A discussion
led by Thea de Wet; Gert van der Westhuizen and Carina van Rooyen
By Puleng Motshoane
These three
academics asked a central question “How do we do justice to the
diversity of knowledge in the curriculum?”
She
highlighted the difference between the ontology and epistemology of knowledge. She
then concluded by acknowledging that there is no individual ownership of indigenous
knowledge but a collective one. The students’ expectations need to be taken
into consideration in order to promote the UJ teaching and learning philosophy,
which is 'learning to be' as opposed to 'learning about'. The slides are provided below.
Thea dealt
with the concepts related to indigenous knowledge and Gert spoke on the issue
of cognitive justice, while Carina related the two to classroom practice. She explained all the concepts and how they can be applied to teaching. Thea alluded to the fact that our knowledge and networks of our
environment are important in order for us to make sense and understand the social
world. The example she gave was that we all have similar brains and we
therefore confront similar challenges in the same way. She stated
two reasons for her interest in indigenous knowledge and those were; firstly,
the politicization of indigenous groups and indigenous rights; secondly,
the practical development agenda, which is linked to questions of emancipation.
Gert
continued the discussion from where Thea left off and spoke about
cognitive justice, emphasizing the fact that there are so many reasons to take
this into cognizance in teaching and learning practices. He argued that
academics are not changing the way they teach and that they are still doing
what was done in the past 20 years without considering the fact that a lot of
things have changed. He therefore suggested that the University of Johannesburg
(UJ) has to transform the curriculum in order to be able to meet its vision (An
international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the
future) and mission (Inspiring its community to transform and serve humanity
through innovation and the collaborative pursuit of knowledge).
He also
acknowledged that curriculum change would not come without any disruptions. He
further suggested that the UJ community has to problematize our own sense of
agency, and the fact that academics are choosing the content without being
accountable to anyone else. He drew a lot from Visvanathan (2011) who argues, “The survival of knowledge and how some of the
knowledge are downgraded and unrecognized and that such knowledge should be
given a right and not marginalized”. Gert further argued that academics need
to recognize the plurality of knowledge and allow the different forms of
knowledge to co-exist without duress. He concluded
by drawing attention to the SAGE book titled "Indigenous knowledge and research
methodologies" by Bagele Chilisa, which he said is a good source for academics to think about
their roles as intellectuals as well as the research they do and how this
impacts on teaching and learning.
Carina then
brought the practical part to the talk on indigenous knowledge and cognitive
justice as she talked about co-production of knowledge. She drew a lot from
Lesley Green (2008) from the University of Cape Town, who argued, “Knowledge is
contextual and emanates from culture and background that it is produced and
reproduced”. Carina’s argument is about how knowledge is generated and transformed
and not just about the actual knowledge content. She asked a question about how the
principles of cognitive justice could be practiced. She further suggested that
horizons need to be pushed further in order to stop perpetuating binaries. She
said knowledge is not an acquisition of unmediated facts, but a multiple
process of knowledge making with a strong idea of the participation of all the
stakeholders rather than working in isolation. The overall message was to say
that academics should think about asking the “ How” to teach rather than the
“What” to teach, which is the capacity to generate and apply knowledge….
Indigenous knowledge and cognitive justice: Towards a co-production of knowledges (Part 3) from Carina van Rooyen
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