Decolonising higher education: theories and the Mtandao framework

Key theories of decolonising higher education

The theories guiding decolonising higher education focus on dismantling coloniality, understood as the persistence of power, knowledge hierarchies, and epistemic control long after formal colonial rule has ended (Landström, 2024; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018). These theories reposition African knowledge, histories, and ways of knowing from the margins to the centre of teaching, research, and institutional life.

Epistemic freedom and deprovincialisation

Epistemic freedom refers to the right of African people to think, theorise, and interpret the world from their own geo-historical and ontological locations (Booi, 2020; Landström, 2024). It challenges the dominance of Western knowledge by provincialising Europe, treating it as one local tradition rather than a universal standard. At the same time, it calls for deprovincialising Africa by centring African histories, philosophies, and experiences as primary sources of knowledge (Booi, 2020; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018).

Epistemologies of the South and cognitive justice

The idea of epistemologies of the South argues that social justice cannot be achieved without cognitive justice, which recognises multiple ways of knowing (Santos, 2014). This approach identifies erased knowledge through a sociology of absences and brings forward new possibilities through a sociology of emergences. It promotes an ecology of knowledges where different epistemologies coexist without hierarchy (Ndayisenga, 2025; Santos, 2014).

Ubuntu-currere fusion

This approach brings together Ubuntu as reciprocity and justice with currere as a process of lived and reflective learning (Le Grange et al., 2020). It shifts education away from individualism towards relational and communal knowledge production. Teaching and learning become processes of becoming, grounded in interconnectedness and shared responsibility (Ajani & Gamede, 2021; Simmonds & Ajani, 2022).

The ASWEA model of developmental social work

The ASWEA model replaces Western remedial approaches with a social development orientation (ASWDNet, 2026). It moves the focus from individual problems to broader structural and developmental issues. The model prioritises prevention, rural transformation, and the integration of African values and spiritualities into practice, linking education directly to national development goals (ASWDNet, 2026).

Restorative learning and pedagogy of solidarity

Restorative learning centres on unlearning colonial knowledge and relearning through storytelling, ceremony, and other indigenous practices (Simmonds & Ajani, 2022). It reconnects learners with suppressed knowledge systems. A pedagogy of solidarity complements this by building collective resistance among marginalised groups while engaging institutions strategically to redirect power towards African priorities (Zembylas, 2018).

Mtandao decolonisation framework

The Mtandao framework provides a structured approach to reposition higher education as a site of African liberation, identity formation, and professional grounding (ASWDNet, 2026).

Objective: epistemic re-centering through sankofa

The framework is anchored in sankofa, meaning looking back to inform the future. It prioritises African archives, texts, and intellectual traditions as the foundation of the curriculum rather than as additions. This ensures that African knowledge is the starting point of teaching and research (ASWDNet, 2026; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018).

Assessment: the decolonisation calculator (DECA)

The DECA tool measures progress in decolonisation across teaching, research, and institutional culture (ASWDNet, 2026). It moves beyond symbolic change to assess whether there is real epistemological transformation in what is taught, how it is taught, and whose knowledge is prioritised (Le Grange et al., 2020).

Methodology: participatory and developmental praxis

The framework adopts a participatory approach where students and educators are co-creators of knowledge (Simmonds & Ajani, 2022). It integrates developmental social work principles by shifting focus from urban, elitist models to rural engagement and community-based research that supports self-sufficiency and local development (ASWDNet, 2026).

Ethical pillar: the 4Rs and reciprocity mandate

Ethical practice is grounded in respectful representation, relational accountability, rights and regulation, and reciprocal appropriation (Ajani & Gamede, 2021). A key requirement is reciprocity, where the use of non-African knowledge must be matched by the use and recognition of African knowledge globally, ensuring balance and fairness in knowledge exchange.

Linguistic liberation: multilingualism as standard

Decolonisation requires the active use of African languages such as KiSwahili and isiZulu in teaching and assessment (ASWDNet, 2026). This addresses linguicide and allows knowledge to be expressed in its original conceptual form rather than through translation into Western languages (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018; Santos, 2014).

Institutional reform: system hacking and Afrikology

The framework calls for restructuring institutional systems that reproduce colonial logics. System hacking is used to challenge and rework these structures from within (Zembylas, 2018). Afrikology strengthens African-centred knowledge production and redirects universities towards African realities, reducing abstraction and grounding education in lived experience (Ajani & Gamede, 2021; Zembylas, 2018).

Challenges and strategies

The Mtandao framework is strong in its epistemic clarity and African-centred grounding, but its implementation within contemporary universities presents several structural and practical challenges. These limitations are not flaws in intent, but tensions between decolonial goals and existing institutional realities.

Challenge	What can be done
Institutional resistance	Embed DECA in QA systems; build coalitions
Decolonial-washing	Audit depth of epistemic change
Limited capacity	Staff development; diaspora collaboration
Linguistic constraints	Bilingual teaching; develop resources
Global competitiveness tension	Position African knowledge globally
Resource limitations	Community and funding partnerships
Epistemic diversity tensions	Use ecology of knowledges
Student preparedness	Gradual transition; scaffold learning
Reciprocity challenges	Clear guidelines; equitable partnerships

References

Ajani, O. A., & Gamede, B. T. (2021). Decolonising teacher education curriculum in South African higher education. International Journal of Higher Education, 10(5), 121–133.

ASWDNet. (2026). Africa Social Work and Development Network. https://africasocialwork.net/

ASWDNet. (2026). Association of Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) – 1965 to 1989. https://africasocialwork.net/association-of-social-work-education-in-africa-aswea-1965-to-1989/

Booi, M. (2020). Book review: Epistemic freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and decolonization by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni. SOTL in the South, 4(1), 89–96.

Landström, K. (2024). On epistemic freedom and epistemic injustice. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.

Le Grange, L., Du Preez, P., Ramrathan, L., & Blignaut, S. (2020). Decolonising the university curriculum or decolonial-washing? A multiple case study. Journal of Education, 80, 25–48.

Ndayisenga, Z. (2025). The value of de Sousa Santos’ concepts of epistemicide, university knowledge, and pluriversality to the decolonial discourse in/on South African universities. WIReDSpace.

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2018). Epistemic freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and decolonization. Routledge.

Santos, B. (2014). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. Paradigm.

Simmonds, S., & Ajani, O. A. (2022). Restorative learning for fostering a decolonised curriculum attuned to sustainable teacher education. Journal of Education, 88, 145–160.

Zembylas, M. (2018). Decolonial possibilities in South African higher education: Reconfiguring humanising pedagogies as/with decolonising pedagogies. South African Journal of Education, 38(4), 1–11.