Building an authentic African philosophy of education based on the African concept of personhood

Abstract

This paper’s central task is to demonstrate how the African concept of personhood provides a suitable grounding for an authentic African philosophy of education. An authentic African philosophy of education is one in which there is a constant search for underlying principles for reflecting on the foundation, nature, and justification for the need and desirability of education in Africa. Scholars have drawn diverse implications from the African concept of personhood, especially in the areas of normative ethics, social and political, and legal philosophies. However, sufficient attention has not yet been paid to how the African conception of personhood could drive fruitful theoretical engagements with the foundations, nature, and justification of the African philosophy of education. This paper attempts to fill this gap. With the combination of critical literature review and philosophical methods of conceptual and logical analyses (and argumentation), the paper argues for the centrality of an African concept of personhood to the questions of the foundation, form (nature), and justification of an authentic African philosophy of education. The paper concludes that a personhood-based African philosophy of education provides a plausible framework within which these questions can be fruitfully engaged.

Philosophical Value of Sumanget Ka-Sumedangan in Efforts to Develop Students' Character in Sumedang Regency

“…According to Wiredu, one of the main qualities of an educated person is knowledge of the cultural and natural environment (Balogun, 2023). Learners who have skills in their cultural environment will be able to adapt to situations in their lives.…”

“…Research conducted at SD Muhammadiyah Sapen Yogyakarta found that there was an implementation of discipline character cultivation with several policies set by the school involving various parties (Wuryandani et al, 2014). In addition, research has also been conducted on how the concept of Africans in providing a suitable foundation for a distinctive African educational philosophy to develop capacity in terms of educating generations of Africans with a complete personality (Balogun, 2023). Another research on Sumedang local wisdom was carried out in examining the philosophical meaning of the Beluk oral tradition and the values contained in it (Ningsih, 2022).…”