The Problem with Pedagogy: A Situational Analysis

This chapter examines the enduring impact of Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device in preserving and protecting Western culture. The origins and mechanisms of Bernstein’s pedagogic device are broached with a focus on how knowledge is selected and shaped to maintain a Eurocentric perspective. Using a situational analysis, this chapter illustrates how the pedagogization of knowledge serves as one guise of colonialist discourse and advocates for the adoption of ubuntugogy to counter intellectual tyranny and epistemic totalitarianism. Ubuntugogy, it is asserted, can offer a more inclusive and humane educational approach that will lead Africans to achieve cognitive justice and epistemic freedom.