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Paper short abstract:

Becoming Octopus – a creature with green blood (representing the environment), many slithering arms to manoeuvre through multiple terrains, and three hearts (representing love, but also body, mind, and spirit)- explores the links between African knowledges and ritual, and environmental awareness.

Paper long abstract:

On 30 June 2014 we opened our Green Leadership School, an experiment in decolonising the classroom, exploring indigenous environmental knowledge, and creating a space of healing and love. Over the course of 18 months, at four schools on farms or by the sea, we brought together NGO activists, union officers, provincial government bureaucrats, and students from #FeesMustFall to explore possibilities for learning outside the confines of colonised university classrooms. We conceptualised the schools as becoming Octopus – a creature with green blood (representing the environment), many slithering arms to manoeuvre through multiple terrains, and three hearts (representing body, mind, and spirit). While we held lectures exploring the links between African knowledges and environmental awareness (feeding the mind), we also undertook activities connecting us to our bodies, connecting us to the earth, and through ritual, connecting to spirit. Daily gardening and yoga were combined with art, music, and diverse discussions on, for example, land grabbing in Africa, environmental degradation in Wentworth, South Durban, and the language of weather patterns (global warming) in Zulu culture. The aim of the experiment was not just to transfer knowledge, but through connecting participants to their minds, bodies, and spirit, to heal and rejuvenate so that they could continue their work of transformation. This paper discusses the experiment in more detail.

Keywords: decolonising higher education; environmentalism; ritual; indigenous knowledge; endogenous knowledge