Chapter 1 African philosophy of education through a (post)critical lens

Implications of a (post)critical view of an African

philosophy of education for educational theory and
practice
Thus far we have addressed an African philosophy of education in relation to critical
and post-structuralist thought. Whereas a critical African philosophy of education
relates to the emancipation of human beings from practices of domination and
control, a post-structuralist view of the discourse is concerned with looking at
things anew, with the possibility that the unexpected and unimagined can be
forthcoming. The question is how such understandings of an African philosophy
of education affect educational theory and practice.
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We authors’ assimilation into the Anglo-Saxon tradition of analytic philosophy

of education has brought us into contact with the uncovering of meanings on
the basis of looking for reasons that constitute concepts and practices. Wiredu
(1980:15), schooled in the analytic tradition of philosophy, makes a case
for African philosophy in relation to the analytical as he tackles authoritarian
practices related to traditional African communities, such as the principle
of unquestioning obedience to elders, witchcraft and an ‘unscientific attitude of
mind’. By contrast, we are concerned with how a reasoned and culturally dependent
understanding of African philosophy can influence education in pedagogical
encounters among learners and educators. In this way we seek to address
how critical and post-structuralist notions of an African philosophy of education
affect educational experience.
The view of educational theory and practice that we adopt in this chapter is one
of mutual attunement – that is, theory and practice serve one another equally. A
theory or set of ideas is not simply conjured up independent of human experiences.
Rather, humans’ propositions and contentions are presented as justifiable ideas
that give educational theory its distinctive form. An educational theory informs
the practices in a certain way, and in turn the practices reinforce the theory. The
notion of educational theory and practice as being intertwined underscores the
African philosophy of education, and in the same way, when a theory of African
education informs its practices, its practices reinforce the theory. Equally, when
Africans’ practices – their lived experiences and/or pedagogical encounters – alter
the respective theory that underscores them, the theory is either modified or altered
according to the demands of the practices. When a theory of human engagement
that involves people listening attentively without questioning to what others in
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authority have to say is altered to a theory whereby people engage with the views
of those in authority in a critical way without fearing intimidation or exclusion,
then such a theory has resulted in the practices having been modified. The rationale
for human action has been adapted from uncritical obedience to elders’ views to a
questioning of and engagement with the assumptions and perspectives of others.

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 A Reader in Philosophy of Education

Our point is that a theory of human engagement alters the way people act, just
as people’s practices modify or reinforce the underlying guiding principle (reason)
that makes the actions what they are. Theory and practice are thus intertwined.
We now consider how a critical-cum-post-structuralist or (post)critical view of
an African philosophy of education affects educational encounters among learners
and educators.

A (post)critical view of an African philosophy of education

and autonomous human action
According to the (post)critical understanding of an African philosophy of
education, dilemmas on the continent have to be looked at in relation to what
it means to become liberated. For several decades Africans have been subjected
to political hegemony to the extent that their autonomy as persons has been
undermined. The now (in)famous ‘Arab Spring’, for example, highlights why and
how several Arab-speaking African countries experienced mass protests against
inflexible governments. The demands of the various peoples for recognition of
their ‘voice’ had initially been attended to. But a lack of individual autonomy
resulted in these countries quickly reverting to their pre-revolutionary contexts of
repression and control.
How does an African philosophy of education as a (post)critical discourse
respond to such a dilemma? We suggest that educational encounters in schools and
universities should encourage autonomous human action. Learners and educators
ought to be regarded as people who have the right to think for themselves, to
be imaginative and to question others’ points of view and assumptions without
having to suffer persecution and exclusion. Our argument resonates with the
seminal thoughts of Zeleza (2004:66), who posits that autonomy of persons
(educators and learners) is significant in the production of ‘critical social
knowledge’ which can advance ethical and responsible change in universities on
the continent. Zeleza (2004:66) further contends that if African universities do
not remain committed to the cultivation of autonomy of learners and educators,
they will fail to respond adequately to the challenges of democracy, development
and self-determination. We maintain that a (post)critical understanding of an African
philosophy of education ought to be responsive to the unexpected and previously
unpredicted challenges of democratic engagement and development. Failing to
do this would be not only an injustice to Africa but, more poignantly, detrimental
to the imperatives of what it means to enact a (post)critical African philosophy
of education.

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 Chapter 1 African philosophy of education through a (post)critical lens

A (post)critical view of an African philosophy of education

and deliberative encounters
The (post)critical notion of this philosophy is also committed to the cultivation
of more open and reflexive human encounters. To be critical is to recognise the
potential in deliberative encounters whereby educators and learners can engage
unconstrainedly in the pursuit of becoming more open and reflexive towards
human understandings and events. The practice of ubuntu (considered in traditional
African parlance as a communal form of human engagement) would be extended
from mere participation to engagement. In other words, when learners and
educators participate in pedagogical encounters, they would do so on the basis of
wanting to act in community, contributing to one another’s shared understandings.
Participation alone does not always engender change, as participants can become
passive and disconnected from their pedagogical concerns to changing undesirable
forms of human action. For instance, learners and educators can participate in
an atmosphere of ubuntu in a pedagogical encounter, but their participation does
not automatically lead to some desirable form of change for humanity. Moreover,
certain tribal communities on the continent participate in community to reflect on
the dilemma of child labour, but if their actions do not contribute to addressing
this wrong, they cannot have engaged in ubuntu.
Ubuntu upholds the willingness of people to engage with one another with the
intention of altering an undesirable situation. When people engage deliberately
they state why a more favourable situation should be sought. When learners
and educators become persuaded by the capacity of deliberation to change their
understandings of a particular situation to one whereby change is worked towards,
then they will have become more open to and considerate of the possibility
of change. This happens only when they engage with one another as equals,
legitimately speaking their minds in the pursuit of desirable action.
An African philosophy of education that recognises the importance of ubuntu
in the pursuit of desirable human action towards change is considered a critical
discourse. Thus we concur with Gyekye’s (1995:160) suggestion that the discourse
is associated with human practices geared towards the cultivation of humanness,
caring and distributive justice – that is, towards people becoming more inclined
to resolve societal deficiencies not only through a genuine concern for one
another but also by contributing towards changing their undesirable situations.
Thus, enacting ubuntu is a way of realising a critical understanding of an African
philosophy of education. Africans not only reflect on the desires for societal
change, they are stimulated to bring about change.
Moreover, the practice of a (post)critical African philosophy of education
implies that people’s deliberative encounters should extend beyond a desire for
tangible societal change. An education seeking social justice involves educating
people about the reasons for combating and alleviating poverty and hunger, but

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 A Reader in Philosophy of Education

such an education cannot be confined to altering these debilitating conditions.

Thinking (post)critically about an education for social justice implies that we
imagine situations beyond the alleviation of injustices. We need to expand our
thinking towards what it means to experience conditions of equality, freedom
and societal advancement. A (post)critical notion of an African philosophy of
education plays an important role here. If we can imagine an African continent
where communities live in conditions of profound equality and freedom, the
possibility for flourishing would be enhanced as well. A (post)critical notion of
education can contribute towards uninhibited thinking, where every challenge to
societal advancement could be overcome. Such a discourse would urge educators
and learners to imagine new, alternative possibilities and to offer ways of building
more just human relations.

A (post)critical view of an African philosophy of education

and cosmopolitanism
The assertion that a (post)critical African philosophy of education can engender
open, reflexive and previously unimagined educational encounters is an implicit
acknowledgement of the existence of such a philosophy of education. Like
Gyekye (1995:190), we believe that there cannot be a single and uniform African
philosophical perspective on education, because in terms of human experiences,
traditions, cultures, values and attitudes, African thinking and life are different
and multifold. Difference as well as similarities are to be found among various
African cultures, Gyekye (1995:192) points out:

A painstaking comparative study of African cultures leaves one in no

doubt that despite the undoubted cultural diversity arising from Africa’s
ethnic pluralism, threads of underlying affinity do run through the beliefs,
customs, value systems, and sociopolitical institutions and practices of
various African societies.

The (post)critical notion of an African philosophy of education is aimed

at giving what Gyekye (1995:211) describes as ‘analytical attention to the
intellectual foundations of [diverse] African culture[s] and experience[s]’. And
when we recognise the prominence of Africa’s ‘cultural variability […] as a way of
establishing deeper recognition and respect for fundamental differences’ (Hansen
2011:74), such a philosophy of education takes a cosmopolitan view. Considering
that cosmopolitanism recognises ‘humanity in both its generality and particularity’
(Hansen 2011:74) in much the same way as a (post)critical African philosophy of
education considers the particular in relation to the global (general), it can be
argued that such a philosophy is drawn to a ‘hospitality to intellectual, moral,
aesthetic, and cultural diversity’ (Hansen 2011:76). When the latter occurs, African
persons ‘are brought into the world, and the world into the person[s]’ (Hansen

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 Chapter 1 African philosophy of education through a (post)critical lens

2011:86). Thus, the cosmopolitan experience is more concerned with what African
communities and individuals can become ‘through the experience of reflective
openness to the new fused with reflective loyalty to the known’ (Hansen 2011:86).
So when learners and educators enact a (post)critical African philosophy
of education, they show a conscious concern not just to conduct themselves in
deliberative encounters, but also to being reflectively open to what is strange as
well as familiar to them – ‘the surprising and the expected’ (Hansen 2011:86).
We contend that a (post)critical African philosophy of education orientates
people to ‘the core value of reflective openness to the new and reflective
loyalty to the known’ (Hansen 2011:113). For instance, when Africans reflect
on their ways of seeing and living in the world, they do not abandon their
traditional understandings of life in the communities. Rather, they bring their
understandings and practices into conversation with what is unfamiliar and
other. Their loyalty to what they know becomes subjected to their reflectiveness
towards the unfamiliar. In this way, people’s ways of living may be influenced
by what is still to come. When pedagogical encounters among learners and
educators are provoked by a reflective loyalty to the known and a concurrent
openness to the new and unexpected, their willingness to engage deliberatively
will not only be enhanced but will also be geared towards what is not yet there
– that is, people’s imaginations will be enlarged.

Conclusion and recommendations for future research

We have begun this chapter by implicitly juxtaposing two strands of an African
philosophy of education – traditional ethnophilosophy and culturally reasoned
philosophy – that can affect education differently. Our argument defends
an African philosophy of education that transcends the dichotomy between
ethnophilosophy and culturally reasoned philosophy, and we make a cogent case
for a (post)critical African philosophy of education. Such a form of philosophy is
geared towards the cultivation of just human relations in deliberative ways, with
the possibility of being reflectively open to the new while remaining reflectively
loyal to the known. A reflective loyalty to the known does not imply that such a
philosophy of education cannot be questioned. On the contrary, the mere fact that
such a philosophy is brought into conversation with the unfamiliar subjects our
loyalty to the possibility that we might see things differently.
In our defence of a (post)critical African philosophy of education along the
lines of deliberation and cosmopolitanism we have not overlooked the traditional
essentialist depictions of the discourse. We have pointed out some of the limitations
associated with an exclusive emphasis on ethnophilosophy and a culturally
reasoned philosophy. Instead, our argument recognises that a unitary and uniform
philosophy of education is not possible. We are also interested to know some of
the limitations of such a philosophy of education and how pedagogical encounters

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