Ubuntu Philosophy And Disabilities In Sub Saharan Africa

"This book uses Ubuntu philosophy to illuminate the voices of people with disabilities from Sub-Saharan Africa. Disability literature is largely dominated by scholars and studies from the Global North, and these studies are largely informed by Global North theories and concepts. Although Disability literature in the Global South is now fast growing, most studies continue to utilise conceptual, theoretical and philosophical frameworks that are framed within Global North contexts. This presents two major challenges: Firstly, the voices of people with disabilities in the Global South remain on the fringes of disability discourses. Secondly, when their voices are heard, their realities are distorted. This edited book, consisting of 11 chapters, provides case-studies from Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Uganda and South Africa to explore disability in various fields: inclusive education, higher education, environment, Open Distance Learning and Technical and Vocational Education and Technical Colleges. By challenging the global hegemonic discourses on disability by contributing to the ways in which Global South disability is understood, this book will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, development studies, medical sociology, and African studies"--

This book uses Ubuntu philosophy to illuminate the voices of people with disabilities from Sub-Saharan Africa. Disability literature is largely dominated by scholars and studies from the Global North, and these studies are largely informed by Global North theories and concepts. Although disability literature in the Global South is now fast growing, most studies continue to utilise conceptual, theoretical, and philosophical frameworks that are framed within Global North contexts. This presents two major challenges: Firstly, the voices of people with disabilities in the Global South remain on the fringes of disability discourses. Secondly, when their voices are heard, their realities are distorted. This edited book, consisting of 11 chapters, provides case studies from Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Uganda, and South Africa, explores disability in various fields: Inclusive education, higher education, environment, Open Distance Learning, and Technical and Vocational Education and Technical Colleges. The book contributes to the ways in which disability is understood and experienced in the Global South thereby challenging the Western hegemonic discourses on disability. This collection of contributions will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, development studies, medical sociology, and African studies.

This book presents the case for a conceptual and pragmatic revolution of Africa’s formal educational systems. Using the context of Ubuntu-inspired education, the authors explore innovative ways to tackle the challenges faced by governments from the local and national level and beyond. Along the way, the editors and their contributors examine important policy questions to encourage fresh thinking on ways to improve the educational system and, in turn, to buoy the development of the region as a whole.

This book critically explores Global South perspectives, examining marginalised voices and issues whilst challenging the supremacy of Global North perspectives in literature. The unique value of this book lies in its extensive coverage of various Southern challenges, including disaster management, climate change, communication, resilience, gender, education, and disability. It also underscores the relevance of indigenous philosophies such as animism, Buen Vivir, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Neozapatism, Qi vitality, Taoism, and Ubuntu. Stemming from regions as diverse as Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, these philosophies are brought into public discourse. By demonstrating their practicality in designing intervention programs and influencing policy-making, the book fills a critical gap in global Southern literature while promoting context-specific knowledge for improving well-being in the Global South contexts. This book’s content resonates with a diverse audience, encompassing students, academics, researchers, NGOs, and policymakers from postcolonial states in the Global South and those from Global North countries. Furthermore, it is highly relevant to communities within the Global North that mirror the Global South – those grappling with equity issues for indigenous populations. It has a versatile appeal that transcends disciplinary boundaries, encompassing cultural studies, sociology, international development, philosophy, and postcolonial studies, thus making it accessible to all educational levels. It holds particular interest for those in development studies, indigenous studies, government departments globally, international organisations, and universities worldwide.

This book explores the argument to reconsider the idea of a university in light of the African ethic of ubuntu; literally, human dignity and interdependence. The book discusses, through the context of higher education discourse of philosophy and comparative education, how global universities have evolved into higher educational institutions concerned with knowledge (re)production for various end purposes that range from individual autonomy, to public accountability, to serving the interests of the economy and markets. The question can legitimately be asked: Is an ubuntu university different from an entrepreneurial university, thinking university, and ecological university? While these different understandings of a university accentuate both the epistemological and moral imperatives in relation to itself and the societies in which they manifest, it is through the ubuntu university that emotivism in the forms of dignity and humaneness will enhance a university’s capacity for autonomy, responsibility, and criticality. This book would be of academic interest to university educators and students in philosophy of education, comparative education, and cultural studies.

How do we articulate the possibilities, limitations and challenges of inclusive schooling and education in African contexts? This book insists that inclusive education cannot be taken for granted. Inclusion is neither a natural nor a given educational practice. It must be struggled for. Bringing a critical perspective to inclusive schooling and education is imperative. This book adds to current educational debates with an African lens. It engages inclusive education from multiple lenses of curriculum content, classroom pedagogy and instruction, representation, culture, environment and the socio-organization life of schools, the pursuit of equity and social justice and the search for educational relevance. It is opined that Africa cannot be left behind in rethinking educational inclusion in ways that evoke critical questions of power, equity and social difference. The question of leaner’s identity in terms of class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, language, ethnicity and race are equally consequential for African schooling and education. When inclusion is understood as wholeness of education, then how schooling and education engage the complete learner – her/his body, mind, soul and spirit, as well as the use of local community and Indigenous knowledges in teaching and learning become relevant. Inclusion stands the risk of liberal educational agendas that simply tinker or toy with schooling and education and hardly embrace the challenge of educational change. What we need is a fundamental structural change that ensures schooling and education embraces difference while grappling with the teaching of Indigeneity, decolonization and resistance.

About the publication The African Disability Rights Yearbook aims to advance disability scholarship. Coming in the wake of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on disability as human rights on the African continent. It provides an annual forum for scholarly analysis on issues pertaining to the human rights of persons with disabilities. It is also a source for country-based reports as well as commentaries on recent developments in the field of disability rights in the African region. Table of Contents EDITORIAL Editorial SECTION A: ARTICLES Rather bad than mad? A reconsideration of criminal incapacity and psychosocial disability in South African law in light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Heléne Combrinck Legal capacity of parties with intellectual, psycho-social and communication disabilities in traditional courts in Kwazulu-Natal Willene Holness & Sarah Rule Protection of the rights of persons with mental disabilities to liberty and informed consent to treatment: A critique of Gordon Maddox Mwewa & Others v Attorney General & Another Felicity Kayumba Kalunga & Chipo Mushota Nkhata Rearticulating ubuntu as a viable framework for the realisation of legal capacity in sub-Saharan Africa Louis O. Oyaro Implementing article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in South Africa: Reasonable accommodations for persons with communication disabilities Robyn White & Dianah Msipa Leaving the woods to see the trees: Locating and refocusing the activities of non-state actors towards the effective promotion of access to justice of persons with disability Azubike Onuora-Oguno SECTION B: COUNTRY REPORTS République de Bénin Marianne Séverin Union des Comores Youssouf Ali Mdahoma Mauritania Kedibone Chembe & Babatunde Fagbayibo Rwanda Olwethu Sipuka The Gambia Satang Nabaneh SECTION C: REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS A step to zero attacks: Reflections on the rights of persons with albinism through the lens of X v United Republic of Tanzania Benyam Dawit Mezmur Progress towards inclusive primary education in selected West African countries Ngozi Chuma Umeh BOOK REVIEW Peter Blanck & Eiliónoir Flynn (eds): The Routledge Handbook of Disability Law and Human Rights (2017) Heléne Combrinck

Exploring issues of disability culture, activism, and policy across the African continent, this volume argues for the recognition of African disability studies as an important and emerging interdisciplinary field.