Epistemic Journeying across Abyssal Lines of Thinking: Towards Reclaiming Southern Voices

Abstract

Cognitive injustice, which nourishes and sustains current political, social and economic injustice, has been at the centre of the knowledge production enterprise since the colonisers embarked on their project of dispossession and plunder. In order to achieve global justice, the quest for epistemic justice needs to be brought to the centre of curriculum discourses. The postcolonial critique of the canonical corpus of Euro-Western knowledge demands a change in our locus of enunciation. We seized this zeitgeist to repaint the education curriculum canvass in science professional teacher development. We leveraged theoretical constructs from Southern theory, by adopting a decolonial epistemic perspective and privileging a dialogic dynamic. Six purposefully selected, practising science teachers, who were registered to study an Honours in Education module, were engaged to generate qualitative data to respond to the following question: How do science teachers leverage indigenous knowledge to address sustainable development goals? Teachers engaged in intercultural dialogue with indigenous knowledge holders to tap into a plurality of different knowledges. The indigenous knowledge holders who participated were interested in sustainable production/cultivation of items they had used in their practice. Teachers developed portfolios of evidence and participated in focus group interviews. They experienced moments of mourning, dreaming, rediscovery and recovery. This resonated with the same categories that were previously identified by Chilisa, as teachers deconstructed and reconstructed curriculum materials collaboratively with indigenous knowledge holders. The findings reveal that the teachers viewed an indigenous understanding of the world as crucial in the achievement of sustainable development goals. The monolithic, hegemonic Euro-Western thinking was decentred but not abandoned. Instead, teachers rendered it one part of the intercultural dialogue. The study demonstrated the potential for transforming the curriculum to become inclusive of Southern voices in the production of valuable, truthful, reliable knowledge about living together sustainably.