Applying Ayittey’s Indigenous African Institutions to generate epistemic plurality in the curriculum

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dc.contributor.author Eybers, Oscar Oliver
dc.date.accessioned 2021-07-26T08:36:42Z
dc.date.available 2021-07-26T08:36:42Z
dc.date.created 2021-09-12
dc.date.issued 2019-06-24
dc.description.abstract BACKGROUND : South Africa’s institutions of higher learning are currently experiencing a dispensation in which calls for curricula transformation and decolonisation reverberate. While the need for curricula evolution is generally accepted, there appears to be a lack of awareness of methodologies which are applicable to changing curricula. To this end the study proposed the incorporation of Ayittey’s text Indigenous African Institutions into mainstream curricula for the following reasons: It is a rich source of indigenous African knowledge and includes history and information which relate to all disciplinary faculties and their areas of teaching. AIM : The following conceptual study aimed to highlight the value of George Ayittey’s seminal text, Indigenous African Institutions of 2006, towards implementing curricula in South African universities that are epistemically diverse. SETTING : This study is contextualised in higher learning spaces in the African context. METHOD : The methods of this study involved a textual probing of previous discourses on epistemic diversity in university curricula that value pre-colonial African history. The study also highlighted pre-colonial African modes of organisation as emphasised in Ayittey’s texts, which are relevant epistemic sources for dissemination in contemporary, African scholarly. RESULTS : The results of the study indicated that Africa’s pre-colonial era contains rich sources of indigenous and epistemic knowledge required for social organisation during that era. Ayittey’s text describes how African cultures gave form to relationships between families, communities, nations and the natural environment. This knowledge was seen as valuable for curriculum developers who aim to implement epistemically diverse curricula in mainstream African university modules. CONCLUSION : The study concluded by conceptually arguing for curricula that incorporate and draw on regional and global contexts. Ayittey’s text is an enabling instrument in such a curricula model that aims to increase student awareness of indigenous African epistemic systems and modes of organisation, as related to the rest of the humanity. It was also argued that when juxtaposed with western epistemic modes in the curriculum, Africa’s epistemologies may aid in creating inclusive learning experiences. en_ZA
dc.description.department Unit for Academic Literacy en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://thejournal.org.za
dc.identifier.citation Eybers, O.O., 2019, ‘Applying Ayittey’s Indigenous African Institutions to generate epistemic plurality in the curriculum’, Transformation in Higher Education 4(0), a68. https://doi.org/10.4102/the.v4i0.68. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 2415-0991 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 2519-5638 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.4102/the.v4i0.68 en_ZA
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80981
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher AOSIS
dc.rights © 2019. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
dc.subject Higher education en_ZA
dc.subject George Ayittey
dc.subject Indigenous knowledge
dc.subject Epistemic pluralism
dc.subject Curricula
dc.subject Diversity
dc.title Applying Ayittey’s Indigenous African Institutions to generate epistemic plurality in the curriculum en_ZA
dc.type Postprint Article en_ZA


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