Towards a Philosophy of Education for the Caribbean: Exploring African Models of Integrating Theory and Praxis

This article examines approaches to doing philosophy of education and critiques what the authors regard as overly theorized approaches which fail to take adequate account of the vexing issues and complex realities facing human society. The article posits that philosophy of education must engage the sites of human struggle and provide contextually relevant solutions for how these struggles may be addressed. The study uses as a point of departure the African concepts of Kagisano and Ubuntu and seeks to explore the usefulness of these concepts for the study and application of philosophy of education in the Caribbean. The article then invokes critical theory in conjunction with post-structuralism to relate critical pedagogy to the ethnic and social conditions of the Caribbean and Latin American context. The article purports to represent a departure from philosophical constructs which are defined by western and Eurocentric dominance to one that is contextual and original while at the same time being informed by a long history of philosophical ideas. Keywords: Critical theory, praxis, critical pedagogy, Arica, Caribbean
Introduction There is an overwhelming tide of resistance to what is deemed to be an overly theoretical focus in philosophical reasoning and a concomitant insistence that the ultimate value of [...]