Abstract
Ubuntu is a widely recognized genre of Bantu ideology. In today's volatile and ambiguous business world, ubuntu values are more important than ever because during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic, joining together helps us overcome our economic, social, and political problems. Across the globe, students and academics keep calling for radical challenges to institutional symbols, cultures, and practices, including the call to ‘decolonise' the curriculum and pedagogy. The author recommends a paradigm shift under which HEIs should focus on the transformation of university designs, teaching, and assessment practices by advocating ubuntu currere, which ensures inclusivity and social justice. This chapter calls for a reorientation of multilingual and bilingual education towards the African value system of ubuntu as a catalyst for restoring social justice for the people whose languages were relegated to the lowest social status.
TopUbuntu And As A Philosophy Of The Bantu People
Ubuntu is a widely recognized genre of Bantu philosophy. The Bantu are indigenous people found in Sub-Saharan Africa who live speak languages that are more or less related. According to Mahaye (2018) the term Ubuntu belongs to the Nguni group of indigenous languages, and has cognates in different Bantu indigenous languages across Africa, for example, bomoto in Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo, unhu in Zimbabwe, umuntu in Uganda, umunthu in Malawi, gimuntu in Angola and many more (Magumbate & Nyanguru, 2013, p. 85). Besides sharing a philosophy, these people share a culture that is similar in many great ways with their different languages (Mawere & Mubaya, 2016). Stuit (2016) says that, literature on Ubuntu indicates that it is a traditional African concept premised on community work and expressed as the recognition that a person is incomplete without proactive involvement with their culture and societyUbuntu is an African philosophy of humanism that links the individual to the greater world through “Brotherhood” or “Sisterhood” to form a collective. In addition, some scholars hold that Ubuntu reflects a spiritual foundation, way of life, inner state, good disposition and an orientation that can challenge, motivate and make a person feel, perceive and act humanely towards others (Mawere &Mubaya,2016; Stuit,2016; Mahaye,2018). A person with ubuntu, is expected to demonstrate solidarity, mutual support, togetherness, brotherliness and hospitality towards each other and all members of the community where they live (Stuit, 2016).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Ubuntu: A philosophy in sub-Sahara Africa of a people called the Bantu based on caring and supporting each other in a community.
Summative Assessment: A final evaluation to signify end of a unit or course of study.
Blended Learning: Learning that involves face-face lessons and online learning.
Curriculum: Official programme of study.
Formative Assessment: Evaluation done during teaching in order to help students learn.
E-Learning: Learning that is organized to occur on a virtual platform.
Epistemology: A philosophy about how people learn.