Augustus A. Adeyinka (Nigeria) is professor of education, Department of Educational Foundations, University of Botswana; visiting scholar, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; British Council Fellow, University of Leeds, UK; university scholar, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; and fellow, Historical Sciences in Education, Nigeria. Key publications include: The principles and content of African traditional education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 35(4), 425–440, and Education and morality in Africa, Pastoral Care in Education, 20(2), 17–23.
Julia DeKadt (South Africa) is a doctoral student and research intern in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development programme at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. She holds a BSc in cognitive science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and an MA in politics and public affairs from Princeton University, USA. Her research interests lie in the implications of policy, particularly in education, for children and youth. Her PhD thesis, nearing completion at the University of the Witwatersrand, investigates learner mobility and school choice in Soweto, South Africa.
Joseph B. R. Gaie (Botswana), PhD, is a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Botswana where he teaches applied ethics. He graduated from the University of Essex (PhD) and Edinburgh (MSc), UK. He is interested in indigenising ethics, hence his co‐editorship of a book on The concept of Botho and HIV/AIDS in Botswana (Zapf Chancery, Kenya, 2007) and several articles on the application of Botho to moral situations. He is the author of The medical involvement in capital punishment: a philosophical discussion (Kluwer, 2004). He is currently working on the application of Botho/Ubuntu to epistemology and metaphysics.
Susan Kiragu (Kenya), PhD, is a social scientist and a research associate at the Centre for Commonwealth Education, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK. She has undergraduate and masters degrees in education from Kenyan universities and a masters degree and a PhD in education from the University of Cambridge. Her research interests are centred in Africa—especially on HIV/AIDS prevention and behaviour change, gender and education, research and education for social justice, the use of indigenous knowledge for teacher training and curriculum development and participatory research. She has published in journals such as Pastoral Care in Education and Sex Education, in addition to a number of book chapters.
Daniel Lapsley (USA), PhD, is a psychologist, and ACE collegiate professor and chair, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, and a fellow at Notre Dame's Institute for Educational Initiatives. His research focuses on various topics in adolescent social cognitive and personality development, including work on adolescent invulnerability and risk behaviour, narcissism, separation‐individuation, self, ego and identity development, and college adjustment. He also studies the moral dimensions of personality and other topics in moral psychology. He is the author, co‐author or editor of seven books including Moral self, motivation and identity: Prospects for new field of study (Cambridge University Press, 2009); Character psychology and character education (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005); Moral development, self and identity (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2004); and Moral psychology (Westview Press, 1996).
Tawanda Makusha (Zimbabwe) is a doctoral student and research intern in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development programme at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. He has a BA (Hons) in History and Development Studies from Midlands State University, Zimbabwe and an MA in Development Studies from the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. His PhD studies at the University of KwaZulu‐Natal focus on children, men and families in the context of HIV/AIDS and poverty.
Yonah H. Matemba (Zimbabwe) is a doctoral student at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK, where he also teaches on the MA religious and philosophical education teacher programme. He holds a certificate in education from Solusi University, Zimbabwe, a bachelor's degree in education from Andrews University (USA) and postgraduate degrees in history and theology from the universities of Botswana and Malawi, respectively. Previously, he has been a lecturer in religious education at Molepolole College of Education, Botswana and later at the Catholic University of Malawi. Some of his papers have appeared in journals such as Religious Education (USA) and the British Journal of Religious Education.
Thaddeus Metz (South Africa), PhD, is a humanities research professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He has a BA in philosophy and sociology from the University of Iowa and holds an MA and a PhD in philosophy from Cornell University, USA. Much of his research in ethics is interpreting the African morality of Ubuntu in an analytic, rigorous way; using a principle of respect for human dignity to resolve practical controversies; and systematically developing and evaluating theoretical approaches to what makes a life meaningful. Among his many publications are Toward an African moral theory, The Journal of Political Philosophy, 15(3), 321–341; and God, morality and the meaning of life, in: N. Athanassoulis and S. Vice (Eds), The moral life (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
Bongiwe Mncwango (South Africa) is a senior researcher in the Knowledge Systems programme of the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. She holds an MA in industrial sociology from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has a special interest in issues related to religion and society and also labour market analysis, with an emphasis on new forms of work, the changing quality of work and emotions in the work place.
Mussa K. Mohamed (Tanzania) is a science and health education facilitator at Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational Development (IED) East Africa, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has an undergraduate degree in Science with Education from Dar es Salaam University and holds a Masters degree from Aga Khan University, IED, Pakistan. His research interests focus on improving the teaching and learning of HIV/AIDS and on promoting science literacy.
Patrick Nyabul (Kenya), PhD, has taught philosophy at the University of Nairobi since 1990. He has a BA, MA and PhD degree in philosophy from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He also has a licentiate from the Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. His main interests lie in the fields of ethics, political philosophy, history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion. He has recently published a paper entitled ‘Moral education and the condition of Africa’ in the inaugural issue of the Kenyan Philosophical Society journal, Thought and Practice, 1(1), 31–42.
Mary Oluga (Kenya) is a lecturer in teacher education at the Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development East Africa (IED‐EA) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She holds a masters degree in teacher education from Aga Khan University, IED‐EA, has a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma in Education from Kenyatta University and a Certificate in Teacher Education from Siriba Teachers College, Kenya. She also holds a certificate in teaching and the AIDS pandemic from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa and is currently completing a PhD in Curriculum Development at Kenyatta University. Her research interests are in health education, the impact of HIV/AIDS on education, social studies and teacher professional development.
Mogobe B. Ramose (South Africa), PhD, is professor of philosophy at the University of South Africa. He obtained a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Louvain (KUL) in Belgium and a master of science (International Relations) from the London School of Economics, University of London, UK. African philosophy through Ubuntu (Harare, Mond Books, 1999) is among his numerous publications, which also include, ‘I doubt, therefore African philosophy exists’ in the South African Journal of Philosophy, 22(2), 113–127; and seven contributions to The African philosophy reader edited by P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux (London, Routledge, 1998). His current interests include African philosophy and the philosophy of liberation.
Linda Richter (South Africa), PhD, is executive director of the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa. She holds honorary professorships at the University of KwaZulu‐Natal and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She is an honorary Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, UK and a Visiting Scholar in the School of Public Health at Harvard University, USA. Linda publishes widely in the fields of child, adolescent and family development, infant and child assessment, protein‐energy malnutrition, street and working children and the effects of HIV/AIDS on children and families, including HIV prevention among young people. Among her many publications are: Baba: men and fatherhood in South Africa (Cape Town, HSRC Press, 2006); Mandela's children: growing up in post‐Apartheid South Africa (London, Routledge, 2001); and Sexual abuse of young children in Southern Africa (Cape Town, HSRC Press 2005). She has recently published Behavioural strategies to reduce HIV transmission, The Lancet, 372 (9639), 669–684.
Herménégilde Rwantabagu (Burundi), PhD, is professor of comparative international education at the University of Burundi. He holds a bachelor's degree in education from the University of East Africa (Kenya), a master's degree and a doctorate in Comparative International Education from the Institute of Education, University of London, UK, as well as a Diploma in Peace Studies from Uppsala University, Sweden. His areas of special interest are teacher education, peace education and moral education in sub‐Saharan Africa.
Sharlene Swartz (South Africa), PhD, is a sociologist and senior research specialist in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa. She is also visiting research fellow at the Centre for Commonwealth Education, University of Cambridge, UK. She has undergraduate degrees in science (University of the Witwatersrand) and theology (University of Zululand), both in South Africa, and holds a masters degree from Harvard University (USA) and a PhD in the sociology of education from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her research interests focus on youth and poverty, social inequality, the sociology of morality and masculine moralities. She is the author of Teenage tata (Cape Town, HSRC Press, 2009) and The moral ecology of South Africa's township youth (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009; Johannesburg, Wits Press, 2010).
Shelina Walli (Tanzania) is assistant lecturer at Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational Development East Africa (AKU IED‐EA), based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She has an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education and a masters of education (teacher education) from AKU IED‐EA. Her master's thesis considered the integration of HIV/AIDS education into the pre‐school curriculum. She has a passion for early childhood and has been in the field of education in various capacities for 20 years.
Gail Weldon (South Africa), PhD, is an historian, educator and a senior curriculum Planner at the Western Cape Department of Education in Cape Town, South Africa. She has an Advanced Professional Diploma in Educational Development from Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. She holds a masters degree in history and a PhD in education policy and management studies from South African universities. She has been involved in national curriculum development processes in post‐Apartheid South Africa and her research interests centre on memory, identity and curriculum in post‐conflict societies.
Acknowledgements
The Guest Editor would like to thank Dr Monica Taylor, Editor of the Journal of Moral Education, for her outstanding support, friendship and mentorship throughout the two years it has taken to compile this Special Issue, as well as the following, who have acted as referees of the papers considered for publication:
Valerie Anderson, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Dr Jeremiah Chikovore, Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme, Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa; Admire Chirowodza, Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme, Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa; Professor Rhett Diessner, Department of Psychology, Lewis‐Clarke State College, USA; Dr Petro DuPreez, Faculty of Educational Sciences, North West University, South Africa; Professor Penny Enslin, Faculty of Education, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK; Dr Joseph Gaie, Department of Theology, University of Botswana, Botswana; Professor Brian Gates, Division of Theology and Philosophy, St Martin's College, UK; Dr Patrick Giddy, School of Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa; Professor Michael Glassman, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, The Ohio State University, USA; Professor Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor, University of the Free State, South Africa; Professor Ken Jubber, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Dr Colleen McLaughlin, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK; Professor Thaddeus Metz, Department of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Dr Sana Mmolai, Department of Languages and Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, University of Botswana, Botswana; Dr Zitha Mokomane, Child Youth Family and Social Development research programme, Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa; Dr Munyaradzi Murove, Department of Philosophy, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa; Professor Jan Nieuwenhuis, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Professor Crain Soudien, Faculty of Education, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Ingrid Van Der Heijden, Department of Anthropology, Rhodes University, South Africa.