Modernist education and the myth of development in Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9966796 |
|---|---|
| Authors | José Cossa (0000-0002-9586-4287), Kelli Harris (0009-0006-3365-0431), Sharmistha Barat (0009-0008-8265-0010) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue | 5-6 |
| Pages | 959-978 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Review of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-8566 • E-ISSN: 1573-0638 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11159-025-10192-z |
| OpenAlex | W4415772387 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
Arguments that link education to development are overwhelmingly rooted in functionalism as a grand theory and lean heavily on modernisation and human capital theory, with the assumption that African societies must be modernised and that education paves the way to a modernised Africa. However, the concept of what is modern and what constitutes valid and viable ways of modernising often conform to Western notions of modernity, emphasising the human capital development orientation of educational policies. In this context, Africa’s historical conceptions of her modernisation processes have been undermined. Through an analysis of articles from the International Review of Education from the past 70 years, this article explores the link between education and development in Africa and illustrates how colonialism is manifest in and perpetuated through education, thus creating a myth of development. The authors’ analysis of articles shows that education intended to support modernisation in postcolonial Africa has ultimately led to continued cultural and economic dependency while alienating African societies from their roots. The elevated status of European languages at the expense of vernacular languages has played a particularly important role in this process. This article relies on the African philosophy of uBuntu and theory of Cosmo- uBuntu to point us towards a system of education and development in Africa that is rooted in ancestral wisdom and that allows for the creation of an African future not bound by Western notions of modernity
Education for Self‐reliance
‘uMuntu nguMuntu ngaBantu’
Postcolonialism
Decolonizing Educational and Social Development Platforms in Africa
Critical Perspectives on Half a Century of Post-Colonial Education for Development in Africa
Decolonizing the university
Priorities in the financing of education
Power
Coloniality of Knowledge and the Challenge of Creating African Futures
Towards an Ubuntu Philosophy of Higher Education in Africa
Economic Adjustment, Education and Human Resource Development in Africa
Evolving African attitudes to European education
Traditional African modes of education
The ubuntu paradigm in curriculum work, language of instruction and assessment
Public Funding and Budgetary Challenges To Providing Universal Access To Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
Translanguaging as bona fide practice in a multilingual South African science classroom
Language of instruction
Comparative and sociological perspectives on Third World development and education
The effects of Urbanisation on education in Africa
African library development
The British and curriculum development in West Africa
Indigenous knowledge practices for sustainable lifelong education in pastoralist communities of Kenya
Langues vehiculaires de l'enseignement en Afrique noire
If you don't have English, you're just as good as a dead person
The rise of learning technology in an unequal world
Tradition, globalisation and language dilemma in education
Language promotion for educational purposes
Moral education in the changing traditional societies of Sub-Saharan Africa
Church, state and education in sub-Sahara Africa
Educational planning in a developing country the Sudan
The school as a force for community change in Tanzania
The Effect of Globalisation in Africa and the Choice of Language in Publishing
Education and language
African policy linking education and development
African Universities and the African Heritage
Education and Development
Modernity and diversity
Delinking
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |