A BIG PICTURE PERSPECTIVE OF THE DECOLONIZATION OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DEBATE IN AFRICA: LOOKING BACK
AND LOOKING FORWARD
O. I. Nzewi
Department of Public Administration
University of Fort Hare
Bhisho campus, South Africa
[Link]
T. C. Maramura
Department of Public Administration and Management
University of the Free State
Bloemfontein, South Africa
[Link]
ABSTRACT
Trailblazing discussions on “decolonisation” have continuously been building up since Kwame
Nkrumah’s Pan-Africanist ideological constructs, but not much has been undertaken regarding the
rebuilding of the fibre of the Public Administration curriculum. As a result, literature has been
embedded in a lot of nuances in decoding the concept of decolonization. Amongst these narratives
is the tendency to distinguish the decolonization of the curriculum as a mere African exhilaration
which is disguised as a counter-construct to colonization. In light of the adverse effects of
colonization on the African curriculum, critical reflections that shoot from a broad review of
decolonization approaches in Public Administration are unveiled in this article. The aim is to
encourage institutions of higher learning to apply a decolonizing approach that appreciates the
pedagogical value of indigenous knowledge relating to Public Administration as a locus and as a
focus. The article also covers an exposition revealing how decolonization of the Public
Administration curriculum is neither an “anti-West” fad nor a dissuasion to learn from the West and
the globalized village. It does this by taking full cognizance of the past without disintegrating the
already polarized social fabric. It is against this background that it becomes imperative that South
Africa begins to rediscover, and regenerate its local values by enabling the practicalities of
decolonizing the curriculum through extending examples in practice. If university repositories and
research hubs are going to be reliably contributing to the transformation of the African continent
and the global village at length, then it is obvious that the teaching material and how it is delivered
will have to certainly change somehow. The article then explores alternatives and sustainable
solutions that can be proffered in accelerating the relevance of the alternative indigenous
knowledge systems on the Public Administration curriculum.
Keywords: curriculum, decolonization, higher education transformation, indigenization, pedagogy
South African Journal of Higher Education [Link]
Volume 35 | Number 5 | Nov 2021 | pages 204‒215 eISSN 1753-5913
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Nzewi and Maramura A big picture perspective of the decolonization of Public Administration debate in Africa
INTRODUCTION
As the popular African proverb goes, “until the story of the hunt is told by the Lion, the tale of
the hunt will always glorify the hunter”, this article takes a retrospective view of the
decolonisation debate in Africa. The aim is to apply a decolonizing approach that appreciates
the pedagogical value of indigenous knowledge relating to Public Administration as a locus and
as a focus. It traces how the early establishments of higher education institutions in Africa were
essentially predisposed to the colonial era. This predisposition allowed not only for the
colonisation of the socio-political life of Africans, but also of the educational system of most
African nations. Chukwuere notes that the fruits of this colonial history continued to grow, its
roots disseminating what “Africanness” (Chukwuere 2017) may be left of the African
curriculum. There has been much talk and action aimed at ensuring access to education for all.
Global interventions for African educational development, such as the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, have been in motion
since the post-colonial era (United Nations 2013). From a general standpoint, this article argues
that despite these international interventions aimed at propagating access to education as a basic
human right for all, not much has been done to ensure access to an education that has at the
core African values and perspectives.
Oelofsen notes that the translation of a curriculum whose core is deeply entrenched in
what can be termed an African philosophical world view goes beyond the endless
confrontations between the superiority and inferiority debates surrounding Africa and its former
colonial powers (Oelofsen 2015). This article posits that firstly, the decolonization of the
curriculum in Public Administration is more about actualizing teaching and learning through
the enabling of curriculum reform approaches that prioritise enduring African values and
history without negating African experiences. Secondly, the article also puts research at the
front and centre of the decolonization wave in terms of how its most enduring principles inform
and impact African-centred research for the African intellectual and the global citizens at large.
This study thus explores how institutions of higher learning can actualize the application
of curriculum decolonization in Public Administration within the frames set for the article. In
the quest to gain deeper insight, through an introspective and retrospective analysis of the
possibilities of actually decolonizing the curriculum, an extensive review of the literature is
done.
CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND OF DECOLONIZATION: A PAN-AFRICAN
DISCOURSE
Much like Pan Africanism, the decolonisation debate can be described as a “rebel” philosophy
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of Africa rising. Indeed, no other African inspired movement or paradigm matches
decolonisation in description as Pan Africanism. This article thus contextualises the
decolonisation debate within the Pan Africanism discourse. Pan Africanism was a response to
colonialism, which necessitated the loss of economic, cultural and political liberation. Wa
Thiong’o maintains that the Berlin Conference of 1884 only worsened the situation by
disjointing Africa into “British, French, Portuguese, German, Belgian, and Spanish Africa” (Wa
Thiong’o 2009, 9). Pan-Africanism was brought forward as a tangent to reunite Africa, towards
what Kwame Nkrumah termed the United States of Africa or what Mazrui termed the
“continental-union government” (Mazrui 1978). More so, Pan Africanism has been defined as
a philosophy that has been pursued to uphold the model of a united Africa (Le Grange 2018).
Although marred by some challenges, the Pan African philosophy evolved without
compromising its main goal of African unity (Geiss 1967; Lebeloane 2017; Nzewi 2008).
Actually, Azikiwe argues that Pan Africanism was instrumental because it epitomized a
discourse that made a concerted effort towards logically unifying Africa and enabling the
delinking from the colonial regime (Azikiwe 1970). Pan Africanism has been criticised as an
“elitist” endeavour lacking proper grassroot credibility (Guattari 2001). However, it can be
argued that Pan-Africanism has been instrumental in enabling the economic, political and
cultural freedom of the Africans (Walker 1991, 86). This simply implies that the process of
curriculum decolonization has to be about “unlearning, deconstructing and dismantling of the
cultural violence of dehumanization as a culmination of the systemic oppression of the
colonization” (Jansen 2017). In other words, it has to be African people centred.
THE TRADITIONALISTS/ THE RADICALS/THE INNOVATORS: THEORISING
DECOLONIZATION
Bell and Tabensky assert that humans understand things in a particular way, which implies that
social reality is constructed by the models that humans perceive as dominant (Bell 2002;
Tabensky 2008). Understanding this brings us to the classification of the decolonization debate
along three prisms or views: the traditionalists, the radicals and the innovators. These are
discussed below.
Traditionalists
The traditionalists, such as such as Diop and Fanon, only pushed for the need to change the
lenses through which the curriculum was viewed, from the colonizer’s point, and this led to the
genesis of the radicals (Diop 1974; Fanon 2008). For Fanon, from a traditionalist perspective,
the very process of decolonizing the world is what gave birth to a new person and to the new
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mode of being a human, independent of the colonizer’s influence (Fanon 2008). However, this
study affirms that traditionalists appeared to have a limited view of what decolonization fully
entailed in the eyes of the colonized. Thus, classifying the traditional approaches to the debate
begins from the early decolonization debates, which can be traced back to the figure of Fanon
and other figures like Said, Ahmed, and Spivak (Said 1988; Ahmed 1996; Spivak 1999). The
traditionalists simply argued on how the present day curriculum is moulded through the lenses
of the colonizer and how efforts were supposed to be made in reflecting on the post-colonial
era in the present-day curriculum (Azikiwe 1970).
Radicals
The model of the radicals is informed by advocating for the adoption of African studies at the
institutions of higher learning in promoting a thought process that is detached from the Western
influence (Mangcu 2016). Likewise, the radicals are informed by the normative, that there is a
supposed resistance to change by the colonizer in the post-colonial era, and they argue for
placing more emphasis on the African language as a medium of instruction, in the plight for
decolonizing the curriculum (Pilane 2016). Furthermore, within the decolonization of the
curriculum debate, Wa Thiong’o’s ideal of decolonization is one of the most radical epitomes
(Wa Thiong’o 2009). Therefore, this study deems it suitable to comprehend the debates of Wa
Thiong’o as an African theorist of decolonization at the level of other radical thinkers like
Nabudere, Pilane, Chetty and Knaus (Nabudere 2011; Pilane 2016; Chetty and Knaus 2016).
Thus, the radicals supported the deconstruction of the institutions by maintaining the reduction
of the pedagogical isolation, hierarchical structure and subject focus, and creating what they
termed the “Pluriversity” as well as denouncing the “University” (Mangcu 2016).
Innovators
The innovators seek to find if there are any possible alternative approaches to decolonization
that move away from the generally accepted traditional and radical approaches. Innovators like
Heleta, Muchie, Le Grange and Jansen proffer that there should be much more emphasis placed
on the African language, which supports the facilitation of communication and understanding
of the curricula, instead of just striking off the English language simply because it is the
language of the colonizer (Heleta 2016; Muchie 2003; Le Grange 2018; Jansen 2017). The
innovators further embrace inclusivity, by accepting that global discourses of decolonization
can be advanced within a framework that conjoins pan-Africanism, ideologies of alterity,
multiculturalism as well as views on the processes of contemporary globalization (Muchie
2003).
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DECOLONISATION OF THE CURRICULUM AS A CONCEPT
The unsurprising factor is that decolonization is not even new in literature. It can be traced back
to the supposed father of Pan-Africanism W. E. B. du Bois. This is further highlighted in the
discussion below. Hansen argues that the unforeseen fact is that despite all the literature that
has incessantly been churned out by various scholars on decolonization, from Derrida to Said,
Spivak, and Bhabha, the problem underlying curriculum decolonization remains an unsolved
puzzle within Public Administration in South Africa (Hansen 1977). This is because
decolonization of the curriculum in South Africa presently has been more aligned to moving
trends, which come and fade away as opposed to the core of what this article deems as
decolonization of the curriculum and where it stems from (Le Grange 2018). For instance,
decolonization of the curriculum has been strongly aligned to #Fees must Fall, #Rhodes must
fall and #Afrikaans must fall protests (Pilane 2016). However, these are just fads, which we
argue argue are movements mechanically hijacked by a few members with egotistical fiats. It
is also interesting that while these movements stem from grassroots grievances about the status
quo, the “intellectual” hacks seem to prefer to “surf” the wave of these protests rather than seek
more deeply entrenched African value systems upon which to build the debate.
Practical decolonisation
This article argues that #Fees must Fall, #Rhodes must fall and #Afrikaans must fall protests
are simply fads and not the core of curriculum decolonization because, what then happens when
Rhodes Falls? How is that practical decolonization? Or are we looking for wholly “symbolic”
gestures of simply removing statues and renaming names and buildings. For the Afrikaans must
fall protest, if we argue for a rainbow nation in South Africa, what happens then if the Afrikaans
language falls? Is that a credible starting point or culmination of the decolonization debate? We
argue that practical decolonisation certainly goes way beyond that. Obviously not to discredit
the emotional and psychological trauma that was and is still being borne from the historical
legacy of apartheid, in which non-white students are exposed and caught up in the Afrikaans
misdemeanour both during and after apartheid. Our idea of practical decolonisation of the
curriculum is that it must be a deliberate, intentional and rational process. We argue that as
much as it involves erasing any possible reminders of the colonial era, surfing the wave of anti-
colonial or apartheid protests fails to intentionally and rationally establish the intellectual and
institutional design parameters for an African inspired curriculum, which is critical for building
lasting institutions (Nzewi 2011). This is because, much like any institution, a practical
decolonised curriculum, while embracing symbolic action, must emphasise values and embody
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some centrality of meaning (March and Olsen 1989). Ascribing rationality as an attribute to
practical decolonisation of the curriculum stems from the rational choice theory, which, while
not absolving actors from personal experiences of history as foundations of intent, involves
strategic calculation based on expectations of how likely others within the decision making
space will behave (Hall and Taylor 1996). To this end, intent, calculation and rationality must
be important antecedents of the practical decolonisation which we propose.
Decolonisation as constructivist
Le Grange argues that decolonization should be inclusive of the university because it is
impossible to decolonize the curriculum without decolonizing the university (Le Grange 2018).
However, in grand theorising of the decolonisation discourse, we argue that a practical,
decolonised curriculum design that is intentionally entrenched to deal with the practical
implications of such curriculum transformation will tend to have consequences outside its
intended realm. This outlook can be inferred from Cesair and Wa Thiong’o’s definitions of
decolonisation. For Césaire, “decolonization is about the consciousness and rejection of values,
norms, customs and worldviews imposed by the former colonizers” (Césaire 2000). Wa
Thiong’o also proceeds to confirm that decolonization of the curriculum is about Africans
engaging in a longsighted session with themselves in what he terms “a quest for relevance” (Wa
Thiong’o 1998). Consequentially, this does not mean that decolonization of the curriculum will
isolate the African curriculum from the rest of the globalized world. It only means enabling the
African history to be informed through an African lens; hence Wa Thiong’o notes that
decolonization is about the “unlearning, deconstructing of dehumanization as a culmination of
the systemic oppression of the colonization” (Wa Thiong’o 1998).
Given this exposition, it becomes quite clear that there are so many dimensions to the
essence of decolonization. The above definitions reflect our central arguments in
conceptualising decolonisation of the curriculum. To these, we add that decolonisation of the
curriculum is an intentional, strategic and rational approach to curriculum development. Muchie
affirms that the concept of curriculum decolonization enables a significant review of the
systematic transformation of the old hegemonic normative to paradigmatic shift that is inclusive
of the African indigenous knowledge systems (Muchie 2003).
DECOLONISING CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC ADMINISTATION
More than two decades into post-independence South Africa, it is unmistakable how Western
values are still regarded as the yardstick for superiority or superior education, in a post-
apartheid era (Molefe 2016). As a teaser, we open this section of our discussion by reflecting
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on how the “Father of Public Administration”, Woodrow Wilson, who happened to be the 28th
president of the United States of America, was born to a slave-owning family (Nzewi 2011).
Although this is not the avenue to discuss the proclivities of Woodrow Wilson’s heritage or the
use of this as a benchmark to assess Wilson’s deservedness of such a title, it begs some
reflection. That Woodrow Wilson’s 1800s public administration/politics dichotomy is
embedded as a paradigm taught as part of the 21st Public Administration curriculum in the
decolonisation debate era in South Africa suggests either a dearth of or a disregard of a more
historically relevant paradigm for South African Public Administration. In our view, this
historically relevant paradigm must not be confused with the apartheid era Public
Administration scholars in South Africa, whose treatise significantly impact the present
curriculum. For instance, apportioning the “father of South African Public Administration”
status to J. J. N. Cloete and his six generic principles of South African Public Administration
raises the same questions. Our conceptual determination of the decolonisation of the curriculum
highlights a rejection of a worldview that precludes the personal experience of history. While
there are articles that engage the dichotomy of practice and experience in Public Administration
in apartheid South Africa, there has been little effort to craft a curriculum that reflects Wa
Thiong’o’s missing historical “quest for relevance” (Chipkin and Lipietz 2012). This is because
there is lack of deliberate and intentional strategic positioning of curriculum recrafting which
comes from a reckoning with South African history, values and grassroots philosophy in Public
Administration.
As a result, what we have is a Public Administration curriculum that has not successfully
dismantled the basic tenets of the discipline from a decolonisation view point. Therefore, there
is no philosophically and African value based response to the constitution of Public
Administration as a discipline. What we have so far is, in essence, a mere surfing of the
decolonisation wave. In the subsequent sections we suggest possible avenues of achieving this.
ACKNOWLEDGING THE INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
Indigenous knowledge is developed around the specific condition of people in a particular
geographical area, and as a result, it becomes unique and locally informed. Additionally,
indigenous knowledge is based on personal and historical experiences that have been
established over time and which are continuously developed with every incoming experience
(Agathangelou 2016). The colonial era ushered in the establishment of knowledge which was
informed by the historical experiences of the dominant Western powers. In decolonizing the
curriculum, IKS seek to challenge the knowledge generation processes, which have been
dominated by the West. IKS further seek to advance the consideration of existential boundaries
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between epistemology and democracy. Malisa and Nhengeze confirm that IKS have been
influential in enabling the transformation of the scientific discourse and piloting the productive
engagement of how knowledge systems can be sustainable in a post-colonial era (Malisa and
Nhengeze 2018).
Colonialists deconstructed and decentred the African chiefdoms, kingdoms, cultural
institutions, economies and knowledge hubs. This deconstruction involved formalizing the
creation of a knowledge hub which propagated the idea that “Africans will always lack history,
strong economies, democracy and intelligence” (Hansen 1977). This study argues that the
essence of IKS, which represent an important ingredient of curriculum deconstruction,
represents the idea that a domestic culture should be protected and developed in enabling a
decolonized Africa. This would require the formation and embracing of alternative knowledge
systems whose accuracy stems from the historical evolution of the oppressed instead of the
oppressor. Mazrui and Tamburro espouse that this formation should essentially emanate from
the idea that the renaissance of African IKS, which argues that African knowledge systems have
been persistent, yet, largely ignored in modern knowledge circles (Mazrui 1978; Tamburro
2013).
Infusing IKS will be instrumental in the decolonization of the curriculum, providing
alternative frameworks for knowledge, which delinks from the Western ideal of knowledge.
For instance, Nzewi in Musical sense and meaning: an indigenous African perspective, exhibits
the enduring legacy of skills and knowledge transfer in African knowledge systems (Nzewi
2011). The book is “co-authored” by African Igbo traditional master mother musicians in the
Eastern part of Nigeria. In exhibiting the systematic, formal and compositional principles of the
tuned drum row music types, the mother musicians, show the explicit theory and systematic
knowledge transfer possibilities evident and needed in African IKS. In this case, the knowledge
base exists, albeit, in need of acknowledgement, intellectual protection, funding and knowledge
transfer infrastructure. The question, then, is, can this be mirrored in Public Administration?
We argue that it can. To be sure, there has to be a strategic refocusing of the Public
Administration curriculum, beginning with the intellectual protection of existing culturally
relevant history and practice of governing that is uniquely local. Additionally, the knowledge
transfer infrastructure must be in place through the provision of knowledge strands and
governance contexts embedded in indigenous knowledge.
AN AFRICAN CURRICULUM?
In changing the narrative of the African curriculum in the 21st century, encouraging institutions
of higher learning to apply a decolonizing approach which appreciates the pedagogical value
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of indigenous knowledge in Public Administration is critical. This goes on to confirm the
essentials of education within the continuum of indigenous knowledge as a transformational
tool which projects towards alternative educational principles. In a post-1994 South Africa,
reimagining and rethinking of a decolonized Public Administration curriculum activates
curriculum reform approaches, initiatives and outcomes that are pro-African. Zeleza submits
that activating curriculum reform approaches essentially begins by instituting the “centrality of
Africa” within the curriculum, such that outcomes are deeply grounded within African model
and praxes (Zeleza 2009).
It will be disingenuous to this debate to ignore that there is obviously a bag of complexities
involved in decolonizing the curriculum. While there are movements across Africa in using IKS
as a curriculum reform catalyst, much of these initiatives are fragmented. While these
movements are commendable, in terms of preserving the knowledge data base and protecting
intellectual property rights there seems to be little attention paid to the issues of knowledge
transfer (teaching) and curriculum development. It is either that this component of the
curriculum is not understood or is treated as an extra curricula activity or there seems to be a
dearth of skilled professionals to transfer this knowledge.
Phiri notes some of the challenges in terms of curriculum on IK, such as; very limited
clarity on the requirements of the curriculum, limited scope in terms of content of the
curriculum, poor communication and lack of literature or resources to supplement teachers’
guides (Phiri 2008). Thus, while it is laudable that there is provision of IK components to
education, it is important not to compromise the issue of knowledge transfer. These
complexities are already compounded by the factors involving the current curriculum that
propagates a misinterpretation of African governments because the narratives have already been
modelled by how the colonizer wants the rest of the world and the African to view Africa (Du
Preez 2018).
This article asserts that these kinds of misconceptions about Africa are what causes the
continued alienation of Africa; hence, it is critical that the Public Administration curriculum be
innovatively reformed. This can be actualized by reconsidering how the study and practice can
be organized. However, in ensuring curriculum reformation, a decolonized curriculum should
not disregard the global context in which Africa operates and co-exists with other continents
(Department of Education 2008). Narrative change for curriculum reformation will actually be
enabled by direct participation in the knowledge generation and determination so that
indigenous knowledge systems can become foundational for research and innovation processes
in Public Administration. According to Le Grange, the African renaissance of indigenous
knowledge production systems proffers that in ensuring the innovative approach to the
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decolonization of the curriculum, the interrogations below have to be made towards
understanding:
1. What are the regulations governing the definition of knowledge within the Public
Administration continuum?
2. What type of knowledge is being generated in the institutions of Higher learning?
3. What type of research questions are being asked? Do they move Africa forward or
backward?
4. How does the accreditation of the knowledge being produced in institutions of higher
learning enable Africa? (Le Grange 2016).
For us in this article, we add to these questions by providing the following identifiers, which
are based on our conceptualisation and contextualisation of decolonisation in the South African
Public Administration curriculum:
1. What will a strategic engagement with decolonisation entail?
2. What are the rational and intentional identifiers for an innovative and dynamic
decolonisation process?
3. How do we begin to build the knowledge transfer infrastructure in the relationship
between IKS and the present modern knowledge systems?
4. What will constitute the philosophical underpinnings of such curriculum transformation?
CONCLUSION
In the decolonisation debate, it is essential to reinforce that although different theorists have
articulated their views on decolonizing of the curriculum, their different perspectives appear to
centralize the concept as the need to hoist African indigenous knowledge systems by enabling
the younger generations to embrace the “Africannised” system. Additionally, the
decolonization debate should neither be treated simply as an anti-West fad nor a dissuasion to
learn from the West and the globalized village. Rather, it should be a process of engaging
curriculum architects to streamline the Public Administration curriculum to mirror on the
philosophy and epitomes of the African society, because knowledge does establish influence
by subliminally supporting the truth through the perspective from which it is made.
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