challenge contemporary colonial education, exploring tangible ways to decolonise structures, curricula, pedagogy, research, and community relationships. Ultimately, this book moves beyond structural transformation to call for a global commitment to develop Indigenous African-led systems of higher education that foster multilingual communities, local knowledges, and localised approaches to global problems. In shifting from a Western-centric lens to multifaceted African-centrism, the authors reclaim decoloniality from co-optation, repositioning African intellectualism at the core of global higher education to sustain an Ubuntu-based humanity.

This book explores rurality and education in sub-Saharan Africa through a lens of social justice. The second volume of a two-volume project, this book explores possibilities and constraints of rural social justice in diverse educational contexts, with particular emphasis on higher education. Drawing on contexts from across sub-Saharan Africa, this volume examines such topics as student-teacher preparation, post-colonialism and access and participation. In doing so, these volumes reflect the need to shift conceptions of rurality from colonial and conservative stereotypes to an appreciation of rurality as locations in space and time. Focusing on inclusivity and intersectionality, these books raise important questions into rurality and social justice, and champion openness for education in rural communities who may be excluded.