Reimagining African philosophy of education: On the cultivation of ubuntu
Yusef Waghid, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

5 – 6.30pm

Over the past two decades African philosophy of education has been reconsidered in relation to the concept of ubuntu – literally human dignity and interdependence (Waghid, 2013). In this paper I argue that ubuntu is constituted by notions of autonomy, deliberative engagement, and responsibility. In this way cultivating and African philosophy of education cannot be delinked from actions that involve autonomy, deliberation, and responsibility. It is argued that an African philosophy guided by ubuntu has the potential to cultivate cosmopolitan actions intertwined with autonomy, deliberation and responsibility, that can undermine societal dystopias on the African continent and elsewhere.

Yusef Waghid is distinguished professor of philosophy of (higher) education at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He is the (co)author of African philosophy of education reconsidered: on being human (2013, Routledge); Rupturing African philosophy of teaching and learning: ubuntu justice and education (2018, Palgrave-MacMillan); The ubuntu university (2022, Palgrave-MacMillan); and Education, crises, and philosophy: ubuntu within higher education (Routledge, 2022).

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