Pedagogical responsiveness and claims of democratic citizenship education in Africa

Abstract

The argument of this contribution centres on the interrelationship between pedagogical responsiveness and the cultivation of democratic citizenship education in African higher education. When teachers and students are encouraged to act autonomously, deliberatively and diffractively, the possibility exists that human relations can respond to some of the societal dilemmas that confront them on the African continent and perhaps elsewhere. What emanates from our philosophi cal engagement with notions of pedagogy, responsiveness, democratic citizenship and education is a renewed and expansive attempt to integrate the notion of bare life into human actions. When the latter manifests – that is, a recognition of bare life in pedagogical encounters – the possibility is always there to respond to some of the complex and challenging situations that confront humans and with which they can make claims about legitimate human co-existence and recognition on the African continent.