Immanent Umthakathi: critically self-reflexive Dung Beetle Doing: contextually appropriate education for be(com)ing better with_in the world now.

Abstract

‘Yearning to be bold’, carefully crossing borders of transformative, pragmatic and indigenous paradigm spaces in search of decolonised radical democratic living and learning liberation, this PhD addresses the question: How is critical education for social justice a contextually appropriate response to teacher development for a more just and equitable world? As indicated in the title, through the ‘miracle of metaphor’ this study ‘faces and embraces’ the paradox of domesticating for submission as a PhD, a thesis seeking means to productively balance the love and rage of struggling to do being in better balance within the radical presence of forever becoming living learning of liberation. The entangled whole is presented for intersubjective sensemaking through bricolage, genealogically weaving together critically self-reflexive ethnography of the Parts, defying fracture of dominant definitions. At least, that is the hopeful possibility pursued as a contributory stream. The reflexive journey produced the applied grounding methodology of the whole offering: Dung Beetle Doing, a regenerative cycle working with Seed Pearl conceptual praxis tools. Originally imagined as a ‘PhD by publication’ three Parts shape the whole. Form is maintained through a structural Beanstalk presenting the cultural production of the ‘Bean’ articles it houses. The titles and taglines of the articles hint at their intersecting contribution:  Growing Social Justice Educators: a pedagogical framework for social justice education  Not the Poor Relation: regarding in-service education development programmes as appropriate assets for our context instead of deficit models for of full contact courses  Teachers Changing Worlds: presenting self-reflective action research of in-service social justice education student teachers  A case study on RPL: reflexive practice in continuing education for Teacher Development  Copying the Dung-Beetle: classic enablers and resistors in the search for contextually appropriate teacher learning and knowledge  Harvesting the Bean Pod: PhD proposal: investigating the use of critical social justice education pedagogy as a contextually appropriate approach to teacher development in South Africa within the current global context  JAW-ly making the Book of WOMB in the way that Dung Beetles Do: Justice and Women workers critically self-reflexively document their work in social rights and reproductive health  Dung Beetle Doing: critically self-reflexive praxis for living liberation Readers are welcomed into participation through a Preamble, leading to a Homestead tour laying out the terrain within.