Are we hearing the voices? Africanisation as part of community development

Abstract

The aim of the article is to report on research findings that could contribute to the development of decolonised academic material. Africanisation of curricula implies that education and training as well as praxis be informed by the reality of the South African context, the viewpoints of the people of South Africa and their descriptions of what is needed to build a just society. This is relevant to a variety of service professions. This article was presented from a trans-disciplinary framework, and the term ‘professional carers’, including the social service and theology professions, was used. The discussion explored how academia can approach the development of curricula that will inform praxis and which is relevant to the African context. The terms ‘Africanisation’, ‘decolonisation’ and ‘contextualisation’ were linked, whereafter a developmental approach to the development of the content and presentation of academic material was proposed. The article is concluded with recommended strategic options for the development of Africanised curricula.

Authentic African community development practices in a diverse society: A transdisciplinary approach

“…It should be noted that, if we intend to decolonise and acknowledge the African praxis and ways of doing, knowing and being, we must be informed by the African people and utilise this information to inform praxis (cf. Van der Westhuizen et al 2017). In line with this viewpoint, Thabede (2008:234) explained that an African worldview reflects the '…African cultural beliefs, praxis and values'.…”

“…Beukes 2016;Haddad 2016:7;Koopman 2005:150;Pieterse 2001:75. ), Van der Westhuizen, Greuel and Beukes (2017) and Prinsloo (2016) discussed how practices to address social issues in the South African society are not always informed by active participation of the South African people, leading to frustrations and a feeling of not being heard and not being respected. This is evident in various social actions and protests, against, amongst others, poor service delivery, gender-based violence, as well as xenophobic acts of violence and intolerance.…”

“…Community development is one approach to work towards a change process where social justice is actively implemented. This approach falls within the social development paradigm and supports a movement from the state satisfying the needs of the citizens to a facilitation of processes where citizens themselves become involved in their futures (Hart 2012;Van der Westhuizen et al 2017). Therefore, in order to work towards such a movement, the transdisciplinary team representing social work, theology and the arts started their discourses and work based on a shared argument that citizens must become aware of the diverse indigenous resources, such as knowledge and skills, available to them to stimulate collaborative and participative positive change in communities.…”

Teaching Russian as a foreign language to students from the Republic of Angola

“…• games, role-play, audio, video and online technologies in teaching foreign languages [18][19][20][21][22]; • research works on teaching of African [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. To test the effectiveness of the ethno-oriented approach in teaching Angolan students, the following assumptions were made:…”

Practical theology and the call for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa: Reflections and proposals

“…26.See for example the work by Le Grange (2011;2014), Prinsloo (2016) and Van der Westhuizen, Greuel and Beukes (2017).…”