The social sciences in the context of Mozambique’ higher education: dilemmas and possibilities of decolonization

Abstract

In the post-colonial context of Mozambique (the country became independent in 1975), the university project - an imported project - has known many challenges. First, the fact that the existing universities are a modern model, inspired by the enlightenment knowledge, which seeks to merge with the knowledges and experiences that are a result from the cultural diversity present in the country. Several experiments go across the contemporary context of the Mozambican Higher Education, from the initiatives that seek to develop a new paradigm that reflects a combination of knowledges, to initiatives that affirm the centrality of modern Eurocentric knowledge, which aims to (re)produce the university projects from countries considered more advanced (e.g, the Bologna process). This text, based on the analysis of official documentation on higher education public policies (including strategic plans, reports and action plans), in interviews with various policy makers, and other materials published on the subject, aims to analyze, based upon African experiences, various aspects of knowledge policies in Mozambique, reflecting on several potential possibilities to "decolonize" the social sciences.