In this PowerPoint presentation I report on a new research approach that I have developed (Mogadime, 2015) to both theorize and examine the intersections of autobiography and the embodiment of principles of Ubuntu: spirituality, interdependence and unity in the life of the academic. The research approach that I have coined entitled: Document, Author, Collaborate, Teach and Testify (DACTT) provides a method for self-examination in relation to a researcher’s praxis (theory and action) regarding social justice. Moreover, it provides a cultural lens through which to think through and contextualize the meaning of social justice action. In the case of the present researcher, it invites a ‘uniquely South African’ understanding of the meaning of social justice work in the life of an academic who lives and works in the African Diaspora. Citation for this work is as follows: Mogadime, D. (2015) ‘Ubuntu’ and the Social Justice African Diaspora Scholar. [PowerPoint Slides] Lecture presented at the symposium, ‘Ubuntu and the Creation of Sustainable Learning Environments.’ Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto: Toronto, Ontario.

1. ‘Ubuntu’ and the Social Justice
African Diaspora Scholar
Dolana Mogadime, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Brock University, Canada

2. Symposium: Ubuntu and the Creation of Sustainable Learning
Environments
April 14 2015
6 pm – 8 pm
7th Floor Peace
Lounge
OISE / UT
252 Bloor St. W,
Toronto, ON
Presented in
Collaboration
with the
Transformative
Learning Centre
(TLC)
Chair: Jamie Magnusson, Ph.D., (Program Coordinator, Adult Education and Community Development, OISE/UT)
Panelists: Sechaba MG Mahlomaholo, Ph.D. (Dean, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa)
Dipane Hlalele, Ph.D. (Assistant Dean, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa)
Milton Nkoane, Ph.D. (Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa)
Dolana Mogadime, Ph.D. (Faculty of Education, Brock University, Canada)
The symposium ‘Ubuntu and the Creation of Sustainable Learning Environments’ discusses the ongoing work of
Professor Mahlomaholo who leads a National Research Foundation project in South Africa. Contributing members include
15 academics, 65 graduate students and community members. The project stands as a testimony for "the value and
power of building partnerships for praxis among universities, schools, the Departments of Basic Education and Higher
Education and training, social and rural development agencies as well as other instances of civil society" (Francis,
Mahlomaholo & Nkoane, 2010). The panelists revisit the work using the lens of 'Ubuntu' an African humanistic
epistemological approach which holds possibility for reshaping and contextualizing the meaning of social justice within
concepts that are indigenous to Africa and the Diaspora.
Questions explored include the following:
How do we enhance the quality of education using Ubuntu?
How do we theorize and apply Ubuntu within graduate cultures and mentor relationships?
How do we theorize research methods/ and social justice approaches in relation to Ubuntu in ways that improve teaching
practice and learning?
How do we ground Ubuntu in community leadership and among social agency partnerships?
How can Ubuntu support governance in schools?

3. Invoking our own African-
Centred legacy of leadership
 For the last few years of her life
 Zandile Kunene (2009b) worked tirelessly to
galvanize what she referred to as a ‘uniquely
African footprint’ in the theorizing about
leadership
 She produced a number of papers for CCEAM
and Black Leadership Forums (2006, 2008,
2009).
 Mogadime, Mentz, Armstrong and Holtham
(2010) seek to contribute to this movement

4. The meaning of ubuntu is encapsulated in the
following phrase:
 Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu – translated as ‘we are
who we are because of others.’
 According to Kunene, “clearly the focus is on
the communal, the responsibility, recognition,
reciprocity and respect that arises from dignified
interactions and roles within a group” (2009b).

5. We are who we are because of others

6. Reimagining Concepts of Ubuntu in Contemporary Times:
I use Auto/biography and auto/biographical reflections as a research
approach (Mogadime, 2010; Roth, 2005) in order to gain/ and theorize
on an insider knowledge about my life and work of an activist scholar
and public intellectual who is teaching in the African Diaspora.
My researcher’s identity is informed by three principles of Ubuntu:
spirituality, interdependence and unity. These subject positions
provide a lens through which to view and understand the work of an
African intellectual dedicated to:
A.Transforming institutions through equity based policy and practice
(CAUT, BUFA, FED Humanities and Social Sciences);
B.Forgoing connections between the South and the North, in so doing
contributing to enriching international border crossing experiences and
understandings among students, faculty and staff (through establishing
institutional Agreements between SA and a Canadian university).

7. Document, Author, Collaborate, Teach and Testify (DACTT):
Document: Auto/Biographical critical incidents in the making of a activist scholar e.g
“More than an equity pin-up” (Mogadime, 2014).
Author: Feature narrative texts from South Africa to Canada as a means to revisit
women’s leadership roles through social and political lens (Mogadime, Mentz,
Armstrong, 2010); reflective accounts on both research and teaching equity based
approaches (Mogadime, 2012)
Collaborate for Social Change and the Transformation of Institutions: On CAUT
Diversity Committee, CAUT Academic Staff Women’s Working Group; as BUFA
Employment Equity Advisor, on the Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences
Equity Steering Committee; as Coordinator for Brock University, North West
University Projects (to support international partnership links).
Teach and Testify: Drawing on personal stories from the field as a site for self and
social transformation; gaining insights from Canadian black intellectuals through self-
representations and self-authored stories that provide sustenance to the next
generation of activist scholars (Mogadime, 2015a).

8. DACTT
• Revisiting Cultural Epistemological
Practices:
•Acknowledging an academic’s lineage
through naming names and foundational
influences;
•Embracing Interdependence and
Connectedness by: Embodying border
crossing identities located across diverse
intellectual understandings;
•Represent An African Beaded Interwoven
Life: That weaves knowledge, Advocacy and
Coalition building across diverse groups that
have experienced oppression, alienation,
resistance and hope for social
transformation, equity and social justice.

9. Academic Lineage

10. Collecting Artifacts in the ‘Homeplace’: Involves…
BEADS; SPEAR and ZULU HEADRESS
Articulate the meaning of lineage and self-knowledge as it
informs both researcher and activist identities embodied in the
heart, mind and soul of the African Diaspora Scholar:
1.Finding the Creator Within Cultural Beaded work: An
academic’s lineage and personal life is interwoven and
interdependent as a creative multi-coloured set of beads;
2.Warrior Scholar: Spearheading and Leading International
Initiatives;
3.The Gift of a Cultural lineage is a Birthright: Exemplified by
Zulu married women’s headdress for traditional dance, given to
me by my mother, warrior grandmother, and the many women
in my matrilineal line, from whom I have descended.

11. Artifacts from the Homeplace
Beaded Work Headdress and Spear

12. Results: An Academic’s Scholarly and Community Activism Builds and Contributes to…
•Value for Diverse Communities
•Recognition of Diversity as a Strength
•Promotion of Diversity among the professoriate and student body as an institutional
advantage
•Honoring diversity as a means to supporting internationalization
•Appreciating increasing diversity as institutional capacity building
“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel
threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that
comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when
others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
(Desmond Tutu)

13. Recommendation: Engage In
Auto/biography and auto/biographical reflections involving DACTT
Document: Through memory work, honor your academic lineage. Read
social activist work through the cultural lens of Ubuntu
Author: Analyze reports and publications that you have written; collect
cultural artifacts (do beaded work) by engaging in critical examinations of
your own products of labour for their social and political significance
Collaborate: Revisit your ancestral home as pilgrimage carries spiritual
meaning and social responsibility (e.g. for contributing to academic and
community partnerships between the South and the North)
Teach: Spirituality, human interconnectedness and a sense of unity across
diversity groups sustains the long walk to social change and social justice
Testify: Support diversity among the professoriate as a strength and
envision being “More than an equity pin-up” or token hire (Mogadime,
2014).

14. References
Kunene, Z. (2005). Panel Discussion on Ubuntu. International Conference of Principals (ICP).
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.icponline.org/stories/conv2005/kunenepanel.pdf
Kunene, Z. (2009a). Ubuntu. Keynote Address. Black Leadership Forum. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved
from http://www.powershow.com/view1/21b5c3-ZDc1Z/Ubuntu_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
Kunene, Z. (2009b). Zandile Kunene. Voices: Commonwealth women and education. Retrieved from
Lecture Notes Online Website:
https://commonwealthwomensvoices.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/zandile-kunene/
Mbigi, L. & Maree (2005). Ubuntu: The spirit of African transformation Management. Randburg
Knowers Publishing Ltd.
Mogadime, D. (2015a). "The Nuances of Blackness and/in the Canadian Academy" – A tool for engaging
with equity pedagogy in the graduate classroom. [Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Equity Matters Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/nuances-blackness-andin-
canadian-academy-tool-engaging-equity-pedagogy-graduate-classroom
Mogadime, D. (2015b). An African Diaspora educational researcher as activist scholar. Brock Research
Celebration. Brock University, St. Catharines.
Mogadime, D. (2014, May). More than just an equity pin-up: A Black woman’s entry, life and work in
the Academy. Paper presented at, Canadian Society for the Study of Education. St. Catharines, Brock
University.

15. References
Mogadime, D. (2012). A personal account of integrating the Federation Blog while teaching diverse
university students. [Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences Equity Matters Blog]. Retrieved
from http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/personal-account-integrating-federation-blog-while-teaching-
diverse-university-students
Mogadime, D. (2010). Autobiography. Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos and Elden Wiebe (Eds.)
Encyclopaedia of Case Study Research, (pp.41-43). Sage Press.
Mogadime, D., PJ (Kobus) Mentz, Armstrong, D. E., & Holtam, B. (2010). Constructing self as leader:
Case studies of women who are change agents in South Africa. Urban Education 45(6), 797-821.
North West University Brock University Partnership. Retrieved from
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-international/research-development/north-west-university-brock-un
Citation for this work is as follows:
Mogadime, D. (2015) ‘Ubuntu’ and the Social Justice African Diaspora Scholar. [PowerPoint Slides]
Lecture presented at the symposium, ‘Ubuntu and the Creation of Sustainable Learning Environments.’
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto: Toronto, Ontario.

16. THANK YOU
Collaboration among students is a sign of
ubuntu, an African concept stressing our
common humanity.