Knowledge and Change in African Universities : : Volume 1 – Current Debates / / edited by Michael Cross, amasa ndofirepi.

• Superior document: African Higher Education: Developments and Perspectives
• HerausgeberIn: Cross, Michael.; ndofirepi, amasa.
• Place / Publishing House: Rotterdam : : SensePublishers :, Imprint: SensePublishers,, 2017.
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Edition: 1st ed. 2017.
• Language: English
• Series: African Higher Education: Developments and Perspectives
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XVIII, 220 p.)

Besides the ongoing concern with the epistemological and theoretical hegemony of the West in African academic practice, the book aims at understanding how knowledge is produced and controlled through the interplay of the politics of knowledge and current intellectual discourses in universities in Africa. In this regard, the book calls for African universities to relocate from the position of object to subject in order to gain a form of liberated epistemological voice more responsive to the social and economic complexities of the continent. In itself, this is a critical exposé of contemporary practices in knowledge advancement in the continent. Broadly the book addresses the following questions: How can African universities reinvent knowledge production and dissemination in the face of the dominant Eurocentricism so pervasive and characteristic of academic practice in Africa to enhance their relevance to the contexts in which they operate? How can such change, particularly at knowledge production and distribution levels, be undertaken, without falling into an intellectual and discursive ghettoization in the global context? What then is the role of academics, policy makers and curriculum and program designers in dealing with biases and distortions to integrate policies, knowledge and pedagogy that reflect current cultural diversity, both local and global? Against this backdrop, while some contributions in this book argue that emancipatory epistemic voice in African universities is not yet born, or it is struggling with little success, many dissenting voices charge that if Africans do not take responsibility and construct knowledge strategies for their own emancipation, who will?

Table of Contents

Foreword: Knowledge and Change in Contemporary Postcolonial Universities -- Acknowledgements -- University Knowledge for Societal Change in Africa: Unpacking Critical Debates -- Reinventing Greatness: Responding to Urgent Global-Level Responsibilities and Critical University-Level Priorities -- Ubuntu: African Philosophy of Education and Pedagogical Encounters -- Knowledge as a Public Good: A Critical Gaze at the African University -- The Conditions That Make a Difference: Decolonial Historical Realism and the Decolonisation of Knowledge and Education -- Knowledge, Globalisation and the African University: The Change Agenda -- Africanisation and Diverse Epistemologies in Higher Education Discourses: Limitations and Possibilities -- Higher Education Transformation in South Africa -- Interrogating the Civic Role of South African Universities -- Decolonisation of Knowledge in the African University -- Internationalisation and Africanisation in a Globalising World -- Africanisation of Humanities Knowledge in the Universities in Africa: A Critique of the Cameroon and South African Experiences -- About the Contributors.