No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come: Culture and educational transformation in post-colonial Namibia and post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Following the defeat of Apartheid, the 1990s have witnessed serious attempts by Namibians and South Africans alike to reconstruct their social institutions along democratic lines. While education has not been excluded from these efforts, there is evidence that the new curricula are primarily influenced by western educational models. For example, prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been uncritically incorporated into the new educational programme. Consequently the curricula lack an indigenous ingredient, namely the cultural capital of the African masses. It is suggested in this article that the much acclaimed African cultural renaissance in education will only become a reality when educationalists embrace the 'pedagogy of hope'.