The under-representation of minoritized or previously oppressed groups in research challenges the current universal understanding of professional identity formation (PIF). To date, there has been no recognition of an African influence on PIF, which is crucial for understanding this phenomenon in places like South Africa, a society in which the…

The authors of this paper adopted a transformative framework in this article to examine how the legacy of apartheid continues to manifest within higher education in South Africa. In particular, the authors analyzed (a) how mainstream mentoring knowledge of 'black' and 'marginalized' people have influenced mentoring in post-apartheid South Africa;…

Universities in South Africa have the potential to advance various dimensions of human development, including well-being. However, this potential can be constrained by historical processes of oppression and the negation of indigenous ways of being and doing. Applying the capabilities approach (Sen, 1999) as a normative framework for the outcomes…

In this article I shall reflect on the issue of humanising pedagogy, taking a view that dehumanisation, in general, comes from two kinds of oppression. I shall argue that, apart from oppression of the political type, tertiary education is also a victim of another type of oppression which contributes to its dehumanisation, viz. the oppression…

African women in the Xhosa culture used to hold powerful positions in the sexuality arena. That has since changed and in contemporary Xhosa culture, they take up submissive roles. This is especially so in the teaching of certain aspects of sexuality, as Xhosa women are not supposed to give guidance in the sexuality of their male learners. In this…

This essay examines the changing range of descriptors available for black South African experience from the 1960s through to the present and shows the changing implications of "black", "African", "citizen" and "human being", with particular reference to the formative structures of education, and the enabling…

In view of the importance and urgency of transformation within post-colonial educational settings, this article considers key concepts in relation to re-curriculation efforts. It specifically discusses how the concepts of development and decolonization are typically understood and how they can be reimagined through the realism provided by the…

This article analyses how European travellers depicted the bodies of indigenous people in their travel narrations. Three travel writers, Peter Kolb, Anders Sparrman and Sir John Barrow, were selected to investigate how the bodies of indigenous people were perceived at the Cape Colony. Grosfoguel's theoretical framework of the coloniality of power,…

In all parts of the world, researchers are addressing the colonial legacy of research. This article aims to contribute to the decolonisation of research in a sub-Saharan African context by exploring Ubuntu as an indigenous Southern African research paradigm. Drawing on lessons learnt from participatory action research with South African science…

The colonial nature of South African universities remains a source of debate among students and academics. Decolonization as rethinking academic institutional practices seems less controversial; the specificity of how to decolonize the academia is the core of divergent arguments and contesting ideologies. Consequently, many suggestions and methods…

The aim of this paper is to search for possibilities to change the terms and content of conversations on colonial/decolonial human rights education. The content of conversations consists of what we know about human rights. The terms of conversations are the principles, assumptions, and rules of knowing in human rights education. The terms and…

This article discusses North-South-South higher education collaboration as a context for development education. We analyse an intensive course on qualitative research methods and culturally responsive education organized by a network of five universities from global South and global North. The course aimed to enhance qualitative understanding of…

Policy for young children in South Africa is now receiving high-level government support through the ANC's renewed commitment to redress poverty and inequity and creating "a better life for all" as promised before the 1994 election. In this article, I explore the power relations, knowledge hierarchies and discourses of childhood, family…

In this essay, we review and comment on three books that focus on language, literacy, and visual and cultural communication: "English as a Local Language: Post-Colonial Identities and Multilingual Practices" by Christina Higgins; "Literacy and Power" by Hilary Janks; and "South African Visual Culture," edited by…

Throughout the centuries the ownership of wealth has been used as the measure for the determination of status in a community or society. Exactly what constituted wealth differed from one period to the next. The nature and extent of power within the narrow confines of the family and the wider political context was defined on the basis of ownership…