Decolonised Roland

In the course of my preparation for the seminar I interacted with a number of African academics and their work, particularly Prof Táíwò who seems to be very critical of the current debate (e.g. Táíwò, 2022). It is obvious to me that the conversation needs to be led with a sense of proportion. Advocates of ‚tabula rasa‘ often fail to define what comes next. Wuhibegezer and Gezae, equally posit, that a clean slate approach led to colonisation of previously uncolonised Ethiopia. Replacing one colonial master with another seems undesirable.

Even more so, I am reminded that white knight mentality of knowing better has led to the collapse of the Nigerian dairy industry (Iro, 1994).

I have lived, learned and taught in more than two different cultures and languages. To me, I realised a couple of years ago, it was never about the colour of a skin but the mindset of a person. Destructiveness of thought and actions is a real thing. Pursuing agenda for agenda sake, or worse, for personal advantage is one example of good intentions leading us down the path to hell. My perspectives are certainly also shaped by being the victim of racial abuse and my reaction to it poses a great threat. Walking away deprivesa any relationship of the ability, skills, experience etc of the person that no longer wants to put themselves in a no-win situation.

The question then is, what do we lose if input X is unavailable. Very often we find, retrospectively of course, we lose more than we gain.

In other news, in context of decolonisation and a technical subject (architecture), I found another example of how traditional knowledge can inspire modern western thought. The Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe (Livingspaces, 2018) or the dome shaped and mud housing in Africa (Schwartzstein, 2023; The Village, 2023) or even traditional Indonesian architecture (Suhendri & Koerniawan, 2017) should highlight that being white, western etc is not the end of wisdom. It is not even a beginning.

Mindset matters.

Many of inspirational examples in my life are provided by black people such as Thomas Sowell, Professor Táíwò or Asian such as Wu Zhihong. All of these people speak out from a well reflected position of understanding.

Even during preparation for our unit, the ideas not to divide into victims and oppressors came from a non-white, non-male participant. Regardless off the topic, we need a sensible engagement instead of stereotypes and work with what we got.

In context of education that means understanding why learners pursue education. In terms of online and blended it means knowing situations and preferences of learners and having the ability (2) but even more so the willingness (1) to meet learners where they are and walk the path of discovery together.

References

Iro. (1994, December). The Fulani Milk Maid and Problems of Dairying in Nigeria. Gamji. https://www.gamji.com/fulani11.htm
Livingspaces. (2018, June 1). Watch how the Eastgate Center in Zimbabwe Cools Itself Without Air Conditioning. https://livinspaces.net/ls-tv/watch-how-the-eastgate-center-in-zimbabwe-cools-itself-without-air-conditioning/
Schwartzstein, P. (2023, January 19). The extraordinary benefits of a house made of mud. Environment. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/why-these-west-african-architects-choose-mud-over-concrete
Suhendri, & Koerniawan, M. D. (2017). Investigation of Indonesian Traditional Houses through CFD Simulation. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 180, 012109. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/180/1/012109
Táíwò, O. (2022). Against decolonisation: Taking African agency seriously. Hurst & Company.
The Village (Director). (2023, May 11). How Africans invented air conditioning long before electricity existed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=-6bbwYOhXSc