Ubuntu and Buddhism in Higher Education An Ontological Rethinking

Ubuntu and Buddhism in Higher Education theorizes the equal privileging of ontology and epistemology towards a balanced focus on ‘being-becoming’ and knowledge acquisition within the field of higher education. In response to the shift in higher education’s aims and purposes beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, this book reconsiders higher education and Western subjectivity through southern African (Ubuntu) and Eastern (Buddhist) onto-epistemologies. By mapping these other-than-West ontological viewpoints onto the discourse surrounding higher education, this volume presents a vision of colleges and universities as transformational institutions promoting our shared connection to the human and non-human world, and deepens our understanding of what it means to be a human being.

I. CHAPTER ONE: TURNING REALITY ON ITS HEAD, (RE)IMAGINING A NEW WAYII. CHAPTER TWO: UBUNTU: THE GREAT GIFT OF AFRICA III. CHAPTER THREE: BUDDHISM: AN ENGAGEMENT WITH AND IN THE WORLDIV. CHAPTER FOUR: A MAP NOT A TRACING: (re)THINKING AS (NON)METHOD V. CHAPTER FIVE: THE RECONCEPTUALIZED BEING-HOLONVI. CHAPTER 6: LET LEARN AND LET BE: (RE)THINKING HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AS ONTO-EPISTEMOLOGICAL WOMBS OF BEING-BECOMING VII. CHAPTER 7: EDUCATING FOR A DEEPER HUMANITY: A NEW PLATEAU VII. REFERENCES

David W. Robinson-Morris is Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Xavier University of Louisiana and Adjunct Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Education, and Human Development at the University of New Orleans, USA.