UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Education
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
HED4805: South African History of Education
Assignment 3 — Semester 2, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
HED4805
Module Code:
South African History of Education
Module Name:
Assignment 3
Assignment:
10 August 2026
Due Date:
100
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for HED4805 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | HED4805 History of Education — Assignment 3
Question 1: Colonialism, Coloniality and Post-Colonial Africa
1.1 Definition of Colonialism
Colonialism refers to a political and economic system in which one nation exercises direct
sovereign power over another people or territory. Under colonialism, the colonising power rules
the colonised people through force, law, and administration, extracting their resources, impos-
ing its own governance structures, and subordinating local authority to the demands of the
colonial state (Maldonado-Torres, 2007). In the African context, colonialism manifested as
the forcible occupation of the continent by European powers from the late fifteenth century
onward, culminating in the formal partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885.
Colonial rule replaced indigenous governance with foreign administrations, stripped communi-
ties of their land and labour, and redesigned African societies to serve the economic interests
of the colonising nations (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020).
In short: colonialism is the political and economic domination of one people by a foreign
power, enforced by physical presence and legal authority.
1.2 How Maldonado-Torres Explains Coloniality
Maldonado-Torres (2007) explains coloniality as something qualitatively different from, and
more durable than, colonialism itself. Where colonialism is the formal political and economic
system of foreign rule, coloniality refers to the long-standing patterns of power, culture, and
knowledge production that colonialism created, and that persist long after formal colonial
administrations have ended (Maldonado-Torres, 2007:243).
The key phrase in his formulation is that coloniality “survives colonialism.” It is maintained
alive in books, in the criteria for academic performance, in cultural patterns, in common sense,
in the self-image of peoples, and in their aspirations for themselves (Maldonado-Torres, 2007).
This means that a country can achieve political independence and still remain colonised in
its mind, its institutions, its knowledge systems, and its social hierarchies. Maldonado-Torres
identifies three dimensions of coloniality: the coloniality of power (inherited social hierar-
chies and racial classification), the coloniality of knowledge (the privileging of Western epis-
temologies as the only legitimate science), and the coloniality of being (the dehumanisation
of colonised peoples that persists as a cultural attitude well after independence) (Ndlovu-
Gatsheni, 2013, as cited in Research Gate, 2022).
Page 2 of 22
, UNISA | HED4805 History of Education — Assignment 3
1.3 The Difference Between Colonialism and Coloniality
Table 1: Colonialism vs. Coloniality: A Comparative Overview
Aspect Colonialism Coloniality
Nature Political and economic domina- Cultural, epistemic, and social
tion domination
Physical presence Requires the physical presence of Persists without the coloniser’s
colonial administrators physical presence
Duration Ends when political indepen- Survives and often outlasts polit-
dence is achieved ical independence
Example British administration of the Post-apartheid educational cur-
Cape Colony (1806–1910) ricula still privileging Western
knowledge frameworks
Key theorist Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah Maldonado-Torres (2007);
Mignolo (1999)
The central distinction, as Seroto et al. (2020) note, drawing directly on Maldonado-Torres, is
temporal: colonialism is a historical episode with a beginning and an end, while coloniality is
a structural condition that reproduces itself in culture, institutions, and subjectivity even after
the colonial flag has been removed. Mignolo (1999) frames this as the “coloniality of power,”
arguing that the imaginary of the modern/colonial world continues to organise social relations
long after formal decolonisation (Seroto et al., 2020). W.E.B. du Bois’s concept of “double
consciousness,” which Mignolo borrows, captures the experience of a person whose identity
was formed within the colonial difference: simultaneously shaped by the coloniser’s world and
aware of not belonging to it.
Key Distinction
Colonialism ends; coloniality continues. A useful South African example: the
Bantu Education Act was formally repealed with the post-apartheid transformation
of the school system, ending one dimension of educational colonialism. However, the
attitude that African languages are “less academic” than English or Afrikaans, the
dominance of European educational theorists in teacher education curricula, and the
structural under-resourcing of township schools all represent the continuation of colo-
niality in South African education today.
1.4 The Sociohistorical Background of Colonialism and Coloniality in South Africa
Page 3 of 22
College of Education
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
HED4805: South African History of Education
Assignment 3 — Semester 2, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
HED4805
Module Code:
South African History of Education
Module Name:
Assignment 3
Assignment:
10 August 2026
Due Date:
100
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for HED4805 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | HED4805 History of Education — Assignment 3
Question 1: Colonialism, Coloniality and Post-Colonial Africa
1.1 Definition of Colonialism
Colonialism refers to a political and economic system in which one nation exercises direct
sovereign power over another people or territory. Under colonialism, the colonising power rules
the colonised people through force, law, and administration, extracting their resources, impos-
ing its own governance structures, and subordinating local authority to the demands of the
colonial state (Maldonado-Torres, 2007). In the African context, colonialism manifested as
the forcible occupation of the continent by European powers from the late fifteenth century
onward, culminating in the formal partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885.
Colonial rule replaced indigenous governance with foreign administrations, stripped communi-
ties of their land and labour, and redesigned African societies to serve the economic interests
of the colonising nations (Seroto, Davids and Wolhuter, 2020).
In short: colonialism is the political and economic domination of one people by a foreign
power, enforced by physical presence and legal authority.
1.2 How Maldonado-Torres Explains Coloniality
Maldonado-Torres (2007) explains coloniality as something qualitatively different from, and
more durable than, colonialism itself. Where colonialism is the formal political and economic
system of foreign rule, coloniality refers to the long-standing patterns of power, culture, and
knowledge production that colonialism created, and that persist long after formal colonial
administrations have ended (Maldonado-Torres, 2007:243).
The key phrase in his formulation is that coloniality “survives colonialism.” It is maintained
alive in books, in the criteria for academic performance, in cultural patterns, in common sense,
in the self-image of peoples, and in their aspirations for themselves (Maldonado-Torres, 2007).
This means that a country can achieve political independence and still remain colonised in
its mind, its institutions, its knowledge systems, and its social hierarchies. Maldonado-Torres
identifies three dimensions of coloniality: the coloniality of power (inherited social hierar-
chies and racial classification), the coloniality of knowledge (the privileging of Western epis-
temologies as the only legitimate science), and the coloniality of being (the dehumanisation
of colonised peoples that persists as a cultural attitude well after independence) (Ndlovu-
Gatsheni, 2013, as cited in Research Gate, 2022).
Page 2 of 22
, UNISA | HED4805 History of Education — Assignment 3
1.3 The Difference Between Colonialism and Coloniality
Table 1: Colonialism vs. Coloniality: A Comparative Overview
Aspect Colonialism Coloniality
Nature Political and economic domina- Cultural, epistemic, and social
tion domination
Physical presence Requires the physical presence of Persists without the coloniser’s
colonial administrators physical presence
Duration Ends when political indepen- Survives and often outlasts polit-
dence is achieved ical independence
Example British administration of the Post-apartheid educational cur-
Cape Colony (1806–1910) ricula still privileging Western
knowledge frameworks
Key theorist Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah Maldonado-Torres (2007);
Mignolo (1999)
The central distinction, as Seroto et al. (2020) note, drawing directly on Maldonado-Torres, is
temporal: colonialism is a historical episode with a beginning and an end, while coloniality is
a structural condition that reproduces itself in culture, institutions, and subjectivity even after
the colonial flag has been removed. Mignolo (1999) frames this as the “coloniality of power,”
arguing that the imaginary of the modern/colonial world continues to organise social relations
long after formal decolonisation (Seroto et al., 2020). W.E.B. du Bois’s concept of “double
consciousness,” which Mignolo borrows, captures the experience of a person whose identity
was formed within the colonial difference: simultaneously shaped by the coloniser’s world and
aware of not belonging to it.
Key Distinction
Colonialism ends; coloniality continues. A useful South African example: the
Bantu Education Act was formally repealed with the post-apartheid transformation
of the school system, ending one dimension of educational colonialism. However, the
attitude that African languages are “less academic” than English or Afrikaans, the
dominance of European educational theorists in teacher education curricula, and the
structural under-resourcing of township schools all represent the continuation of colo-
niality in South African education today.
1.4 The Sociohistorical Background of Colonialism and Coloniality in South Africa
Page 3 of 22
