Papers by N'Dri Assie-Lumumba
Social indicators research series, 2015
Since coming into being in the year 2000, the normative consensus that solidified the creation of... more Since coming into being in the year 2000, the normative consensus that solidified the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been one that has been forceful due to the number of nation-states and international organizations that have rallied around the issue. The progressive nature of the MDGs and their integral role in mobilising resources to aid African countries is worth recognizing. Nonetheless, there remain concerns about the arbitrary way of measuring progress towards the goals and the fact that women, the poorest of the poor and those who live in rural areas tend to benefit less. The chapter asks two primary questions: what potential alternatives could replace the unattained goals once the 2015 deadline is reached? Do African governments have the potential and political will to carry these goals through? An editorial reflection on the various chapters in this volume helps us explore these questions in this particular chapter.
Social indicators research series, 2015
This chapter critically examines the conspicuous absence of higher education in the resolutions a... more This chapter critically examines the conspicuous absence of higher education in the resolutions adopted in 2000 for the different MDGs and their subsequent implementation and evaluation. Ironically, while the MDGs target the female population, in most African countries higher education is characterized by a persistent under-representation of women in the system. This gender inequality in higher education is the source of developmental problems that the MDGs were set to address. It is argued that considering the role of higher education as a catalyst for holistic development, in discussing the post-MDGs and “a world without poverty,” the interface of democratic higher education and gender equity must be acknowledged in setting the new global engagement toward social progress.
Springer eBooks, 2018
As an introduction to the important edited work, Re-visioning Education in Africa: Ubuntu-Inspire... more As an introduction to the important edited work, Re-visioning Education in Africa: Ubuntu-Inspired Education for Humanity, Takyi-Amoako and Assie-Lumumba provoke the debate that education in Africa can no longer be “business as usual” due to poor educational returns, burgeoning youthful populations. and a deficit global development strategy in respect of Africa’s socio-economic progress and that a re-visioning process is urgently needed. They argue that the book represents one instance of Africa’s leadership efforts to “show the way” and seek its own paths in terms of its educational philosophies and praxis within the framework of the African Ubuntu paradigm. While providing a summary of the book contents, they outline its main argument woven around two key questions that relate to: first, the theoretical considerations, which characterize Ubuntu-inspired education, and second, some practical solutions that exemplify Ubuntu-inspired education in Africa and for humanity. The book highlights these two concerns and their implications for Africa’s holistic education for development vis-a-vis extant global development strategies.
Springer eBooks, 2018
In the concluding chapter, the co-editors summarize some of the arguments advanced in the differe... more In the concluding chapter, the co-editors summarize some of the arguments advanced in the different contributions and reiterate the call for the adoption of a new philosophy of education as articulated in the Ubuntu paradigm as sine qua non factor of the targeted development goals. There are specific ways in which an Ubuntu-inspired education will integrate the different levels of education from pre-school to higher education and from vocational and technical education to academic learning taking into account the inclusion of all potential learners with a particular attention to gender and equality. Ubuntu constitutes a unifying force with powerful indigenous agency and vision. They argue that Ubuntu is necessary to guide the conceptualization, design, and implementation of relevant and liberating policies of tangible transformation and enhanced opportunities for Africa’s youth including all genders, gender dimension and finally explore the relationship and impact of re-visioned education on socioeconomic and political development of Africa, while providing a critique of the current situation from an Ubuntu perspective, and how the Ubuntu philosophy will inspire a new type of education. Overall, the book attempts to instigate and rekindle the debate on seeking new paths for education in Africa and advance fresh thinking and ways of seeing and practising education in Africa in order to increase its relevance to society and national/regional/continental socioeconomic development. Central to all this is the recommendation to the AU to initiate and lead an Ubuntu-Inspired African Continental Partnership on Education to achieve the goals of the AUC Agenda 2063.
International Review of Education, Feb 1, 2016
This paper is a reflection that critically examines the dynamics of education and the struggle by... more This paper is a reflection that critically examines the dynamics of education and the struggle by African people for freedom, control of the mind, selfdefinition and the right to determine their own destiny from the start of colonial rule to the present. The primary methodological approach is historical structuralism, which stipulates that social reality and facts are determined and created by social agents within structural and historical contingencies. It addresses some of the most powerful challenges and contradictions that explain the ineffectiveness of numerous post-independence reforms, and presents the arguments for relevance and use of African languages, for instance, that have been made since the 1960s. The first section of the paper deals with the colonial imperatives for setting new education systems in the colonised societies of Africa and the initial attitudes of the Africans towards colonial education. The second section critically examines the evolving meanings of Western education in Europeanising African societies, the articulation of their rationale and the mechanism for resistance. It analyses the turning point when Africans began to embrace European education and demand it in the colonial and post-independence era. The third section addresses the roots of the inadequacies of received post-colonial education and the imperative of deconstruction and reappropriation of African education using an ubuntu framework for an African renewal. Keywords Africa Á Colonial education Á Cultural roots Á Ubuntu Résumé É volution des attitudes africaines vis-à-vis de l'éducation européenne : résistance, effets pervers du paradoxe d'un système unique et ubuntu comme cadre de renouveau. Cet article constitue une réflexion critique sur la dynamique
Comparative Education Review, Feb 1, 2017
This article interrogates assumptions of comparative education research and international educati... more This article interrogates assumptions of comparative education research and international education in the transfer of policies and practices generally in North-South relations within the context of structural inequality. The pursuit of learning in different educational traditions and the quest for comparison are examined. Aspects of meanings of individual sociogeographic and intellectual journeys within the global context are analyzed in articulating the patterns of contradictions in temporality and epistemology in knowledge production, focusing on agency, legitimacy, and ownership. Issues critically examined include what ought to be the guiding principles toward new transformative relational theories and methodologies of understanding education in formerly colonized societies, including Africa. The Ubuntu paradigm is articulated as an alternative framework for defining relations within and across the borders of local and global spaces, as a permanent corrective measure that can offer possibilities of growth and renewal to the field of comparative and international education.
Bandung: journal of the global south, Mar 10, 2023
This article is the English version of a presentation delivered at the international symposium th... more This article is the English version of a presentation delivered at the international symposium that was held on February 10-12, 2020, in Dakar (Senegal) in honor and memory of Professor Samir Amin. In what could be read as an autoethnography of more than four decades of observation and evolution the intellectual journey has been enriched from the status and experiences as students to adult academics with critical perspectives shaped the uBuntu-inspired life vision of Samir Amin. The journey of this global giant evolved with extraordinary consistency from childhood questioning social inequality to the global arena as the ultimate advocate of the marginalized everywhere. He inspired generations with his unsurpassed prolific knowledge production, his intellectual rigor and his humanity. The article also recognizes the role of his comrade and spouse, Isabelle Eynard Amin. Samir Amin's unwavering commitment to the struggle to create a new world of equality and respect of our common humanity to achieve the highest level of human civilization. Beside the economy as the substructure articulated in Marxist analysis, formal education, as part of the superstructure, plays a more critical role than conceived by the classical Marxist and dependency theory as a critical tool for colonial and neo-colonial control. Indeed, formal education also contains the seed for possible social transformation.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc eBooks, 2015
BRILL eBooks, Dec 7, 2020
Comparative Education Review, Feb 1, 2020
The theme of the 63rd CIES 2019 annual conference, “Education for Sustainability,” and the topic ... more The theme of the 63rd CIES 2019 annual conference, “Education for Sustainability,” and the topic of the George F. Kneller Keynote Lecture, “A Call for Action to Achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4” by Jeffrey Sachs, were both on point and, to use a French expression, nous interpellent. Jeffrey Sachs recalled that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “are fundamentally achievable.” He cited the Scandinavian countries as the frontrunners due to their collective ethos. For better or for worse, history is not destiny. However, we have to read history critically to provide some realistic perspectives on the flow of humanity. Sachs rightly pointed out that the SDGs “are not new goals really. They are newly repackaged. These are goals for 1948.”Why is it that progress is slow and achievements are constantly deferred, whereas the Universal Human Rights Declaration was adopted more than 7 decades ago and an acute climate urgency looms now, exacerbating challenges of social progress? It is worth noting that in the charter of the UN that was signed in the same roomwhere, thanks toDavid Post’s appreciation of themeaning of history, we, the CIES attendees assembled and Jeffrey Sachs delivered his address, chapter 1, article 1, part 2 stipulated “friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.” Starkly, when these visionary words were being crafted and adopted with hope for humanity, France and the United Kingdom were the leading European countries that were still unabashed colonial powers controlling vast territories in Asia and almost the entire continent of Africa that was partitioned at the 1884/85 Berlin Conference. The struggle for freedom and self-determination in these colonies was met with fury by the colonial powers while these two European countries had earned permanent seats in the Security Council. Toward the end of the 15-year term of theMillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs), I contributed to discussions including the one that led to a coedited book (Andrews et al. 2015). In a chapter I authored, “Millennium Development in Retrospect: Higher Education and the Gender Factor in Africa’s Development Beyond 2015,” I argued that the MDGs were flawed, for advocating
African Studies Review, Sep 1, 2000
Ce livre est tire d'un travail de recherche qui a conduit a un memoire de maitrise soutenu a ... more Ce livre est tire d'un travail de recherche qui a conduit a un memoire de maitrise soutenu a l'Universite de Lyon II. En depit de cette marque d'origine strictement academique, l'ouvrage semble s'adresser aussi a un auditoire plus large. Les amateurs d'histoire africaine au sens large et les divers acteurs sociaux interesses au changement social en general et au sort des femmes en particulier trouveront un engouement certain a lire ce livre. L'objectif poursuivi par l'auteure est simple. L'idee est de montrer que sur la longue duree, les africaines, comme groupe social, ont de facon constante joue un role politique non negligeable au sein de leurs communautes. Cette position politique des femmes qui a connu ses formes propres s'est definie dans une ligne de complementarite par rapport a celle occupee par les hommes. L'idee est egalement de montrer que l'exclusion, sinon la marginalisation des femmes dans le champ politique est un phenomene recent, historiquement date. Le fait colonial impose a l'Afrique et reproduit d'une certaine maniere apres les independances en serait le point de depart. Au plan methodologique l'auteure, qui a une formation en histoire et en sociologie, s'inscrit d'emblee dans le courant de l'histoire sociale. Elle emprunte le concept sociologique a la mode de genre pour analyser l'identite et la position sociale des femmes dans la societe etudiee, c'est a dire, les Baoules de Cote d'lvoire. La periode couverte va du XVIIIe siecle a la periode post-coloniale. Les sources utilisees sont orales et ecrites. Les temoignages oraux ont ete directement recueillis par l'auteure lors d'enquetes menees parmi les populations rurales en pays Baoule. La perspective intellectuelle de l'auteure s'affirme comme tout un defi. Elle pose que l'histoire africaine en ce qui concerne la place politique des femmes a ete a tort confondue a ce qui semble avoir prevalu en Occident. Pour elle, l'histoire du rapport des femmes au pouvoir en Afrique se pose de facon distincte. Ici, les femmes ont une presence plus ancienne dans la politique. Cette presence etait plus generalisee et moins symbol-
Africa Development, 2011
Throughout the African continent, albeit a product of imperial domination, every state at indepen... more Throughout the African continent, albeit a product of imperial domination, every state at independence conceived a national project, which aimed at building a nation-state with a clearly articulated development agenda. Education as a social institution was considered requisite toward the actualisation of the national project. The sub-sector of higher education, and particularly the university, appeared as an indispensable agency. Given the general colonial policy of exclusion of Africans from university education, the right of African states to build their national/public universities epitomised self-determination at independence. The independence movements in the 1950s-1960s coincided also with the regained popularity of human capital theory that stipulated that education, especially the highest levels, constituted an investment for individual socioeconomic attainment and social mobility as well as national and structural development. From its inception, the Western style of university that was conceived out of the colonial experience represented a special site for contention and affirmation of the Africans to realize their national projects. In the context of globalisation, international organisations and programmes such as the World Bank and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) have emerged as proxies of the old colonial powers with the same goal of influencing the policies that restrict or shape higher education in African countries. Key constituencies of African universities, namely students and teaching staff, have resisted such infringement on Africans' rights to university education and autonomy in determining their domestic policies. The main objective of this article is to analyse the evolution of the African university as a site for the continued struggle for self-determination. It will be argued that, in spite of the history of a few institutions 7-Assié-Lumumba.pmd 19/10/2011, 14:48 177 Assié-Lumumba: Higher Education as an African Public Sphere le personnel enseignant, ont résisté à de telles violations des droits des africains à l'enseignement universitaire et à l'autonomie dans la détermination de leurs politiques nationales. L'objectif principal de cet article est d'analyser l'évolution de l'université africaine en tant que site de la lutte continue pour l'autodétermination. Nous soutiendrons que malgré l'histoire de quelques institutions dans un petit nombre de pays, l'université africaine au XXIe siècle est essentiellement le reflet des rapports coloniaux. Ainsi, par exemple, les nouveaux programmes de Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (TIC) et d'enseignement à distance, et les universités privées émergentes dans le contexte du mantra de la libéralisation, seront également analysés dans le cadre des politiques de libéralisation qui ont été promues par les mandataires coloniaux mondiaux. Dans cet article, la mission publique de l'université, qu'elle soit publique ou privée, sera examinée. Nous adopterons une démarche fondamentalement historique, évaluant les acteurs et leurs transformations et mutations dans la même réalité de l'inégalité structurelle de pouvoir dans le système mondial, et diverses réponses africaines à travers la résistance et l'affirmation continues. Nous traiterons la question fondamentale de la recherche de l'université publique ou de l'université ayant une mission publique pour la production de connaissances pertinentes dans les diverses disciplines, la pensée critique et les nouveaux paradigmes, ainsi que les méthodologies visant à promouvoir le progrès social au milieu des défis de la mondialisation libérale dominante et des conditions objectives des États, des sociétés et des peuples africains.
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Papers by N'Dri Assie-Lumumba