UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Education
⋄
HED4805 ASSIGNMENT 2
Semester 1 Assignment 02 – 2026
⋄
Module Code: HED4805
Module Name: South African History of Education
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 26 June 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
South African History of Education (HED4805)
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | HED4805 History of Education – Assignment 2
Question 1: Global North, Global South, and Decolonisation
The prescribed extract from Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020) confronts a structural imbal-
ance in academic knowledge production that has persisted since the colonial era. Understand-
ing the concepts of the Global North and Global South is foundational to grasping why this
imbalance matters and why student protests such as #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall
represented something far larger than campus grievances.
1.1 What Is Meant by “Global North” and “Global South”?
The terms “Global North” and “Global South” are not simply geographical expressions, al-
though they carry geographical implications. They were introduced as alternatives to the ideo-
logically loaded language of “First World/Third World” and “developed/developing” countries,
which implied a linear progress model in which Western industrialised nations represented the
goal toward which all others should aspire (Wikipedia, 2026).
The Global North
The Global North broadly comprises North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand,
Japan, Israel, and South Korea, as described by the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Wikipedia, 2026). These are predominantly wealthy, industrialised nations that
historically controlled trade, finance, and the production of academic and scientific knowledge.
Their institutions, journals, and research frameworks have functioned as the de facto global
standards against which all other scholarship is measured.
In education research, the Global North’s dominance is empirically documented. Wolhuter
(2008:330–331), as cited in Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020), found in a content analysis
of articles published over the first 50 years of the Comparative Education Review that Global
North countries dominate both the geographical focus of research and the authorship of pub-
lished articles. Among the 18,523 articles indexed in Thomson-Reuters education journals for
2012, only 2.13% were authored by scholars based in Africa (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter,
2020). This is not a neutral statistical observation; it represents a systemic exclusion.
Page 1 of 19
, UNISA | HED4805 History of Education – Assignment 2
The Global South
The Global South refers primarily to nations in Africa, Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan
and South Korea), the Middle East, and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
What the term captures is not just geographic location; it encodes a shared historical experi-
ence of colonialism, economic exploitation, and ongoing marginalisation in global knowledge
systems (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020:21).
As Dev Nathan (UNU-WIDER) notes, the Global North specialised in the creation and mo-
nopolisation of knowledge, while the Global South was confined to lower-return activities, a
pattern that has persisted into the post-colonial era (Cambridge University Press, 2023). This
holds as true in academic publishing as it does in manufacturing.
The term “Global South” also signals something beyond economics. Santos (2014), as quoted
in Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020), argues that epistemologies of the South represent
knowledge born in struggle, produced by social groups resisting the injustices of capitalism,
colonialism, and patriarchy. The South is not just poor; it is silenced. Its knowledge systems
have been relegated to the periphery by a Eurocentric academic establishment that treats its
own frameworks as universal (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020:21–22).
Key Distinction
Key Distinction: The Global North/South divide is not purely about wealth. Aus-
tralia, which is geographically southern, belongs to the Global North by political-
economic classification, while Mexico, geographically northern, belongs to the Global
South. The more useful dimension is power: who controls the production, validation,
and distribution of legitimate knowledge; and whose knowledge is systematically ex-
cluded, marginalised, or treated as exotic rather than universal.
The Global South in Education Research
The data in the extract is striking. Depaepe and Simon (1996), as cited in Seroto, Davids
and Wolhuter (2020), show that during the period 1961 to 1989 in the journal Paedagogica
Historica, Germany (22.7%) and the United States (21.5%) dominated authorship. South
Africa contributed a mere 0.3%. In the period 1990 to 1995, the entire Global South together
accounted for only 1.6% of all authors in that journal.
Freeman and Kirke (2017:830), as cited in the extract, confirm that even in 2016, 25.7% of
Page 2 of 19
College of Education
⋄
HED4805 ASSIGNMENT 2
Semester 1 Assignment 02 – 2026
⋄
Module Code: HED4805
Module Name: South African History of Education
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 26 June 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
South African History of Education (HED4805)
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | HED4805 History of Education – Assignment 2
Question 1: Global North, Global South, and Decolonisation
The prescribed extract from Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020) confronts a structural imbal-
ance in academic knowledge production that has persisted since the colonial era. Understand-
ing the concepts of the Global North and Global South is foundational to grasping why this
imbalance matters and why student protests such as #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall
represented something far larger than campus grievances.
1.1 What Is Meant by “Global North” and “Global South”?
The terms “Global North” and “Global South” are not simply geographical expressions, al-
though they carry geographical implications. They were introduced as alternatives to the ideo-
logically loaded language of “First World/Third World” and “developed/developing” countries,
which implied a linear progress model in which Western industrialised nations represented the
goal toward which all others should aspire (Wikipedia, 2026).
The Global North
The Global North broadly comprises North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand,
Japan, Israel, and South Korea, as described by the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Wikipedia, 2026). These are predominantly wealthy, industrialised nations that
historically controlled trade, finance, and the production of academic and scientific knowledge.
Their institutions, journals, and research frameworks have functioned as the de facto global
standards against which all other scholarship is measured.
In education research, the Global North’s dominance is empirically documented. Wolhuter
(2008:330–331), as cited in Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020), found in a content analysis
of articles published over the first 50 years of the Comparative Education Review that Global
North countries dominate both the geographical focus of research and the authorship of pub-
lished articles. Among the 18,523 articles indexed in Thomson-Reuters education journals for
2012, only 2.13% were authored by scholars based in Africa (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter,
2020). This is not a neutral statistical observation; it represents a systemic exclusion.
Page 1 of 19
, UNISA | HED4805 History of Education – Assignment 2
The Global South
The Global South refers primarily to nations in Africa, Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan
and South Korea), the Middle East, and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
What the term captures is not just geographic location; it encodes a shared historical experi-
ence of colonialism, economic exploitation, and ongoing marginalisation in global knowledge
systems (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020:21).
As Dev Nathan (UNU-WIDER) notes, the Global North specialised in the creation and mo-
nopolisation of knowledge, while the Global South was confined to lower-return activities, a
pattern that has persisted into the post-colonial era (Cambridge University Press, 2023). This
holds as true in academic publishing as it does in manufacturing.
The term “Global South” also signals something beyond economics. Santos (2014), as quoted
in Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter (2020), argues that epistemologies of the South represent
knowledge born in struggle, produced by social groups resisting the injustices of capitalism,
colonialism, and patriarchy. The South is not just poor; it is silenced. Its knowledge systems
have been relegated to the periphery by a Eurocentric academic establishment that treats its
own frameworks as universal (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020:21–22).
Key Distinction
Key Distinction: The Global North/South divide is not purely about wealth. Aus-
tralia, which is geographically southern, belongs to the Global North by political-
economic classification, while Mexico, geographically northern, belongs to the Global
South. The more useful dimension is power: who controls the production, validation,
and distribution of legitimate knowledge; and whose knowledge is systematically ex-
cluded, marginalised, or treated as exotic rather than universal.
The Global South in Education Research
The data in the extract is striking. Depaepe and Simon (1996), as cited in Seroto, Davids
and Wolhuter (2020), show that during the period 1961 to 1989 in the journal Paedagogica
Historica, Germany (22.7%) and the United States (21.5%) dominated authorship. South
Africa contributed a mere 0.3%. In the period 1990 to 1995, the entire Global South together
accounted for only 1.6% of all authors in that journal.
Freeman and Kirke (2017:830), as cited in the extract, confirm that even in 2016, 25.7% of
Page 2 of 19
