Mainstreaming indigenous African epistemologies and policies into students development in higher education

Abstract

Premised on decolonial theoretical framework this research interrogated the colonial Eurocentric epistemology that underpins student development programmes in higher education and proposes a decolonial paradigm that takes into account mainstreaming epistemologies from the Global South. The aim of this research was to examine and contextualise the contention that student development in post-colonial higher education in the Global South has continued to promote Eurocentrism at the expense of Afrocentric epistemologies. The research was designed as a qualitative study that employed grounded theory methodology focussing on student development practice at three state universities in Zimbabwe which in this study are identified as A, B and C. Research data was collected through in-depth interviews with Student Affairs Practitioners, focus group discussions with Student Representative Council members and analysis of documents. Data were analysed qualitatively through coding of emerging themes during the course of the research process. This was complimented with the use of NVIVO qualitative data analysis software and textual analysis for documentary data. Using the lens of decoloniality, the major focus of the analysis was to determine recognition by the Student Affairs Practitioners of the absence of and the need to prioritise epistemologies of the Global South in student development practice. The research findings indicate that Eurocentric hegemony is pervasive in student development practice in post-colonial higher education in the Global South. Theorising on this complexity, the research identified mainstreaming hunhu/ubuntu values as a practical approach to address these effects of onto-epistemological coloniality. The researcher recommends the conceptualisation and designing of student development programmes that imbue cultural values and norms of indigenous peoples of the Global South. To guide this process the researcher developed the Social Enculturation/Three Legged Pot Model that imbues hunhu/ubuntu values. This approach inspires epistemic justice by recentring epistemologies of the Global South for onto-epistemic self-determination.