The Dialectics of African Education and Western Discourses: Appropriation, Ambivalence and Alternatives
The six academics and contributors to the issue are AIi Abdi (originally from Somalia and currently associate professor of education at the University of Alberta), Nombuso Dlamini (originally from South Africa and currently associate professor of education at the University of Windsor), Constantine Ngara (originally from Zimbabwe and currently a doctoral candidate in education at the University of British Columbia), George Sefa Dei (originally from Ghana and currently professor and Head of Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto), ArIo Kempf (a white Canadian and doctoral candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto) and myself, Handel Kashope Wright (originally from Sierra Leone and currently associate professor of education at the University of British Columbia). There have been various approaches taken to the analysis of education in Africa, from early attention paid by international bodies such as UNESCO to the issues involved in and problems facing African education, especially a conceptualization of Africa as a region rather than addressing individual countries (e.g., Greenough, 1961), to texts that address specific aspects and approaches to African education, such as Harber's (1989) overview of politics in African education, to texts by Africans (as opposed to non-African authors) which aim to provide an emic (i.e., African insider) perspective on issues in African education, such as Chizea (1983) and Ajayi, Goma, and Johnson ( 1996) on higher education in Nigeria and in Africa generally, respectively.
Handel K. Wright is a Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Educational Studies and Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity and Education. His research interests include cultural studies of education; postcolonialism and diaspora; identity in youth, Africana and the politics of difference; and multiculturalism.
Other publications from this author include: