Context
The poem is a metaphor that compares the house and buildings to learning institutions that impose the colonial educational system. The poem points out how the rebuilding of learning institutions’ curriculum often limits and still holds prejudice against certain groups of individuals. The difference between inclusion, transformation, and decolonisation has to be taken into consideration in order for the concepts in action not to misrepresent each other. Criticism is essential to the development of decolonised learning institutions and the work they produce as it contributes to the betterment of an academic community. It is a call for decolonised learning institutions based on true events from history.
What assisted me to write my poem is the link below from Tshisimani-Centre for Activist Education, where Prof. Tshepo Madlingozi talks about the difference between inclusion, transformation, and decolonisation by providing clarity on how inclusion and assimilation do not qualify as decolonisation as they do not change the fundamental structure(s) of learning institutions. Link: https://fb.watch/lLPwjif1xR/?mibextid=fxoyai.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Thuleleni Msomi
Thuleleni Msomi is a Bachelor of Laws student at the University of South Africa. Email: [email protected]