THE RHETORIC OF DECOLONISATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA:
MUSE, PRESCRIPTIONS AND PROGNOSIS
Gilbert Motsaathebe, PhD
University of Johannesburg,
South Africa
ABSTRACT
Institutions of high learning constitute key sites of knowledge and occupy a significant and
powerful position in society, since education is widely acknowledged as vital to development.
Yet universities in Africa continue to be censured for being out of step with the continent and
its developmental agendas because many of their curricula are closely modelled on those of the
former colonial masters and not the primordial African university that has championed African
civilisation in Mali, Timbuktu and Sankore, for instance. This article focuses on the unrelenting
conversation on Decolonisation by taking stock of the African university in its current form,
the way it has evolved, and its inherent potential. With specific reference to an African
university, the article provides a critique of the failure of Africa to change colonial structures
which have so far continued to serve as hegemonic devices for colonialism in Africa. This
article maintains that the mischance for an African university to disentangle itself from the
colonial forms of education is a clear sign that Africa’s struggle from colonialism is far from
over. This article further postulates that the African university has continued to be marred by
serious failure to respond adequately to challenges confronting the continent (as it was
highlighted during the #FeesMustFall campaign in South Africa and similar crusades
elsewhere). This happens in spite of the fanfare witnessed at the beginning of the millennium
regarding calls for Africanisation and de-Westernisation, which have since died a slow death.
The article deliberately refers to an African university in a singular form because the
universities in Africa are generally speaking all the same in form, content, and character.
Ultimately, the article attempts to move away from the popular rhetorical proclivity by
proposing an 8-point plan to reposition our universities in Africa.
Keywords: African University, Decolonisation, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Hegemony,
Education, Colonialism, Pedagogy, Postcolonial Africa
Introduction
More than thirty years ago, Janice Hale posed an important question: “Should we conceptualise
the African student as an eager student of American behaviours and values? Or should we
conceive of him as a shrewd survivor, who absorbs what is necessary while he resists complete
immersion in American culture” (Hale 1986: 9). This starting point is crucial because Africa is
invariably known to have been the first continent to introduce the concept of a university (see
UNESCO, Guinness Book of World Records, Medina of Fez, The General History of Africa).
At the beginning of the century, there was anticipation that the 21st century was bringing with
it some sort of an enigma to deal with Africa’s problem and the century was invariably hailed
as the African century as it was copiously articulated in the African Renaissance debates
(Motsaathebe 2011b: 01). However, those cheerful debates seem to have died a slow death.
This was a premature demise and therefore those debates need to be resituated as we continue
to grapple with Africa’s problem. At the centre of the problem is the fact that the current
educational institutions that Africa has are the exact replica of Western institutions, which for
the most part are counterproductive for Africa’s developmental agendas, creed, self-discovery,
and positionality. In that sense, there can be little doubt that Africa needs remodelled
universities that respond adequately to the continent’s myriad problems.
This article takes stock of the current institution and attempt to highlight the pitfalls of not
acting fast enough to make the changes that need to be made to deal with what could be seen
as false education that is akin to what Fanon (1952) refers to as false liberation and more
specifically, what Hugo (2018: 4) refers to as “deliberate exclusion, ontological denial, and
erasure of local forms and ways of knowing.” This article problematizes and discusses four
critical issues, namely: a) The need for change and reclamation, b) Precolonial education in
Africa, Afrikology and the paradox of the African University today, c) Ubiquitous calls for
Decolonisation and the slow process of change, d) Transcending the abys and possibilities for
the future (Towards a decolonised education for postcolonial Africa).
Premised on the primordial university concept that existed in Africa before colonialism, this
article exposes the current university model for what it is- a western hegemonic device that
serves to maintain the ideologies and worldviews of former colonial powers at the expense of
local cosmologies and ways of knowing. It illustrates what is clearly a slow process of
Decolonisation by highlighting the confident calls at the beginning of the century for
Africanisation which was invariably used interchangeably for related concepts such as
Decolonisation and de-westernisation as encapsulated in the African Renaissance debates
which have since died a slow death. This article argues that it will be the same factors that will
derail the current project if they are not addressed. Importantly, this article contends that the
#FeesMustFall protest that South Africa has seen would not have happened if the academe had
acted at the beginning of the millennium in enforcing those confident pronouncements of the
African Renaissance. Taking forward the argument by Heleta (2018: 49) that “the colonial and
apartheid knowledge systems and Eurocentrism have not been sufficiently questioned”.
Furthermore, the article submits that the African university has merely been following the
European script and as such proposes a practical radical restructuring in order to change the
status quo. Of course, these are deeply unsettling issues that nonetheless need to be confronted.
The Need for Change and Reclamation
In 2002, I abandoned an international trip to Canada in order to listen to Ali Mazrui (the late
professor at large of Africana studies) who was scheduled to deliver a keynote during the
occasion of Africa’s best 100 books at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town. The Awards
presentation celebrated African writers who have published popular books from an African
perspective that have been read all over the world. I was interested in his ideas on the prospects
of the African Renaissance project. During intermission, I got an opportunity to engage him.
To his credit, Mazrui was upbeat about Africa’s prospects. He was particularly pleased with
the then embryonic African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which he said would place
Africa on an important trajectory for growth and development and hold African leaders to the
highest standard of leadership that would ultimately return Africa to its former glory. As a
result, he likened the occasion of Africa’s 100 best books of the 20th century to an exercise in
peer-review.
One of the things Mazrui argued for was what he called the domestication of an African
university, adding that African experience has been shaped by the confluence of factors. As
Osei (1991: 7) explains, domestication is ‘the process of making an imported resource more
relevant and appropriate for the African situation’. Other concepts that have been used to
express frustrations with the current state of Africa include de-Westernisation, Africanisation
and Indigenisation. Indeed, all these were highlighted as key constituents of the African
Renaissance debates at the beginning of the millennium. Since these concepts have been dealt
with elsewhere (Makgoba 1997, Motsaathebe 2011b), this article highlights a few specifics to
provide a comprehensive context for the issues that it raises.
Africanisation is generally seen to signal a (renewed) focus on Africa, on reclamation of what
was taken from Africa, and, as such, it forms part of post-colonialist, anti-racist discourse. It
comprises a focus on indigenous African knowledge and concerns simultaneously
‘legitimation’ and ‘protection from exploitation’ of this knowledge. With regard to the African
university that I allude to, the focus is on Decolonisation and Africanisation of institutions,
curricula, syllabi and criteria for excellence. In order to appreciate the need for Decolonisation
and Africanisation, one must note that during colonialism, the Western system of knowledge
was privileged over African knowledge. Often, African knowledge was reproduced as a
Western discovery to deny African claims to knowledge and civilisation (Makgoba 1997). On
the other hand, the term de-Westernisation denotes attempts to disentangle Africa from the
colonial legacy introduced by Western nations during colonialism. Hence, de-Westernisation
is often used interchangeably with localisation and Africanisation in the African context where
de-Westernisation becomes important because colonialism discredited African languages,
cultures, and ways of life, seeking to Westernise Africans by introducing their cultures and
languages into Africa. Both Africanisation and de-Westernisation are a necessary process for
the renaissance and the Decolonisation of Africa. Another related concept is Indigenisation
which may be seen as the resuscitation, reintroduction or rediscovery of the culture, knowledge,
languages, values, resources, and histories of indigenous people, all of which were displaced
during colonialism.
The most recent concept around which the current philosophical rhetoric oscillates, regarding
the above, is Decolonization, which essentially implies dismantling colonization in all its
forms. According to Heleta (2018: 47), “Decolonization of knowledge is crucial in order to
rewrite histories, reassert the dignity of the oppressed and refocus the knowledge production
and worldviews for the sake of the present and the future of the country and its people, as well
as the rest of the African continent.” Elementarily, every university has jumped in the
Decolonisation bandwagon, more particularly in South Africa following the #FeesMustFall
protests. The irony of Africa is that all African countries confidently proclaim to be
independent. Yet it is clear that Africa has failed dismally to disentangle herself from
colonialism and its multiple legacies (which continue to manifest in different forms including
education) in spite of her supposed independence from former colonial masters. This leaves us
with a situation akin to what Mbembe (2001: 27) describes as being “domesticated in the world
of the master.” The fundamental question is what happened to Africa after the political
liberation? In grappling with this question, it makes sense to ask ourselves whether the current
model of education—right from primary education to university level—resonates with Africa’s
cosmologies, philosophy, history, and developmental agendas. Of course one must
acknowledge certain efforts that are being made in various quarters at various institutions to
try to address this problem. I argue, however, that those attempts have not been decisive enough
and will not go very far in ensuring that there is a fundamental change across all institutions in
Africa. Due to the veracity of these important questions, it is fair to suggest that failure to deal
with them meaningfully would be tantamount to the ultimate betrayal to the African struggle
for liberation.
One must also acknowledge the number of conferences and symposia aimed at highlighting
the plight of Africa in relation to its colonial education. These include, among others, the 1961
Addis Ababa conference, the Madagascar conference in 1962 and many others after that. There
were two other conferences that I was fortunate to attend, namely the South African
Association for Research and Development in Higher Education (SAARDHE) on the role of
an African university (June 2005 in Durban) and the 5th International Conference of the
University of Botswana on Mapping Africa in the English Speaking World (held in Gaborone,
Botswana on June 02-04, 2009). Speaker after speaker lamented Africa’s position in the world
and painted a flattering picture of how they were going to change the status quo. Some of us
warned then that the situation was a ticking time bomb if we did not act in any fundamental
way. Needless to say, these serial presenters went back to their respective universities,
reworked their papers for publications and focussed on another conference. Therefore, when
the #FeesMustFall tremor occurred, it premised on the same issues that we had neglected to
address. The question posed throughout this article is why are we not moving fast enough?
These are unsettling questions that we need to continue to ask. There is no doubt that while it
is important to talk about these issues at length, it is time to move forward. In trying to provide
a logical context for my agitation and address, at once, those pessimistic about Africa’s
developmental trajectory, it is important to look at education in Africa before colonialism.
Precolonial education in Africa, Western hegemony and Afrikology
For its theoretical framework, this article makes use of insights derived from the notions of
Hegemony and Afrikology. Hegemony focuses on power relations and the way it is reproduced
through institutions such Universities while Afrikology provides epistemological justification
for African knowledge and its reclamation which is crucial for the Decolonisation of education
in postcolonial Africa (Motsaathebe 2010). That Africa is known to have been the first
continent to introduce the university is a fact that is no longer debatable (Medina of Fez). In
fact, it should be elementary to say that the arguments for the evolution of the learning Centres
that gave birth to the modern University could be traced to the history of the libraries in
Timbuktu and Alexandria and those in Europe before the Graeco-Roman period. Molefi Asanti
takes up these issues elsewhere in his corpus of work on Afrocentricity. That Africa’s normal
development was ruptured by slavery and colonialism is no longer debatable. As Kromah
(2002: 3) puts it: ‘The two experiences effectively stopped the progressive growth of the
technological society Africa had begun several hundred years earlier.’ As cited in Motsaathebe
(2011b) Kromah (2002: 02) support this argument by mentioning some of the contributions to
civilisation that are attributed to Africans:
1) The Sciences: accomplishments included astronomy, the 365 1/4-day calendars, the
study of anatomy, embalming, chemistry, and mathematics (geometry and
trigonometry), and the production of high-grade steel and large-scale architectural
works.
2) Inventions and Discoveries: the Africans are credited for phonetic writing, paper and
ink, aspirin, tetracycline, pregnancy testing, front porches, and the house clock.
3) Social Structures: national government, universities, libraries, and belief in one God,
grand funerals and beliefs emphasizing the afterlife.
4) Social Customs: circumcision, dice shaving; belly dancing, and branding animals
with hot irons.
Kromah argues that Africa has never fully recovered from the economic, sociological and
psychological residue of colonialism and slavery. The African Renaissance was thus seen as a
moment of recovery from the colonial onslaught. According to Aristide (2006: 165) there can
be no African Renaissance without a psychological renaissance: ‘As an important first step to
an African Renaissance, psychological renaissance can raise among all of us, our level of self-
awareness and historical awareness […] to renew ourselves and overcome the legacies of
slavery and racism.’ The onslaught of colonialists succeeded in dismantling African history
and culture and went on an elaborate crusade to impose colonial culture together with its
educational institutions, which continued to serve as hegemonic devices long after the supposed
end of colonialism.
While the national liberation movements across Africa have succeeded in taking political
power, the colonial legacy has remained and it continues to be entrenched through public
institutions such as universities. Hegemony was popularised by Italian philosopher Antonio
Gramsci while imprisoned in Italy to denote the dominance of one group over the other through
subtle coercion imposed through several institutions and structures that serve as hegemonic
devices. In the Gramascian (1973) sense, these universities serve as hegemonic devices. This
is especially so because the educated elite that operates these institutions are part of the class
that continues to function as an agent of colonial institutions obfuscate the course of the
revolution by selling false promises that are out of sync with the intended aspiration of the
African struggle. According to Gramsci (1973), the hegemony of the dominant ideology (read
western ideology) must continue to be reproduced and the university is one institution that has
successfully achieved this considering the central role that it occupies in society. It is not rare
to find some amongst us pride ourselves of being the product of missionary education. As
Habte and Wagaw (2003: 679) find that, “the educated elite were beginning to know less about
and show little appreciation for African history, religions, ideas, clothes, cuisine, art, music and
life-styles generally”. Universities in Africa can best serve their communities if they strive to
function as embodiments rather than eroding forces of indigenous knowledge, history and
culture, Hegemony implies a consent, reluctantly or not, by people to be governed by
principles, rules, and laws usually imposed on them and which do not necessarily operate in
their best interests.
Furthermore, as part of theoretical constructions that attempt to interrogate the current colonial
discourse with a view to accurately extract a true African story, realities, challenges, needs and
aspirations, some Africanists such as Nabudere (2006) propose what they refer to as
“Afrikology.” Afrikology is “the study of traditional and indigenous Afrika by Black Afrikans.
It involves the history, philosophy, art, law, medicine, engineering, science and technology of
ancient Afrika from an Afrikan perspective.” (Accessed 20 November 2009). Thus, Afrikology
may be understood as a study of Africa by Africans and from an African perspective. According
to Nabudere (2006: 20), “Afrikology must proceed from the proposition that it is a true
philosophy of knowledge and wisdom based on African cosmogonies because it is “Afri”- in
that it is inspired by the ideas originally produced from the cradle of humankind located in
Africa.” Indeed, history is replete with examples of falsification of accounts by people writing
about Africa in order to undermine Africans and their culture, which they labelled backward,
barbaric and uncivilised, while at the same time promoting foreign cultures.
As a result, much of the discourse about Africa and its people today remain out-of-sync with
the true history. The preceding resonates strongly with the expression: “until lions learn to tell
their own stories, their stories will continue to be told by the hunters.” Afrikology suggests that
African people themselves can best address such an injustice. This point also dovetails the idea
of lived experience as a form of theorisation. Theorising from a more realistic African
experience makes it possible for such theories to deal with the situation confronting Africa in
a more poignant way so that solutions to African problems could be found. The call for the
Decolonisation resonates strongly with assumptions of Afrikology. It is a fact that the
Decolonisation of the curricula is often relegated to the margins in many countries. In South
Africa, for example, around 2013 the government insisted on re-curriculation project but
neglected to put the Decolonisation at the centre of that project. As a result, the project was
characterised by the usual inclination to benchmark with the Western institutions that are
fallaciously equated with “excellence.” Such a move explains why curricula in many African
universities have remained largely unchanged except for certain cosmetic changes.
Towards a decolonised education for postcolonial Africa – transcending the abys
In his address to the Biennial Meeting of the Association for the Development of Education in
Africa, Mbeki (1999) made the following statement:
If the next century is going to be characterised as a truly African century, the
century of durable peace and sustained development in Africa, then the success
of this project is dependent on the success of our education systems. For
nowhere in the world has sustained development been attained without a well-
functioning system of education, without universal and sound primary
education, without an effective higher education and research sector, without
equality of educational opportunity.
It not surprising that Mbeki highlights educational systems as a key aspect of Africa’s
development and the de-legitimization of the colonial legacy. It was very clear then that the
extent to which the African century becomes a success depends largely on Africa’s
commitment to assert her position in the world. In this drive, the need for proactive
organisations cannot be over-emphasised. Thus, all institutions in Africa particularly
educational institutions would have to be prepared to change the way in which they operate in
order to play a more focused role in seeking honest answers to the problems besetting Africa.
Museveni (2000: 164) warned that failure, by institutions of learning, to become more
proactively involved will not take Africa anywhere and will inevitably result in
“backwardness”, which he describes as “a society’s incapacity to master its environment and
harness it by utilising the positive aspects for that society’s betterment”. Therefore, Africa
needs participatory institutions that are collectively involved, not institutions that glide on the
side-line, playing the role of a critical spectator in the developmental process.
Today, the need to transform our education system is more urgent than before, especially after
the #FeesMustFall wakeup call. In their paper, Pillay and Kathard noted in reference to the
removal of the Rhodes statue that, “this effort was not only about the statue, the symbol of
colonial oppression, but it was also about higher education curricular and about how research
is positioned” (194). Indeed we need advance knowledge through theories and empirical efforts
rooted in the African thought and cosmology so that we can produce knowledge that is relevant
to Africa and most importantly graduates who can take their rightful place in the world of
knowledge as Africans and not as ambivalent extensions of European knowledge. We must,
therefore, continue to agitate towards a better educational system in Africa. We cannot expect
this to happen without taking decisive steps, lest we become, in the words of Douglass (1857:
437), like “men who want crops without ploughing up the ground; they want rain without
thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” It is
therefore important that we go beyond the talking stage to the implementation stage. As Fanon
(1952: 28) puts it, “what matters is not to know the world but to change it.” As part of the
agitation for a decolonised African University, I propose an 8-point plan backed up by some
of the ideas that have been articulated in different places at different times:
1. African governments must set stringent requirements for educational intuitions
It is a complete disavowal of responsibility for the government not to provided direction on
what ought to be done in the next phase of Africa to take charge of her destiny as a continent
and to firmly set the continent on a path of recovery and sustained political and socio-
economic growth. For example, around 2013 the South African government compelled
Higher Educational Institutions to re-curriculate but strangely missed an opportunity to put
the Decolonisation at the centre of that re-curriculation project. Until African governments
realise the importance of having edicts for institutional reforms aimed at dismantling the
legacy of colonialism their aspirations for prosperous Africa will never be realised. As a
starting point, African governments must make a stringent educational policy informed by
Africa’s aspiration to reclaim its former glory and such policies must be boldly enforced. As
Habte and Wagaw (2003: 691), noted, “usually the constant rhetoric emphasising the need
for educational reform produced no more than cosmetic changes while the existing system
reproduced itself.” In my view, one of the many issues that continue to hamper significant
progress on the Decolonisation is the issue of embeddedness. This is especially so because
many of those who resist change are those trained in the Western/Eurocentric system and
continue to enjoy the privileges that they derive from these bureaucratic colonial systems at
the expense of the important raptures that need to happen. As a result, the work of those lonely
voices that advocate for a multiform, counter-narrative that put Africa at the centre makes a
very little impact that is continuously eroded by the system in which they operate.
It is therefore important that there is a corresponding acceleration of efforts on the part which
has a moral obligation “to force Africa to face up to itself in the world,” to borrow Mbembe’s
phrasing (2001: 14). Governments need to relook at their approach, which has, until recently
focused more on political astuteness and very little on education and its current
epistemological framework that has completely obfuscated the precolonial mode of education
that resonated with the African contexts. Although some may argue that, this kind of approach
will impede academic freedom. Nonetheless, it is clear that radical intervention is needed if
we hope to transcend the abys and ensure that our educational systems are relevant, rooted in
Africa and well-positioned to respond to African problems. As Foucault (1985: 252) reminds
us, “You can't find the solution of a problem in the solution of another problem raised at
another moment by other people.”
2 A return to the African Renaissance project
As mentioned above, the African Renaissance seems to have come and gone. Linked to the
Mbekian era, the former South African President sought to premise this particular renaissance
on Africa’s forgotten history of innovation as illustrated by Mbeki’s (1998) speech to the
United Nations in which he reminded the word body of the Latin saying: Ex Africa semper
aliquid novi!” [Something new always comes out of Africa] (See The African Renaissance,
South Africa, And The World Speech, 1998). The concept of the renaissance of Africa was
first highlighted by Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop in 1948 and later intimated by
Kwame Nkurumah and Nelson Mandela (Asante 2006; Bongmba 2004). This was, in turn,
taken up by Thabo Mbeki, who made a passionate plea for the African Renaissance when he
delivered what became known as ‘The African Renaissance statement’ in 1998. Whereas
Asante (2006) sees the African Renaissance as a call for ‘African unity and resurgence’,
Nabudere (2006: 13) sees it as ‘a call for continued African resistance to Western domination
and exploitation’. In Africa, there is such a great deal to be resuscitated due to the historical
circumstances relating to colonialism, imperialism, apartheid and other factors that have
covertly or overtly eroded the African way of life over a prolonged period of time. For this
reason, the renaissance in Africa cannot, in any way, be equated to the one that took place in
Europe. The challenge is therefore enormous but certainly not insurmountable.
What is certain, however, is that the African Renaissance demands that Africans themselves
take their future into their own hands. It is about Africans asserting their true identity and pride,
as explained by Shope (1999: 7): “The renaissance of our Africanness is not about
rediscovering, but about reiterating who we are and what we as Africans are all about.” It is,
of course, true that “no future and no renaissance can be envisaged with peoples who are
psychologically defeated and have lost their confidence in themselves and in their ability to
change their own situation according to their own needs and aspirations” (Guéye, 1999: 244-
45).
Thus, the renaissance of Africa is essentially a project in the search of identity, which had been
displaced by the onslaught of foreign culture, languages, and other hegemonic devices
deliberately designed to subjugate Africans and socialise them in the culture, language, and
customs of the colonial masters. Now that Africans have regained their (false) independence,
with the 21st century being widely hailed as the African century by many African intellectuals
and politicians, it is imperative, in the context the above line of thinking that Africans go all
out to disentangle themselves from dependency on colonial masters. Certainly, if the African
renaissance is about Africans reclaiming their own identity, culture, and ways of knowing, then
its success is largely dependent on Africans being able to assert themselves and communicate
with each other in their own languages. Yet, Africa is a huge multi-lingual continent and the
possibility of utilizing any of the African languages emblematic to a particular language group
is another issue.
It is an open secret that colonialism exploited Africa and its people and enriched the colonisers
by monopolising power and economic production. In many countries, such as South Africa,
Zimbabwe, Kenya and so forth, colonisers grabbed the land, which had for centuries been the
key asset for Africans (Mazrui, 1999). The discovery of minerals and other means of
production bolstered colonial control and supremacy, and exacerbated the exploitation of
Africans who worked as cheap labourers and slaves in some instance. The colonisers also
introduced their culture and languages and ruthlessly uprooted and diluted indigenous culture
which they saw as barbaric, backward and uncivilised. The history of Africa was falsified and
Africans were projected as insignificant, dull and lazy creatures, which were then
disempowered, debased and exploited in all ways possible (Motsaathebe 2011a). Within that
formulation, Africa was seen as ‘the dark continent’ or a jungle where anybody except Africans
can come and do as they please. At the end of colonialism, Africans had to deal with the
unsurpassed levels of poverty, underdevelopment which derailed the normal stability of the
African communities. Unfortunately, when the colonialists left after looting the continent, they
left behind their legacies, notably, their languages, the systems of government, laws and other
public institutions such as Universities, which continue to serve as their hegemonic apparatus.
Today, as mentioned all African countries have gained what they perceive to be independence
from their former colonial masters. This article posits that such independence is not true
independence as the colonial structures firmly remained in place and continue to orchestrate
the historical circumstances that have covertly and overtly eroded the African way of life over
a prolonged period. The essential issue at stake in the African Renaissance, argues Diop (1999:
5), is that of devising ways and means to revert this age-old regressive trend and to regain the
historical initiative as a people, in order to secure Africa’s reconstruction and development
based on the vital needs and legitimate hopes of the majority of Africa. However, Prah (1999:
60) cautions that “Africa’s development and renaissance cannot be premised on unbridled
cultural borrowings from outside.” In substantiating this point, Prah (1999) adds that
development in a sustained and meaningful way can only be achieved on the basis of Africa’s
own cultural usages in consonance with history and cultures of the people of Africa.
The question that follows is: How can this be achieved? In responding to this question Odora
Hoppers, Moja and Mda (1999: 236), suggest the following priorities which they say should
underpin the role of higher education in devising the appropriate curricula based on African
knowledge systems:
• To increase a body of African knowledge systems (both contemporary and
indigenous) and a directory of experts in African indigenous knowledge system;
• To increase core courses on the African Renaissance perspectives in all faculties,
which should lead to the development of guidelines towards an African-centred
teaching methodology;
• To establish linkages between institutions, government structures, and the
community in order to enable government structures to make a meaningful
contribution to policy development;
• To establish a think-tank and coordinate proactive and remedial projects in the
communities in zones of conflict; and
• To develop mentorship programmes within the framework of the philosophy of
ubuntu and create programmes for its application in practice.
The preceding points are clearly very important as they affirm the conviction that the African
Renaissance can never be realised until our universities are truly Africanised by incorporating
the African world-view. Habte and Wagaw (2003: 693) echo the same sentiments and further
suggest that “institutions of higher learning must consider themselves as the cultural centres
of the communities in which they exist and the guardians and supporters of artistic, literary
and musical heritage”. This is important since Africa is in a renewal phase as already
evidenced by the progress that has been made by various African countries and institutions
in furthering the continent’s ambitious plan to restore Africa to its former glory and locate its
proper place in the world.
3. Adapting university education to the cultural milieu of its local community
Matos (2000) is of the opinion that, in order for the university to discharge its functions
adequately, it must be firmly rooted in the cultural and intellectual environment of the country
where it is located. He posits that “the agents of education and research enterprise, the
academic staff, must continuously seek to understand the local environment and culture,
transmit this to their students, and stimulate and guide them in the search for understanding
of reality” (Matos, 2000: 18). In terms of drawing aspirations from our immediate
communities, it is important that the curricula should be relevant, as indicated before so that
what is taught at these institutions should be informed by developments in these communities.
Therefore, we must incorporate within the curricula what matters to the local communities.
For instance, we can base research and other scholarly endeavours on these communities with
a clear aim of accelerating growth and lessen dependency on foreign institutions or countries.
Matos (2000: 16) raises the issue of relevance and quality in this way: “Trapped in their
internal problems and exhausted by their survival strategies, universities show little capacity
to adopt to change and to respond to the demands posed by society and by economic trends.”
For some scholars like Cloete (1997:4), relevance includes democratisation of opportunities
to participate, links to the world of work, lifelong learning, contributing to the solution of
pressing social problems such as environment, democracy, and human rights. This is exactly
what Ugandan president, Museveni (2000: 114) referred to when he said in addressing
students and staff at Makerere University in Kampala: “Ideas must spring from your own
social reality. You must analyse your own society and extrapolate relevant theories on which
you can base your judgement and actions. Mere imitations will not take Africa anywhere.”
Makgoba (1996) has echoed the same sentiments:
We need a higher education system that is anchored and understands its
identity, one that derives its intellectual inspirations from the challenge
we as (South) African society face – poverty, racism, HIV/Aids, housing,
infrastructure.
Indeed, an African institution must be on centre stage for such activities so as to justify its
existence. We must play our role, and keep on reviewing it and redefining it as the situation
on the ground changes. We must aim to be part of the community so that what we teach is
not by any way overtaken by developments in the community that surround us. As Museveni
(2000: 162) exhorts: “Often in Africa, instead of young people being at the forefront of the
struggle for social justice, they are at the forefront of the struggle for privileges. You must
make it your mission to discover the path we should take in order to get out of the current
situation.” It is important, therefore, that the African university should serve as the nucleus
of knowledge, research, innovation, and moral fibre within which Africa’s developmental
strategies must be grounded.
4. Vigorous incorporation of indigenous knowledge
The era of renewed vigour, recognition and appreciation for the value and application of
indigenous knowledge and history should begin within the context of university education.
Indigenous knowledge is the key aspect of culture since it is the cultural system that informs
the creation of knowledge in any given community. It is for this reason that Mugo (1999: 228)
contends that education “should have a cultural component, which specifically draws upon
African indigenous knowledge and culture”. It is a fact of historical circumstances that IK has
largely been neglected and marginalised with the result that in some quarters it has come to be
regarded as being backward. Commenting on this marginalisation and condemnation of IK by
the very people who are supposed to uphold it, Museveni (2000: 47), argues: “[p]eople are
always trying to denounce themselves and their heritage and become somebody else”. It is, of
course, important that such views must be discouraged at all cost. Indeed, being ‘indigenous’
in the African context has been the subject of much debate in some quarters. This debate has
triggered varied interpretations. Goduka (2005) explains that the very concept ‘indigenous’ is
derived from the Latin root indu or endo, which is related to the Greek word endina, meaning
entrails’. She elucidates: “Indigenous, therefore, means a shared sense of being so completely
identified with people, land, place, and nature that one reflects their very entrails, their insides,
their souls” (Goduka, 2005: 03).
Linked to this interpretation is the position that an African university must consciously pursue
a student profile that appreciates, understands and indeed identifies with indigenous
knowledge, culture and all of its facets, not the type that shuns and dismisses anything
indigenous as being uncivilised or backward. From this vantage, an African university will be
failing in its mandate if it produces students who have little or no knowledge at all of African
practices and ways of knowing. Habte and Wagaw (2003: 679) found that through the Western
education, “the educated elite were beginning to know less about and show little appreciation
for African history, religions, ideas, clothes, cuisine, art, music and life-styles generally”.
Universities in Africa can best serve their communities if they strive to function as
embodiments rather than eroding forces of indigenous knowledge, history and culture, as Habte
and Wagaw (2003: 679) correctly observed. It must be the role of an African university to find
indigenous knowledge and put it to proper use so that both the Western and the African
knowledge systems and practices can be fully harnessed. Hence Western knowledge and
indigenous knowledge must rather be complementary and not antagonistic to each other.
During colonialism, there was an asymmetrical way in which knowledge was imparted and that
was done with impunity by the colonisers. The Western system of knowledge was privileged
over African knowledge. Often, African knowledge was reproduced as a Western discovery to
deny African claims to knowledge and civilisation (Makgoba 1997: 199). However, a
reclamation of Africa’s indigenous knowledge system does not mean an erosion of the Western
knowledge system, and thus, as Makgoba puts it, ‘Africanisation is not about expelling
Europeans and their cultures, but about affirming African culture and their identity’ (ibid.).
The prolonged political conflict and civil wars in various African states have forced many
Africans to leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. This has resulted in
intolerance among people who regard those seeking refuge in other countries as intruders. It
has also caused a new form of conflict among Africans, which has manifested itself in, among
others, the culture of xenophobia. Universities need to respond actively to this challenge by
attempting to foster the culture of humanity, humility, understanding, and tolerance and
teaching those that walk through the gates of these institutions to be charitable to others. For
instance, in the war-torn communities, peace studies can easily become the core part of the
curriculum, teaching people the importance of peaceful co-existence. Again the ideals that
underpin the philosophy of ubuntu can play a pivotal role in this regard, as envisaged by
Raselekoane (2000: 63), who says that “ubuntu grooms people to be tolerant, patient and kind
to others”. As we shall see, the African culture is unique and many lessons can be drawn to
ensure a return to the stability of the African continent.
5. An African university as the locus for “What is working” to use Museveni’s
phrase.
In the words of Yuweri Museveni, the African university must become “the centre for what
is working and what is not working”. In an address to students and staff at the University of
Dar-es-Salaam in 1986, he emphasised that their role should be to discover the path to be
taken to get Africa out of the current situation. His view is that a university should be the
place where people learn and indulge in issues to get a broader understanding of these issues
so that the skills acquired from these institutions should be used effectively. Thus, our role
should be to discover what is wrong in Africa. Museveni (2000: 163) decried those
professionals who were wasting their skills on what is not working:
We have many experts, engineers, doctors, and other professionals who
are mere tools. They can be used to make weapons to kill people, or they
can be used to manufacture chemicals for the good of society. Therefore,
what is most crucial is the politics that guide whatever activity we
undertake. Expertise must be guided by politics.
Museveni’s viewpoint, as expressed, above is that any activity must be informed by a
thorough understanding of the confluence of factors prevailing in a given polity so that no
one becomes an enemy agent in disguise due to his own ignorance. The African university
must, therefore, serve as an incubator for innovation, new inquiry and new ideas especially
those that resonate with the African context, policies and practice.
6. The economic development of the continent
Among the most pressing issues that confront Africa is the need to raise living standards and
develop the economy to be able to deal with the scourge of poverty and unemployment. Marais
(1988: 107), for instance, has concluded: “almost everywhere in Africa the economic situation
is weak, and offers little hope of eliminating the fundamental problem – poverty”. According
to Mugo (1999: 227), developmental and economic paradigms that have failed to eradicate the
ailments of poverty, underdevelopment, hunger, homelessness, street children, and the rest of
Africa’s woes, demonstrate that our educational system has not been sufficiently problem-
posing and problem-solving in orientation.
Habte and Wagaw (2003: 699) agree and suggest that research and training must be based upon
economic and social realities in such a way that education will be better able to respond to
development requirements. In light of these views, the subjects taught at institutions of higher
learning ought to focus on the real issues on the ground. Outreach programmes cannot be
overlooked in this regard, in terms of conscientising the community about what can work and
what cannot work as evidenced by community-driven research conducted by these institutions.
The African university must truly become a beckon of hope against the bleak environment and
offer sustainable training, assistance, support, and advice on problems affecting the local
community. For this reason, the African university must draw up a clear vision, devise ways,
devote time and channel all of its resources in the pursuit to help develop the economy to the
fullest. Assistance in the form of donations from developed nations has not been sufficient and
it is certainly not the answer since the best it does is to continue to increase dependency on
hand-outs, which will never be able to ignite economic development that is so fundamental to
Africa’s rediscovery.
Africa is rich in minerals and other natural resources but Africa is still unable to tap on these
in any meaningful way to enrich the continent and lessen dependency on former colonial
masters. Education must be at the centre stage to ensure that the work that is being done at
universities assist Africa in returning to the centre and ensuring that it has the know-how to use
the resources meaningfully for its own survival and prosperity.
7. African professionals in the Diaspora
It is indeed true that “Diasporan African communities have many of the resources and skills
that Africa badly lacks” (Mugo, 1999: 229). This view supports Cloete’s (1997: 3) finding that
almost 30% of Africa’s high-skilled person power has moved abroad – mainly to Europe. Many
African intellectuals, including Mbeki (cited earlier), believe that it is an opportune time for
Africans in the African Diaspora to come home. Clearly irritated by these distant participants,
Mbeki (1998: 299), in speaking of his vision of an ideal Africa, states that:
I dream of the day when the African mathematicians and computer
specialists in Washington and New York, the African physicists, engineers,
doctors, business managers, and economists, will return from London and
Manchester and Paris and Brussels to add to the African pool of brainpower;
to inquire into and find solutions to Africa’s problems and challenges; to
open the African door to the worlds of knowledge; to elevate Africa’s place
within the universe of research, the formation of new knowledge education
and information.
To retain the best one has to create conditions that are favourable. African universities must,
therefore, aim at recruiting those African academics in the Diaspora to come home and make
their contributions. Those who still care need to come and help rebuild Africa, a continent that
was once so prosperous that explorers had to leave their countries in the scramble for Africa’s
riches. The role of an African university and its activities, it does seem, cannot be deemed
passable if it fails to attract these professionals.
In addition, the successful recruitment and retention of these professionals will, in part, address
some of the concerns that have been raised by critics such as Thompson (1981), who found the
way in which most African educational institutions recruited problematic. Thompson (1981)
found that most institutions tend to recruit their former students who have not necessarily
acquired commendable experience outside these institutions whereby the only thing they know
best is what they learned at these institutions. Yet they are tasked with preparing students for
employment in the increasingly demanding and more complex society. He argued that this
constitutes a “closed cycle more suited to the perpetuation of existing practice than to changing
it” (Thompson, 1981: 167). He likened this to a situation where someone teaches about
manufacturing without having seen a factory.
8. Development of African Languages and African Logic
Prah (1999: 60) suggests, “African languages need to be rehabilitated and developed to carry
science and technology in their most advanced forms”. Serote (1999) supports this call,
adding that Africa is the only continent where knowledge is imparted through languages that
are not indigenous. In echoing this view, Habte and Wagaw (2003: 696) add that these
(foreign) languages “are alien in that they are not rooted in African soil and do not draw their
continued vitality from the material and cultural essence of Africans”. Clearly, the issue of
languages is an important one. Often many people speak of science and technology as if these
are strange subjects to Africa. However, science and technology were alive and well long
before the encroachment of European explorers, as pointed out by Van Sertima (1999) and
Kgaphola and Magau (1999). The latter put it this way: “Long before Europeans set foot on
the continent, Africans had achieved technological and scientific sophistication in such varied
fields as astronomy, metallurgy, agricultural science and medicine” (Kgaphola and Magau,
1999: 345). Kromah has also highlighted some of Africa’s contribution to the area of science
and technology, elsewhere. Due to the profound impact of technology and science on human
lives, it is important therefore that while languages and other issues are still being revisited,
the means and ways of harnessing the new technology should be looked into, in the same way
as countries such as Japan have done. Thus, we must aim to produce a highly-skilled
population that is able to exploit the opportunities presented by the new technology in relation
to the problems confronting Africa. Producing highly skilled graduates is useful in ensuring
that African graduates are competitive and do not stay home jobless after spending time and
money at universities, thereby adding to the unemployment statistics. A high rate of
employability will ensure that the individuals who have completed their training at higher
education institutions become part of the solution and not part of the problem. In that regard,
we need to look at the possibilities of introducing courses which are directly related to the
daily struggles of the majority of the people on the ground and go further to make these
courses more accessible to the community. We must further encourage the application of new
skills by initiating relevant projects in which the acquired knowledge can be utilised in the
university’s immediate environment.
Conclusion
In this article, I have redirected attention to the decolonisation project as it currently unfolds
and drew attention to the primordial universities that existed in Africa as a good starting point
for premising the important work that needs to be done in decolonising higher education in
Africa. I acknowledged the importance of the constant debates that continue to map Africa’s
position in the world and assert Africa’s forgotten history, astuteness, and potential.
Importantly, I argued that it is time to radically enforce ideas that have been debated over the
years about what an African university out to be. In my agitation, I have suggested an 8-point
plan which includes, among others, government enforcing a Decolonisation project and a
return to work on the African Renaissance project which I suggest was abandoned
prematurely. It is posited in this article that eventually a remodelled African university must:
• Salvage and vigorously integrate indigenous knowledge in the curricula.
• Serve as custodian and embodiment of African culture and heritage.
• Draw inspiration from problems confronting Africa and provide an impetus for the African
Renaissance.
• Respond directly to the needs of their local communities, for instance, by providing
specialised knowledge geared towards addressing problems prevalent in these
communities.
• Produce graduates who can claim their rightful place in the world of knowledge as
Africans, not as ambivalent citizens of the world or extensions of European knowledge
and hegemony.
• Uphold African pride, thoughts, and intellectual rigor through activism, teaching,
research, scholarship that takes into cognisance local cosmologies and Africa’s
contribution to humanity in terms of the art, technology, and other ways of knowing.
• Support and promote institutions and projects whose aspirations it is to develop Africa
such as the African Union, African Renaissance, and other Indigenisation projects.
• Develop alternative frameworks for research and teaching as well as new theoretical
paradigms that take into account the specific experiences of societies in Africa
• Advance knowledge through theories and empirical efforts rooted in African thought
and cosmology.
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