Decoloniality and African Education: Contested Issues and Challenges

Decoloniality and African Education is a vibrant and vital collection of essays that addresses the challenges, possibilities, and responsibilities for the future of de- and anti-colonial African education as it is taught in universities in the U.S. and Canada, particularly in Colleges of Education. It looks at the ways in which African education is taught in these countries, and how the curriculum for the topic is influenced by colonialization, thus restricting or removing altogether the essence of Africanness from the content of classes.

The themes of this book go beyond the mere rhetoric of decolonialization by creating specific approaches to dismantling colonial educational systems in North American universities as well as in Africa itself, creating a new environment for African education duly informed by local cultural resource knowing, known from grounded everyday practices of authentic African educators. In other words, it is a revision of educational practices informed by what educators know and are doing for the lessons in envisioning schooling and education in North America and Africa.

African educators are urged to think through solutions specific to the problems and challenges in schools today, and to meet the call of our times to provide education to young learners that not only empowers them, but also provides them with background knowledge, cultural grounding, and specific lessons that will enable them to craft their own futures. So how do we “do” decolonial education from the standpoint of African educators and learners everyday schooling practice and knowledge? Decoloniality and African Education argues that a careful embrace of African Indigenous and cultural knowings determine the successful response to this question. It engages both the “decolonial” and the “anti-colonial,” with a reading that the “decolonial” (as many have pointed out, see Parry, 1994) is a process and a path toward an end, which is the goal of the “anti-colonial” (see Dei, 2022).

Decoloniality and African Education is essential reading for students and scholars committed to the improvement of educational outcomes for African American students. It’s a book that empowers educators and raises awareness about African-based teaching environments. It can be used in a variety of courses, including African Studies, African Development, Anti-Colonial Thought and Indigenous Knowledge, and the Pedagogical Implications of Decolonization.

Ghanaian-born George Sefa Dei is a renowned educator, researcher and writer who is considered by many as one of Canada’s foremost scholars on race, anti-racism studies, Black and minority education, African Indigeneity and anti-colonial thought. Professor Dei has forty-seven (47) books, over eighty (80) refereed journal articles, as well as 78 chapters in books to his credit. Finally, in June of 2007, Professor Dei was installed as a traditional chief in Ghana, specifically, as the Gyaasehene of the town of Asokore, Koforidua in the New Juaben Traditional Area of Ghana. His stool name is Nana Adusei Sefa Tweneboah.

Wambui Karanja is a PhD ABD Candidate in the Depart of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Her research interests lie in the fields of de/anti-colonial theorizing, Indigenous philosophies, research methodologies, gender, law and development theories.

Ephraim Avea Nsoh is a Ghanaian politician and was the Upper East Regional Minister of Ghana. Prior to heading the Upper East Region, Ephraim Avea Nsoh was Upper West Regional Minister. He was appointed as principal of the College of Languages Education, University of Education. The appointment was a four-year contract which took effect from October 1, 2016.

Daniel Yelkpieri is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Educational Policy Studies at the Institute for Educational Research and Innovative Studies (IERIS) in the University of Education, Winneba. He holds a Doctorate in Social Sciences (DSocSci) from the University of Leicester in the UK. He also has an M.Phil in Educational Administration, B.Ed (Psychology) and a Diploma in History from the University of Cape Coast and a Post-graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (PGDTLHE) from the University of Education, Winneba. He was the Head of the Department of the Centre for School and Community Science and Technology Studies (SACOST). He was also the acting Director for IERIS for a period of ten months. Currently, he is the Deputy Director of the IERIS.