The webinar series that commenced in June 2022 bring together a diverse pool of scholars from all over the world and culminated in a summer school held in Egerton University from 21st -27th October 2022
Decolonizing knowledge and learning systems is a process of mainstreaming marginalized perspectives and amplifying diverse voices, while challenging and dismantling existing power structures.
It involves acknowledging and addressing the ways in which traditional educational structures have been shaped by colonialism and imperialism by examining the Eurocentric biases and power dynamics that have influenced what is considered valid knowledge and ways of knowing.
Working closely with the University of Innsbruck and the University on Natural and Life Science (BOKU) Vienna. ACTS has been active in the wider process of decolonizing knowledge and learning systems in the Global South through a series of seminars since 2022. The seminar series explore various themes in the decolonization of knowledge and learning systems in the global South to inform policy decisions and wider academic and political debates.
It focused on among other topics: knowledge production, hegemony in publication practices and dichotomy of knowledge system contexts; pedagogies, teaching practices, and emerging techniques in higher learning systems; contextualizing curricula, learning materials, practices and languages for learning; and decolonization and sustainable development a critical approach.
Decoloniality Pathways Summer School 2022/2023 Drawing from the lessons on the webinar series, a Summer School was held to allow participants to explore the various themes to inform policy decisions and wider academic and political debates to enable learning, enrich knowledge, enhance practice and nurture more emancipatory outcomes in the Global South. At the end of the training sessions, the participants joined in the ACTS engagement workshop, as part of their post-summer school alumni engagement.
Lorine Auma, a participant in the Summer school and a student at Egerton University expressed her delight in attending the summer school and the lessons she has learned from it.
‘’It has been an interesting experience. The first day I walked into the summer school class, I felt like I was in a completely different world. I have learned a lot from the different presenters from BOKU, Egerton and University of Innsbruck,” she said.
