African philosophy and education

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Education on the African continent, like virtually all social interaction, was traditionally characterized by the bonds and bounds of small-scale ethnic communities. Despite their diversity and remoteness, and the sheer geographic distances between these groups, they can be shown to share not only the experience of colonization but also (pre-dating this experience) certain common concepts, principles and values.
African philosophy of education is, in some important way, contingent on African philosophy. While existence of the latter is guaranteed by manifestations of the former, the possibility and plausibility of African philosophy does not necessarily imply the same for African philosophy of education. At the heart of these considerations resides the question whether there is a (set of) perspective(s), a body of thought, and/or a particular way of ‘doing’ philosophy of education that can be called ‘African’. There are arguably three initial ways of approaching this issue, the first being a question about form or method(ology), the second and third being about content:
• Are there uniquely and distinctly African ways of philosophizing about education?
• Are there essentially or characteristically African ideas, arguments about and approaches to education?
• Are the component concepts, principles and values of this philosophy sound?
Even if satisfactory answers to these questions are not forthcoming, the possibility and plausibility of African philosophy of education might nonetheless be established in terms of its priorities. Given the different historical, geographical, cultural and social contexts and political circumstances of Africans and education on the African continent, it is reasonable to assume that philosophical priorities differ in accordance with these.