Higher education and the Western cannon of thoughts: Are Southern African universities bewitched?

Abstract

Notwithstanding the frantic efforts by Southern African universities to decolonise education, evidence persists to show that their education systems are predominantly shaped by Western epistemologies, obscuring our understanding on whether these institutions are cursed by coloniality to perpetuate colonial legacies. Through a comprehensive literature review and theoretical analysis, the paper, anchored on the decolonial theory, explores whether the universities in Southern Africa are bewitched or otherwise, and then proposes pathways toward decolonisation and epistemic justice. The analysis reveals that the metaphor of ‘bewitchment’ aptly describes the entrapment of universities within the colonial structures, where alternative knowledge systems are marginalised and excluded. From the findings, the study recommends that universities commit to structural changes that include the indigenisation of universities in Africa, the integration of indigenous knowledge systems, the use of local languages and the development of curricula that reflect the socio-cultural realities of the region. Only through such comprehensive efforts can these institutions overcome the bewitchment of coloniality and contribute to the epistemic justice of their societies. The study extends the broader scholarship on the decolonisation of education located in the metaphor of bewitchment.