ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I argued in defence of an African conception of education that is constituted by ubuntu (humanness) – a conception that can engender dignified and humane action, evoke the potentialities of people, and cultivate a community of shared fate (through interdependent human relations, or ukama). I have also shown how hospitality and hostipitality, as practices that connect with ubuntu and its emphases on exercising respect, showing care, and harnessing communal sharing and trust, can contribute towards an enlargement of our moral imagination necessary to (re)construct African education. In this chapter I want to show how African education as an enlargement of our moral imagination can, first, harness a culture of humanity and responsibility in schools; and second, contribute towards nurturing ‘a politics of humanity’ in teacher education – those actions that would hopefully consolidate ubuntu in African education. I shall focus on learning and teaching as advanced through education in South Africa because of the country’s intent not to secure only African moral education in the public schooling sector, but also to advance a critical understanding of learning and teaching, vis-à-vis pedagogical actions within an African context.
