Conceptualisation of Ubuntugogy as a Decolonial Pedagogy in Africa
The concept of ubuntugogy appears as an ordinary grammatical prowess to some, while it also remains unknown to many. This conceptual paper attempts to conceptualise ubuntugogy, not only as indigenous teaching and learning but also as a decolonial pedagogy with liberating potentials. An assumption exists that today’s pedagogical process in Africa is still laced with subjectivism, and it fails to challenge the Eurocentric hegemony that lies within school systems. The failure to address Eurocentrism explicitly leads to the need for ubuntugogy. Ubuntugogy, therefore, needs to be unpacked for better understanding. That is, this study is not to challenge the hegemony of westernised classrooms and their pedagogical process in Africa but to conceptualise the hidden potential of ubuntugogy to fill out the limited literature of the concept in the world of academics. Hence, the study provides answers to questions such as; what is ubuntugogy? What is the epistemology of ubuntugogy? What are the transformative tendencies of ubuntugogy, and how does ubuntugogy relevant in 21st Century classrooms? The study concluded that the idea of ubuntugogy is to create a learning environment where everyone feels empowered, encouraged and free from the burdens of Eurocentric and Americentric imposition with an open tendency of knowing and being human.
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