Outsiders might not understand how someone who led his country’s downfall from breadbasket to basket case has remained in the presidency for so many years
Tax systems in post-colonial Africa need to be reformed. For instance, there ought to be rebates for advancing moral good or educating future taxpayers.
Schools and universities in post-colonial contexts still operate within the logic of coloniality. This is starkly illustrated by their language policies.
Decolonising the curriculum is far more nuanced than replacing theorists and authors. Universities first need to define how they approach the development and dissemination of curricula.
Sydney’s Garden Palace, which burned to the ground in 1882, was a monument to empire’s glory. Indigenous artist Jonathan Jones is now working on an epic exhibition that will explore this historical epoch from an Aboriginal perspective.
In South Africa there’s a value judgment attached to students who take part in universities’ English for Academic Purposes programmes. This shouldn’t be the case.
The lessons Paulo Freire learnt nearly 90 years ago and the theories he developed from painful personal experience still resonate across Africa’s schooling systems today.
Decolonisation of the curriculum doesn’t have to mean the destruction of Western knowledge, but it’s decentring. Such knowledge should become one way of knowing rather than the only way.
Africa has been called a “consumer continent” by many, but in reality much of what its people consume is produced elsewhere. Technology is key to Africa becoming a self-reliant producer of goods.
Utopianism is a neglected prism through which to view Africa. It is the space where the intricacies of decolonisation and independence can be properly comprehended.
It is normal for resistance movements to adopt rough survival strategies and techniques while fighting an oppressive regime. Unfortunately that culture takes root and is permanently nurtured.
South Africa’s educational policies and curricula tend to be biased against rural lifestyles - even though nearly 20 million people live in the country’s rural areas.
A curriculum can’t be decolonised by simply removing content. This denies students the chance to participate in local policy debates and the global job market. A more nuanced approach is needed.