After two years of COVID induced postponements, I have finally arrived in South Africa. My Fund for Teachers fellowship is allowing me to explore the parallelisms between school segregation in New York City and post-apartheid Johannesburg. Apartheid exists universally; it is seen in the socio-economic, political, religious, and legal structures of societies. Schools often bear the brunt of the burden of endemic segregation that is not always apparent to those not affected by such challenges. How do school systems move forward from the dire consequences, and what can the ideas and ideals of truth and reconciliation found in South Africa teach us about (re)establishing systems of trust and building equitable pathways for all school children?
Understanding Ubuntu
The word 'ubuntu' features in the Nguni group of languages and means essentially 'being human'. It symbolises the fact that all people are interdependent on one another. Each person has an important role to play in his/her society to ensure peace and prosperity for all. Source
Ubuntu, from the Nguni language, is one of those well-loved, elemental words that defy simple translation. The closest English equivalent is "humaneness," or "the quality of being human." A proverb common across Africa expresses the ubuntu ideal: "A person is a person through other people." Source
Humanizing Pedagogy
Humanization is the process of becoming more fully human as social, historical, thinking, communicating, transformative, creative persons who participate in and with the world (Freire,1972, 1984). To become more fully human, men and women must become conscious of their presence in the world as a way to individually and collectively re-envisage their social world (Dale & Hyslop-Margison, 2010; Freire & Betto, 1985; Schapiro, 2001). Humanization is the ontological vocation of human beings and, as such, is the practice of freedom in which the oppressed are liberated through consciousness of their subjugated positions and a desire for self-determination (Freire, 1970, 1994). Humanization cannot be imposed on or imparted to the oppressed; but rather, it can only occur by engaging the oppressed in their liberation. As such, Freire (1970) proposes that the process of humanization fosters transformation and authentic liberation of the oppressed; thus, "to transform the world is to humanize it" (Freire, 1985, p. 70). del Carmen Salazar, M. (2013). A Humanizing Pedagogy: Reinventing the Principles and Practice of Education as a Journey Toward Liberation. Review of Research in Education,37, 121-148.