Postcolonial theory

1. Post-colonial
Curriculum
Development
Andrea Sterzuk
Curriculum Development & Evaluation
in Technical & Vocational Education
October 1, 2013
Many of the slides in this presentation are text taken from Sterzuk
(2011)

2. Framing our conversation
• Sometimes the decolonization or
indigenization/Africanization of schools can be
(mis)interpreted as a desire to return to a static
past or as the simple the re-insertion of cultural
practices into schooling like dance or art.
• The purpose of this presentation is to help us
arrive at an understanding of the processes and
questions involved in decolonizing thinking,
schooling, and curriculum development.

3. Framing our conversation
• Let’s begin by seeking a common understanding
of culture.
• Handwerker defines as culture “the knowledge
people use to live their lives and the way in which
they do so.”
• Wolcott (1999) takes the definition of culture a
step further claiming that, “culture is revealed
through discerning patterns of socially shared
behaviour” (p. 67). Wolcott also says that culture
can be “loosely defined as shared knowledge” (p.
69).

4. Framing our conversation
• Question: How do you view culture? Do you
understand it as dynamic and changing?
• Question: What might it mean when we describe
school curriculum as Eurocentric ?
• Question: What might it mean to Africanize
school curriculum?
• Question: Can diversity coexist with unity in
multicultural African schools? How?

5. What is postcolonial theory?
• Postcolonial theory has been used to examine and critique
power relations in a range of contexts and ways.
• Some topics include: formation of empire; impact of
colonization on postcolonial history, economy, science &
culture; cultural productions of colonized societies; & agency
for colonized peoples.
• Postcolonial theory asks questions like: How did colonialism
happen? How did the experience of colonization affect those
who were colonized as well as the colonizers? What are the
continuing after- effects of colonial education, science and
technology in postcolonial societies? What were the forms of
resistance against colonial control? How do gender, race
and class function in colonial and postcolonial discourse?
Are new forms of imperialism replacing colonization and
how?

6. European Imperialism
• By the 1930s, colonies and ex-colonies
covered 84.6% of the land surface of the
globe (Loomba, 1998).
• This figure is shocking in itself but next
consider this reality: the eight countries
that created these European empires –
Portugal, Spain, France, the United
Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Germany and Italy – account for merely
1.6% of the land surface of the earth.
• What kinds of ideologies might have
permitted these countries to believe in
their rights to extend their claims to land
surface and human lives in this manner?

7. European Imperialism
• Indigenous peoples were not fully human; they
were not Christian, they were not civilized; they
had not evolved; they were doomed to extinction
by history and progress; they had no recognizable
legal systems or concepts of property rights and
were thus lawless; and they did not cultivate their
land. (Thobani, 2007, p. 41).
• Where did this thinking come from?

8. Critiques of Western
Philosophy
• Leela Gandhi (1998): In order to
better understand colonialism
and postcolonial theory, a brief
overview of European
philosophy (specifically
Cartesian philosophy and the
ideas and thinking that derive
from it) is necessary because
this particular view of the world
underlies European colonial
movements and thinking (past
and present).

9. Cartesian Philosophy
• Working under a humanistic
assumption – the idea that despite
our many differences, the human
experience has a universal and given
nature – Rene Descartes (1619) was
trying to make sense of the world by
determining what things all human
beings know for certain.
• Descartes posited that there is
nothing that humans can be certain of
other than the Self: the individual
person’s own existence in the world.
From this idea comes the familiar
statement ‘I think therefore I am,’
which is central to Cartesian
philosophy

10. Cartesian Philosophy
• Cartesian philosophy placed European humans at the centre
of their worlds and allowed them to believe that nature could
be controlled through acquisition of knowledge and
classification and analysis of the surrounding world.
• The experiences of other humans different from the Self –
commonly referred to as the Other – and other types of life
such as plants and animals are not part of this philosophy’s
view of the world except in how they are viewed or
understood by the Self.
• In this thinking, we can perhaps see the origins of the
contrast between Western individualism & African traditions
of cooperative communalism (Woolman, 2001, p.31).

11. Cartesian Philosophy
• This way of thinking about the world links power to
the individual’s ability to define the world; anything
that eludes or defies classification is, therefore,
troublesome.
• In an effort to make sense of the world and to
maintain power though knowing, Cartesian man
must either omit or suppress the deviant ways of
the other.

12. Cartesian Philosophy
• With Cartesian philosophy in mind, we can start to
understand the ‘civilizing’ goals of colonialism and;
colonialist education as the fear and suppression
of alterity (the state of being other) through the
pursuit of sameness.

13. Cartesian Philosophy
• Ashcroft explains that ‘the Cartesian separation of
subject and object, the separation of the
consciousness from the world of which it is conscious,
is the schema which still underlies the modern
Western episteme with its passion for “scientific”
objectivity and its tendency to see the world as a
continuum of technological data’ (Ashcroft, 2001: 67).
• This view of the world also leads to the suppression of
non- Western knowledge systems (for example African
knowledge).

14. Cartesian Philosophy
• Cartesian philosophy inevitably produced ways of
viewing the world that positioned the white
European (and, subsequently, settler) Self as the
centre of the world gazing outwardly; as ignorant
or scared of the Other; and as understanding the
Self as having an ethical responsibility to bring the
European rationality to others, so that they too
could progress from immaturity to maturity.

15. Postcolonial School
Curriculum
• In his discussion of African school curriculum,
Shizha (2013) asks the following questions:
• What constitutes school knowledge in postcolonial
African schools?
• How is that knowledge created & disseminated?
• How do we define & validate knowledge for the
official curriculum in the face of multiculturalism,
globalization & the internationalization of knowledge?
• What is the place of indigenous knowledge (IK) in
African schools?

16. Indigenous Knowledge
• “Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge—
knowledge that is unique to a given culture or
society. IK contrasts with the international
knowledge system generated by universities,
research institutions and private firms. It is the
basis for local-level decision making in agriculture,
health care, food preparation, education, natural-
resource management, and a host of other
activities in rural communities (Warren, 1991, p.1).

17. Indigenous Knowledge
• Shizha writes: “due to colonization, Western
knowledge (deemed positive science or scientific)
and IKs are/were often entrapped in power
relationships (Shizha, 2012b). The dominant
knowledge is/was frequently Western knowledge,
which overpowered and dismissed the Other’s
importance (Barua, 2010)” (2013, p. 4).

18. Indigenous Knowledge
• Shiza (2013) explains that “education is not limited
to accumulating knowledge and skills; it involves
acquiring ways of interpreting and giving meaning
to concepts, forming links and understanding
ideas. It also entails ways of knowing, perceiving
and interpreting the world. School knowledge has
to express the social desires, anxieties, and socio-
cultural needs for socio-economic development. It
should align itself with learners’ experiences that
are characterized by their socio-cultural
worldviews” (p.5).

19. Africanizing Schools
• Shizha (2013) explains that “ indigenizing Sub-
Saharan African school curriculum should be
approached pragmatically. Inclusive practices in
knowledge production and mediation should be
what curriculum transformation aim at. Pedagogy
should be approached from diverse perspectives
that allow the pedagogical process to be culturally
sensitive, accepting cultural variations that may
exist within the classroom. Classroom life should
reflect the social and cultural contexts that relate
to students’ experiences” (p. 14)

20. Africanizing Schools
• Woolman (2001) outlines some specific school
practices in the area of learning methods
“indigenous reliance on field experience, active
discovery and close observation reflects a
progressive pedagogy and seems more likely to
promote retention of learning than classroom-
based book and test methods that dominate
Western schooling” (2001, p. 31).

21. Africanizing Schools
• Shizha (2013) goes on to state that “classroom
experiences should also focus on the need to
meet the current societal needs. This means that
although pedagogy should be culturally sensitive,
it should not ignore aspects of Western knowledge
constructs that have benefited African societies
during the colonial period” (p. 15).

22. Africanizing Schools
• Woolman concludes by stating that the most
important need in educational reconstruction is to
“depart from dysfunctional external models of
curriculum that do not relate constructively to the
needs of all Africans” (2001, p. 43).
• Question: Do you agree? Why or why not?
• Question: Are you aware of external models of
curriculum that affect you as a teacher or learner?