Abstract:
The use of decolonial research methods such as Ubuntu-storytelling in educational settings is important because it looks at the ways in which coloniality continues to manifest in knowledge acquisition in Australia’s Eurocentric dominated schooling systems – educational systems that are characterised by long standing traditions of racism, White supremacy, and oppression. The adoption of culturally sensitive, relevant, and appropriate research approaches such as Ubuntu-storytelling disrupts Eurocentric research methods that are racist and exploitative of the cultures of colonised people, and gives them an opportunity to tell their own stories and perspectives. Given that education has been described as a space of struggle and rupture where marginalised people seek to disrupt the system through the reactivation of alternative knowledge systems, the use of Ubuntu-storytelling in educational research places a limit on the colonisation of knowledge by inviting those on the margins to speak and tell their stories.
The realisation of the inappropriateness of Western genres and paradigms of research activities in the African context has led to calls for researchers to decolonise knowledge representation and validation by using Afrocentric research frameworks that promote African indigenous knowledge systems. The use of Ubuntu-Storytelling research with Black African students in Australian schools reflects the research context and recognises the interconnected and collective nature of the African culture. Ubuntu storytelling further supports the researcher to seek to understand the lived experiences and accurately represent Black African students' sense of cultural safety and belonging in White dominated Australian schools.
The realisation of the inappropriateness of Western genres and paradigms of research activities in the African context has led to calls for researchers to decolonise knowledge representation and validation by using Afrocentric research frameworks that promote African indigenous knowledge systems. The use of Ubuntu-Storytelling research with Black African students in Australian schools reflects the research context and recognises the interconnected and collective nature of the African culture. Ubuntu storytelling further supports the researcher to seek to understand the lived experiences and accurately represent Black African students' sense of cultural safety and belonging in White dominated Australian schools.