The advent of colonialism in 1492 had detrimental impacts on the socio-economic development of African nations, including on education. The colonists instituted their educational systems to subjugate and assimilate Africans, and weaponized it as a tool for the underdevelopment of Africa ever since. To date, Africa continues to be ravaged by economic subjugation, miseducation, deculturization, and extractivism by foreign colonial powers.
In his extraordinary book, "The World and Africa," W.E.B. Du Bois details a history of Africa before European exploration, the enslavement of tens of millions, and the imposition of colonialism. Well ahead of its time, "The World and Africa" crafts a historical image of the continent freed from the racist constraints imposed on it by European thought. Du Bois attached great importance to the anti-colonialist movement that swept the world in the postwar period and believed it heralded the possibility of building alternatives to imperialism and capitalism.
Also, at this intersection of systems of oppression and super-exploitation in the most recent modern period, Du Bois traces white supremacy to its capitalist and colonialist origins. To hide the atrocities, poverty, and violence of European colonies, European ideological and educational institutions buried the truth about the rich history, diversity, and complex cultural systems that had historically developed in what had since become the colonized world, producing a pattern of enforced ignorance.
Once having fought fascist militarism and imperialism, however, the people of Europe’s colonies would no longer tolerate subjugation, Du Bois shows. In a much longer tradition of resistance, the post-War era revealed a newly insurgent and united anti-colonial movement among Africa’s political movements. He regards this insurgent demand for Black freedom as linking the peoples of America, the Caribbean, and Africa. In his mind, this swelling of change had found a crucial ally in the Soviet Union and the world’s communist movements.
W.E.B. Du Bois enlists large amounts of historical evidence that undermined white supremacist theories of racial purity and of racial types. So-called “race science” had relied on absurd notions of purity, usually linked to wild claims about how shapes of skulls, colors of skin, and textures of hair proved the racial beauty and cultural and biological superiority of white people.
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Of singular importance is Du Bois’s discussion of the state of the world in 1947 (the year of the book’s publication) that inspired his investigations into this topic. World War II had just come to a close with the nuclear annihilation of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in Japan.
The “collapse of Europe,” however, stood out above all else in Du Bois’s mind. Its colonialist, white supremacist, and capitalist systems made the disasters of the 20th century. Du Bois argues that the insurgency of the working class represented by the Russian Revolution shaped the political terrain in the interwar years. The capitalist class responded with its support for the wave of emergent fascist regimes in Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and their spheres of influence.
In straightforward terms, Du Bois defined the West’s attempt to appease Hitler as the natural outcome of its demand for profit, need for cheap labor, and logic of surplus-value extraction. The West wanted Hitler to fight the communists rather than to claim Western colonial possessions or try to restore Germany’s economic power. But Hitler had to have more. “The real battle then began,” Du Bois argues. “[T]he battle of the Nazi-Fascist oligarchy against the dictatorship of the proletariat.” Hitler’s strategy: crush Russia, then take on Britain.
As the war came to a close, Western Europe refused to learn the lesson of this catastrophe as it sought to retain control over its colonial holdings and to exclude non-white countries from its Atlantic Charter. The French fought to keep Indo-China; the Dutch scrambled to maintain a foothold in the South Pacific, and the British set its power against Indian independence. While the representatives of white-dominated countries would stand up in the newly formed U.N.
In terms of Marxist theory, to which The World and Africa is clearly an important contribution, Du Bois critiques a “stages” concept of human development and a particular form of universalism. Marxists, then, tended to regard human development to that point in history to have universally fallen into four or five major modes of production: slavery or Asiatic, feudalist, capitalist, and a still emergent socialist/communist phase still emergent.
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Du Bois, however, showed that contact with Europeans in the “Age of Discovery”-code words for imperialism, capitalist development, and systematic slavery-meant a disastrous detour from the unique paths of economic, cultural, and historical development that the diverse and complex peoples of Africa had already embarked upon. They had already built sophisticated economic systems, modes of production, social institutions, cultural practices, educational processes, and material cultures. The World and Africa, alongside more recent histories of Africa, continues to deserve careful study. It offers a narrative of humanity that rejects Eurocentric notions of narrow universalism and inevitability that had seemed to justify the status quo in favor of pluralism.
Rodney, for example, notes in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa that the continent’s history of colonial dominance has paved the way for the development of the current educational systems, derivative of colonialism and imperialism. In Colonial Education in Africa: Retrospect and Prospects, pedagogy scholar William H. Watkins notes that the “European curriculum continues to dominate many countries of Africa” even after the end of “direct colonialism”.
To redress the current educational malaise, African systems and structures must prioritize anti-racism and decolonial education to reflect African histories, cultures, values, knowledges, experiences, and ancestral ways of knowing and being; decolonial education approaches align with anti-racism education. In Actualizing Decolonization: A Case for Anticolonizing and Indigenizing the Curriculum, Dei and Alessia Cacciavillani assert that decolonization is anchored in different practices, including: the deconstruction of colonial power and knowledges, indigenous teachings and perspectives, resistance to colonial and imperialist dominance, relationality, critical curricula that challenge ongoing coloniality, engaging in learning based on respect and appreciation for the land, and incorporating indigeneity as pedagogical practice.
Education is a microcosm of a larger society, and according to Nelson Mandela, serves as the “most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. In How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney establishes that “education is crucial in any type of society for the preservation of the lives of its members and the maintenance of the social structure.” Education, then, should be transformative and address the challenges and needs of the people.
Working with the idea of making education relevant to Africans, we examine the role of anti-racism education in addressing the racist colonial legacies ingrained in African educational systems. We also draw on De/anti-colonialism, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Integrative Anti-Racism to theorize the value of anti-racism education within the African context. It is important to note that race and racialization are socially and historically co-constructed with other sites of difference. Race is formed through the process of racialization, whereby groups are constructed by attributing racial significance to them for political objectives. We believe that as a result, race becomes relevant in the African context given the process of racialization, where class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability can be tropes for racializing people as different and subjecting them to unequal and differential treatment.
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The question of what it means to radically rethink education by reclaiming and recentering local and national African indigenous knowledges and practices can be answered through practical strategies for implementing anti-racism education in practice. Therefore, we understand that our identities and lived experiences will inform our knowledge production in this text.
Anti-racism education connects contemporary racist practices and ideologies to Canada’s history of colonialism. Given Africa and Canada’s histories of colonial domination, anti-racism education is crucial for uprooting deep-seated colonial ideas within the systems. Dei in Anti-racism Education for Global Citizenship and Audrey Thompson in For: Anti-Racist Education assert that anti-racism is about the critical examination of racism as well as creating ways to resist dominant and hegemonic systems that privilege Whiteness and perpetuate racism. Anti-racism considers the ways in which race interlocks with other social differences such as class, gender, sexual orientation, and (dis)ability to further oppress individuals and groups. Social work researchers Sheliza Ladhani and Kathleen Sitter, in The Revival of Anti-Racism: Considerations for Social Work Education, explain that anti-racism actively disrupts systems of oppression.
Similar to anti-racism, in Anti-Racism for Global Citizenship, Dei describes anti-racism education as “an action-oriented educational strategy to deal with racism, White power, and White privilege, including how these concepts intersect with other forms of difference and oppression.” Dei further explains in Anti-Racism Education: Theory & Practice that anti-racism education is an approach that acknowledges race as a social construct that has been utilized as a tool of othering. It takes a comprehensive approach, recognizing that particular knowledges and lived experiences are delegitimized and excluded from the educational systems. Ladhani and Sitter note that anti-racism “[politicizes] education to uncover and dismantle the structural roots of inequality.” It acknowledges the role of historical education in creating and sustaining oppressive systems and structures. Fundamentally, the core of anti-racism education is justice and liberation.
Given the saliency of race in anti-racism education, one might question the relevance of anti-racism in Africa given that Africans are predominantly Black. Anti-racism education is not solely about race and racism. It considers the ways in which classism, heterosexism, ableism, and other forms of oppression intersect with racism. Additionally, racism, coloniality, and white supremacy have been structurally embedded into African educational systems, as they have been inherited from colonial powers. In The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C.
In Revitalizing African Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Production, sociologist Hassan O. Kaya states “little attention [is] given to African indigenous literary and philosophical traditions, as they tend to be viewed as primitive and unscientific, as well as improper sources for social theory and research development.” Therefore, anti-racism education is one way of unyoking the White colonial programming. In African Betrayals and African Recovery for a New Future, Molefi Kete Asante declares that “new forms of thinking and new ways of asserting ourselves in our own history must be invented.
In thinking beyond Europe, anti-racism education offers possibilities for centering African perspectives, histories, and cultures in the curricula. Anti-racism education would pose critical inquiries about how to rehumanize African education and histories, the function of community in educational development, and the prospects for integrating African Indigenous knowledges in educational and non-educational systems. Further, an anti-racism education approach would examine the ways in which African individuals and institutions uphold anti-Black (African) racism and provide recommendations for addressing internalized racism and colorism.
An aspect of anti-racism education involves critically (re)thinking the ways in which we understand race and racism as well as how we engage with dominant systems of oppression. As a starting point, Africans might ask interrogating questions about the current educational systems. For example, do Africans benefit from the current educational systems? Who gains from the existing policies and curricula in education? Will a strong and united Africa be built with the current curricula and educational institutions? How might Africans disrupt epistemic colonialism? How might Africans begin to dismantle white power structures within education systems, policies, and practices? How do Africans escape the entrapments and programming of colonialism? What would curricula look like if they educated learners for life rather than merely the labour force? What knowledges and teachings should learners engage with? What does anti-racist leadership look like?
In Why Social Movements Need Radical Imagination, sociologists Alex Khasnabish and Max Haiven identify radical imagination as “not just about dreaming of different futures. Africans need to ask new questions as they continue to consider the challenges in their educational systems. Africans must extend their questioning to involve the integration of their cultural wealth. For instance, how do Africans reorient their consciousness in African indigeneity and traditions? What is the role of local communities in education and learning? What role do the Elders play in learning and education? How do Africans integrate Indigenous knowledges into their knowledge production and theorizing? How does spirituality fit into the educational systems? In what way might Africans integrate indigenous educational ways of knowing into the curricula?
Some possibilities that might emerge from these noted questions may include decolonizing education, incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, addressing internalized racism, community engagement, and intersectionality. First, among others, decolonizing education offers the possibility for what historian Achille Joseph Mbembe, in his article titled Decolonizing the University: New Directions, describes as (re)centering African ways. This involves positioning African histories, cultures, perspectives, and knowledges at the center of learning and knowledge production. Second, Africans should also lean on proverbs, the land, ancestral stories, songs, and nature (science and spirituality) for indigenizing their practices and knowledges.
Third, beyond interrogation of the impact of internalized racism, active efforts should be made to combat colorism and the privileging of Whiteness in African societies. Fourth, Kaya recommends “involving community knowledge holders in research, teaching, and learning” as a means of community engagement. Fifth, Africans should consider respecting and valuing the strength in social differences (sex, age, gender, (dis)ability, etc.).
International, national, and regional efforts will be essential to address disparities and forge new possibilities for systemic educational change across the continent. Internationally, African governments must prioritize implementing legislation that mandates school attendance for children aged five to eighteen. Governments at the national and regional levels should create policy measures regarding appropriate funding allocation. There should be enough funding to guarantee that all children, regardless of gender, socio-economic status, location, or mental, intellectual, or physical abilities, have free, inclusive, and accessible quality education. Policies and standards must be developed to improve teaching and teacher education.
African systems and structures, especially the educational systems, are largely influenced by the legacies of colonialism, enslavement, and imperialism as well as ongoing coloniality and white supremacy. For this reason, anti-racism education is required to start the process of unlearning and eradicating coloniality and whiteness within African structures.
Anti-Racism Education
With certainty, the incorporation of anti-racism education will be met with challenges; however, it is crucial for reinventing and rethinking African educational futures. Africa’s intellectual, moral, economic, and social growth depend heavily on anti-racism education. Africans need to continue to ask critical questions about the continent’s contemporary educational systems and the potential for creating transformative and revolutionary reforms.
Anti-racism education is necessary to begin the process of deprogramming Africans from coloniality. As Steve Biko reminds us, the “most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” Through anti-racism education, Africans can unlearn and think critically about the dominant forces that are informing education and schooling.
There is no country in the world where a Black person can go and be completely free of the effects of white supremacy. As Black people, we must all be weary of the systems in which we live under, no matter where we live or who we live with. While it’s easier to spot blatant racism and abuses of power under governments where we are the minority, it might not be as easy to see them under leaders and politicians who look like us. Countries like the UK or the USA were not only built on white supremacy, but they find ways to continuously maintain it by passing laws and public policies that almost exclusively hurt their Black populations. With events such as the passing of Three Strikes Law in the United States (1994) or the Windrush scandal in the UK (2018), it’s not hard to figure out who the target demographic is when Black communities are directly impacted and hurt by the actions of the government. However, when Black countries become plagued with unfair laws and policies that hurt their citizens, anti-Blackness is usually not taken into account, and instead is simply written off as “corruption.”
Recently in Nigeria, protests and civil disobedience have sparked across the nation in hopes of abolishing the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), a policing unit known for harassing, stalking, and even murdering Nigerian youth. While the squad was originally created in 1992 to deal with issues like robbery and the possession of firearms, it has done more harm than good, committing multiple human rights violations such as rape, extortion, torture of civilians, and more. Recently, the SARS has been under fire for many of its brutal killings of several Nigerian citizens, most of whom were thought to be “suspicious” because of their physical appearance, despite there being no real evidence for such suspicions. To make matters worse, the Nigerian government and authorities are doing very little in response to the outcries of citizens. Though Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, had disbanded SARS, protestors are still not satisfied, as SARS has been known to re-establish themselves under different names in order to continue their reign of terror.
The idea of Black countries being safe havens for Black lives is a myth, as colonial influence and imperialism has still led to corruption, even in the countries with the Blackest governments. This begs the question: How can Black people be guilty of anti-Blackness? And the answer lies in both “imperialism and colonialism.” While imperialism and colonialism from European nations isn’t the reason for every single issue in Black nations across the world, it is the reason for a number of problems including poverty, violence, and crime.
European interference has not only caused these countries to fall on hard times, but they have also alienated people from one another using things like class and status. Nigeria, for instance, while having the highest rate of extreme poverty in the world, has some of the highest paid politicians in the world. Over the years, many have taken bribes and have been involved in scandals instead of actually tending to the needs of their people. While it may appear as though these nations alone are responsible for their own failures, colonialism still plays more of a major role than you might think. Despite many of the nations being independent from colonial rule, the influence is still ever present after decades of not being in control.
Long before European nations became involved in Africa’s affairs, Africa didn’t run under large central governments like it does now. Instead, people made decisions on more local or state levels rather than a national scale. Though this was still a hierarchy with only wealthy and elite men in charge, this still empowered civilians in the sense that they could simply move or go to another part of the land if they didn’t like how those in charge were ruling. One didn’t have to travel that far to move and go be governed by another set of individuals. However, things drastically shifted once countries like Britain, France, and Spain went into parts of African with hopes of colonizing the land and changing the way that people lived.
With the rise of colonialism came the rise of government on a national basis, African nations and the way they ran started to become patterned after that of European nations. Things like the traditional court systems, laws, and ways of life in general that they once had were discarded in favor of what was made to look like a more “civilized” lifestyle. Though this was advertised by European countries as a better way to exist, it was actually rooted in not only white supremacy, but cultural genocide as well. Everything from spiritual practices, language, and dress completely shifted.
As for the country of Nigeria specifically, the British empire began to invade and create settlements by the 1700s, but Nigeria didn’t become an official British protectorate until 1901. Over that 200 year period, the colonization of Nigeria led to many changes when it came to power and authority, including its police force, and its military. In order to maintain colonial power, the British would often rig elections, only putting leaders in charge who they knew would prevent uprisings and crush pan-African liberation movements - this created an authoritarian rule under British forces.
In an article for Quartz Africa, Nic Cheeseman and Johnathan Fisher, authors of the book Authoritarian Africa: Repression, Resistance, and the Power of Ideas, explain how colonial interference in African societies led to an authoritarian-like power structure. They state,“To maintain political stability they therefore collaborated with - or subordinated - existing leaders and power structures. In many cases, this involved funding and arming willing collaborators to enable them to exert greater control over their communities. These leaders were expected to manage their communities and prevent a rebellion against colonial rule.”
Although they gained their independence in 1960, Nigeria’s government, along with a number of other African governments, have created an environment of anti-Blackness as a result of European rule. This goes to show that having Black leaders hold a position of power in a Black country alone means nothing unless they’re working to meet the needs of the people. Anti-Blackness, is a global phenomenon, one that harms people in all seven continents and various countries. Until we rid ourselves of anti-Black sentiments and the institutions built on them, we will be under oppressive forces, and not able to advance as a people. Anti-Blackness needs to be rooted and stomped out until it is eradicated for the sake of every Black life, by any means necessary.
We must ask ourselves: Across cultures, darker people suffer the most.
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