EDST Doctoral Colloquium – African History and the Decolonization of the Nigerian Secondary School History Curriculum
PCN 2012
Thursday March 6th, 12:30 – 2 pm
Oladipupo Ogunfeibo
The nationalists’ struggle for self-determination in the 1950s and 1960s in many British and French African colonies took on the scholarship in African history as one of its resistance strategies. In its diverse form (as a concept, discipline, socio-cultural and political project, field of study, and school curriculum), African history emerged largely to reject the Eurocentric construction that ‘Africa’ and ‘Africans’ had no history until its encounter with European colonizers. In dismissing the Eurocentric distortion of Africa and reclaiming and reaffirming African history through literature, arts, politics and education, scholars have drawn on diverse forms of postcolonial theories (Marxism, ecocritical theory, critical theory, feminism, historical and many others), which have also been influential in different attempts at decolonization.
However, particular conceptions and approaches to postcolonial and decolonial discourses in education have left unresolved and further entrenched patterns of colonialism. This dissertation looks at postcolonial attempts to decolonize and legitimize particular political discourses. Taking the Nigerian context as a case study, this study seeks to (1) problematize the postcolonial and decolonial construction of African history and (2) explore what particular ideals and practices associated with African history offer a more plausible approach to decolonization. Using archival methods in exploring policy documents, school curricula, textbooks and other publicly available documents, this study asks: (a) What does the scholarly debate about history education among the academic and professional organizations in Nigeria reveal about how the notion of African history is constructed? (b) What does a critical discourse analysis of the Nigerian secondary school history textbooks reveal about the meaning and representation of decolonization? (c) How does this approach to seeking decolonization impact Nigeria’s secondary school educational system?
UBC at Philosophy of Education Society 2025
We are proud to announce that UBC and, in particular, the Department of Educational Studies will be exceptionally well represented at the upcoming international conference of the Philosophy of Education Society (PES) and John Dewey Society (JDS) in Baltimore, MD (March 2025):
- Adi Burton, PhD graduate, ISGP, and Independent Scholar, “Tracing Hannah Arendt’s Impact on Educational Theory: A Philosophical Review,” PES work in progress; also respondent to Kyle Greenwalt, PES
- Thandi Fletcher, PhD student, EDST, “When Free Speech Hurts: Ethical Approaches to Controversial Speakers on University Campuses,” PES
- Addyson Frattura, PhD student, EDST, respondent to David Hansen, PES
- Silas Krabbe, PhD student, EDST, “Nonhuman as Pedagogue: Towards Conceptual Limits,” PES pre-conference; also respondent to Traver Scott Carlson, PES
- Jessica Lussier, PhD student, EDST, “Risking Response-Ability,” PES pre-conference
- Itamar Manoff, PhD graduate, EDST, and Sessional Lecturer, CENES, respondent to Krassimir Stojanov, PES
- Peter Nelson, Assistant Professor of Teaching, EDCP, “Examining Failure in Pedagogy and Baseball,” JDS
- Sam Rocha, Associate Professor, EDST, “The Poetic Secret of Objects and the Syllabus as Curriculum,” PES; also respondent to Deron Boyles, PES
- Claudia Ruitenberg, Professor, EDST, “The Educated Person and the Work of Repair,” Presidential Address, PES
- Anna Ryoo, PhD graduate, EDCP, Assistant Professor, California State University, Northbridge, “Tracing Hannah Arendt’s Impact on Educational Theory: A Philosophical Review,” PES work in progress
- Yuya Takeda, PhD graduate and Sessional Lecturer, LLED, “Negative Capability as a Component of Critical Literacy: Suspicion, Suspension, Sustenance,” PES work in progress; also respondent to Maxwell Anthony, PES
The world is in crisis – what role should our universities be playing?
Congratulations to Petra Mikulan, Daniel Gallardo, Hartej Gill, and Deirdre Kelly on a successful TLEF
Abstract: Given the impact of environmental disasters and uncertainties surrounding the climate crisis among students, we propose Climate Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (CTIP) as a transformative educational framework designed to equip teacher candidates with skills to address and mitigate the effects of eco-anxiety, climate injustice, and climate trauma among K-12 students. The project will document effective pedagogical strategies to establish the CTIP framework, using drag pedagogy as a healing-centered method. Informed by decolonial ethics and Indigenous epistemologies, we will implement three workshops in two sections of ‘Education, School and Social Institutions,’ taught by the principal applicant annually within the B.Ed. Teacher Education Program. With teacher candidates, we will generate resources: adaptable guidelines, trauma-informed curricula, and a set of filmed workshops. These materials, along with a podcast series for wider outreach, will be designed for use within the B.Ed. program. We’ll deliver workshops to faculty and GTAs to integrate CTIP into broader educational practice.
Awarded $20,184.00 for its 1st year of funding in 2025