Paradigm Clash, Imperial Methodological Epistemologies and Development in Africa:

Challenges and Paradoxes in Decolonising HCI: A Critical Discussion

“…Originally coined to describe the socio-political, cultural, and economic processes following the undoing of colonial rule, the interest to decolonise has moved beyond the dismantling of the colonial empires to include many spheres of life. In fact, in recent years the encouragements to 'decolonise' have embraced many fields and included, among others, the necessity to repatriate indigenous land and life (Boveda and Bhattacharya 2019;Tuck and Wayne Yang 2012), critically reflect on existing practices and epistemologies (Ali 2014;Datta 2018;Hajibayova and Buente 2016;Torretta and Reitsma 2019;Zavala 2013), embrace the local processes ( de Martins and de Oliveira 2016;Dourish and Mainwaring 2012;Walters and Simoni 2009), strengthen indigenous theory and practice (Du 2017;Mawere and van Stam 2015;, and dismantle the colonial status quo (Bidwell 2016;Boveda and Bhattacharya 2019;Keyes et al 2019;Le Grange 2016).…”

“…Decolonised HCI, Design, and CSCW Decolonisation literature has been largely produced with Western scholarship and by Western scholars operating in non-Western contexts. Dominant discourses have been crafted around embracing indigenous worldviews (Bidwell 2016;Hajibayova et al 2016) while critiquing the blind application of Western epistemologies in nonwestern contexts (Ali 2014;Dourish and Mainwaring 2012;Keyes et al 2019;Mawere and van Stam 2015). Various approaches have been adopted in the attempt to decolonise existing practices (Ali 2014;Datta 2018;Mawere and van Stam 2015;Tuck and Wayne Yang 2012).…”

“…Dominant discourses have been crafted around embracing indigenous worldviews (Bidwell 2016;Hajibayova et al 2016) while critiquing the blind application of Western epistemologies in nonwestern contexts (Ali 2014;Dourish and Mainwaring 2012;Keyes et al 2019;Mawere and van Stam 2015). Various approaches have been adopted in the attempt to decolonise existing practices (Ali 2014;Datta 2018;Mawere and van Stam 2015;Tuck and Wayne Yang 2012). The term itself evokes different meanings and uses both from scholars explicitly using the term within their work (Bidwell 2016;Sium et al 2012) and from those that embrace the practice of decolonisation but choose not to engage with the term itself (Winschiers-Theophilus et al 2015).…”

“…The trouble with this position lies in the fact that a globalised worldview is universal rather than pluriversal and hence is not reflective of local realities. Adopting a globalised worldview might lead to local research endeavours that blindly use methodologies and epistemologies in which indigenous ways of working might be overlooked or diminished at best (Nassir and Leong 2017) or colonial legacies might be inadvertently reproduced locally at worst (Giglitto et al 2018;Mawere and van Stam 2015). We call this phenomenon micro-colonisation.…”

The Tutoring Influences in Distance Education at El Oro Province Ecuador

“…However, the most important is the fact that distance education appears to be the answer for the democratization of higher education in Latin America (LA) because it can meet the people`s claims to eradicate inequity in work and living opportunities. Deplorably, on the other hand, the predatory corporate act for privatization of the public education ("Education Reforms") that claims inefficiencies in the public systems is a latent threat in LA countries, the corporative education represent a modern ongoing super-colonialism more intrusive than the colonialism experienced in the last two centuries and that controls ICT, frameworks, infrastructure and knowledge networks that can disempower local education modalities (Dourish & Mainwaring, 2012;Mawere & Van Stam, 2015;Van Stam, 2017). Despite these dangers, education policies for high education in LA including Ecuador appear to neglect of virtues of distance education for granting the access to free education for poor young people: single mothers; unskilled workers and persons deprived of a college education.…”