This dissertation on negating, resisting or affirming cosmological principle towards an African humanism leadership theory and model has evolved through an embryonic process that arose from the research ‘itch’ as regards the way in which post-colonial African leadership has been critiqued. This research ‘itch’ also focused on how the postcolonial leadership in Africa, were trail blazers in formulating liberation philosophies and ideologies that did not, unfortunately, translate into sustainable peace and development. Thus, this dissertation has been a journey of immersion into the public and macro-level discourse contained in pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial African leadership case studies. This enriching journey revealed a postcolonial African leadership which had focused on ideologies and philosophies and had deviated from the spirituality embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems. Hence, this dissertation examines relevant cosmological principles embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems for analysing African leadership; for the embryonic process that begins with the universal humanism perspective of African leadership, cognitive justice and transformation by enlargement, and basic African humanism perspectives. Thus, this study examines cognitive justice as the enabler of indigenous cosmologies and transformation by enlargement as the enabler of indigenous knowledge systems, both of which provide relevant cosmological principles for analysing African leadership. In addition, the dissertation analyses indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems from the African continent in an effort to distinguish between the various forms of leadership found in Africa and to generate an African humanism leadership theory and model. The indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems in this dissertation are from four regions in Africa, namely, North Africa (Egypt); West Africa (Ghana-Akan); the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia) and Southern Africa (Bantu). The methodologies used in the study include Afrikology and critical discourse analysis and enabled the research study to ascertain whether cosmological principles embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems are relevant for analysing African leadership. Critical discourse analysis enabled the geographic triangulation of African leadership and the indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems, thus resulting in the development of the African humanism leadership theory and model of individual dualism leadership. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This study is a meta-analysis of the transformation of the curriculum for basic education in South Africa. The integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKSs) in the curriculum is one of the reconciliatory practices adopted in an effort to deal with the rights of indigenous people globally. The study analysed cases relating to IKSs and the curriculum in Canada for a case reference in juxtaposition with South Africa, in particular. Examples of cases drawn from elsewhere in the world have also been included briefly to justify the researcher’s claims for the urgent integration of IKSs into the curriculum, which complies with the human rights course of the rights of indigenous people. Cognitive imperialism – in the form of residential schools and their assimilation policies, which functioned in the context of an informal apartheid system as was the case in South Africa with Bantu education – has been an obstacle to transformation of the curriculum in the education system in Canada. However, the Canadian government of the day has been held to account for recognising the knowledge of the indigenous people (IP) of Canada. In South Africa, the curriculum continues to be characterised by the “mute” tendencies of perpetuating a colonial-type of curriculum, which is still being European in nature and is largely excluding African interests and cultural practices. The affirmation of the United Nations Organisation’s (UNO 2007) advocacy for recognising the rights of indigenous people by means of various international forums motivated a number of scholars globally to shift their attention to a research agenda on IP issues such as their IKSs in relation to education systems that should be transforming their curricular programmes. This study forms part of that indigenous research agenda by proposing that IKSs be integrated into the curriculum for basic education in South Africa, in response to the UNO’s declaration on crucial guidance to developing societies for transforming their education systems to include relevant curricula related to IP. The aim of this study is to explore ways in which the curriculum for basic education in South Africa can be transformed by, among other things, changing the paradigm of knowledge production through emerging concepts in developmental education and using, on the way to recovery, experiences of assimilation in the education system of South Africa, with reference to experiences from Canada, in particular, and elsewhere. An in-depth literature study relating to IKS perspectives of integration in the curriculum, and its implication for transformation in the basic education curriculum in South Africa, was done. The qualitative research approach was used and a cultural phenomenological design was used. Data were collected through a desk research, including pre-meta-analysis (PMA), meta-analysis (MA), in-depth desk research (IDR), and case studies (CSs). The collected data were investigated by means of a pre-meta-analysis, which demonstrated how the transdisciplinary approach can be used to immerse IKS in such a way that it may enable indigenous people to define their own perspectives instead of relying solely on Western research concepts of anthropology and history theorists, which have relegated IKSs to something “exotic”. The synthesis of data in this study “opened a window” to the researcher, which also assisted the researcher to understand the concept of “coming to knowing”1 as an antithesis of the language of conquest that is used in the hidden agenda of assimilation in a curriculum that continues to marginalise the representation of IKSs. The transformation of the curriculum in the education system of South Africa is a political initiative driven by government, by virtue of the establishment of the South African Chairs Initiative (SAChI) which has been entrusted with the task of developing education in the country in the different disciplines. One of the driving concepts of this particular chair, the South African Chair Initiative in Development Education (SAChI-DE), is the methodology of immersion that is based on the notion of “transformation by enlargement” (TbE). Using this methodology, the emergence of new concepts in transformative education is propagated, which, according to the findings of this study, may reverse the negative situation in which the indigenous worldviews is erased for indigenous learners (IL) throughout the world. The findings were used to invoke the attention of the Department of Basic Education (DBE), for them to consider validating the newly emerging concepts of the SAChI-DE, which can make a meaningful contribution to the guidelines for a suggested, Afriko-continuum curriculum for basic education at the foundation level. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / Ph. D. (Education)

This dissertation on negating, resisting or affirming cosmological principle towards an African humanism leadership theory and model has evolved through an embryonic process that arose from the research ‘itch’ as regards the way in which post-colonial African leadership has been critiqued. This research ‘itch’ also focused on how the postcolonial leadership in Africa, were trail blazers in formulating liberation philosophies and ideologies that did not, unfortunately, translate into sustainable peace and development. Thus, this dissertation has been a journey of immersion into the public and macro-level discourse contained in pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial African leadership case studies. This enriching journey revealed a postcolonial African leadership which had focused on ideologies and philosophies and had deviated from the spirituality embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems. Hence, this dissertation examines relevant cosmological principles embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems for analysing African leadership; for the embryonic process that begins with the universal humanism perspective of African leadership, cognitive justice and transformation by enlargement, and basic African humanism perspectives. Thus, this study examines cognitive justice as the enabler of indigenous cosmologies and transformation by enlargement as the enabler of indigenous knowledge systems, both of which provide relevant cosmological principles for analysing African leadership. In addition, the dissertation analyses indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems from the African continent in an effort to distinguish between the various forms of leadership found in Africa and to generate an African humanism leadership theory and model. The indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems in this dissertation are from four regions in Africa, namely, North Africa (Egypt); West Africa (Ghana-Akan); the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia) and Southern Africa (Bantu). The methodologies used in the study include Afrikology and critical discourse analysis and enabled the research study to ascertain whether cosmological principles embedded in indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems are relevant for analysing African leadership. Critical discourse analysis enabled the geographic triangulation of African leadership and the indigenous cosmologies and knowledge systems, thus resulting in the development of the African humanism leadership theory and model of individual dualism leadership. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)