Decolonising Education Starts at Home

My name is Chanju Mwanza and my personal journey with education across Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK taught me the significance of decolonising education, leading me to create The Zambian Narratives Project. 

I was born in Zambia and throughout my childhood the main language of communication at home was English. At age three, my first formal interaction with education was in English; I had limited exposure to Zambia’s seven indigenous national languages. By age four, I had moved to Côte d’Ivoire, where once again, English took centre stage. Finally, aged seven, we relocated to England by which point whenever my parents tried to speak to me in their native languages - Nyanja, Bemba or Kaonde - I was disinterested as I saw no value in learning them. Just as my parents had been chastised for speaking their native languages at school in Zambia decades prior, my interactions at home and in society across different contexts had taught me that English and European culture were the gold-standard. I didn’t see myself or my culture reflected in TV, books, or the media that surrounded me. Whenever I visited Zambia, my friends would similarly speak English, watch the same TV shows, and read the same books focused on Western culture. By the age of eight, I had internalised the view that English was a superior language and the world revolved around Western narratives.

Although my personal story is unique, my experience is not dissimilar to countless others who have to grapple with educational resources and curriculums, that prioritise and favour Western cultures over their own, even in the setting of their ‘homeland’. It is a legacy of colonialism where the colonial language and culture is given precedence while native languages and cultural practices are sidelined. This is one of many reasons why we need to decolonise education. And it starts at home.

My experiences led me to create The Zambian Narratives Project in 2019, which aims to connect young children around the world with Zambian culture through bilingual books available in the country’s seven national languages accompanied by audiovisual narrations. The first book, ‘A Family Adventure’, acts as a melting pot for children living in urban settings, overseas, and in rural areas of Zambia as it brings together languages spoken across the country and images of daily life in different contexts. It acts as a tool for parents to show their children that Zambian voices and languages matter. As part of the project, I have run workshops with children both in Zambia and the UK with a focus on culturally-relevant story-telling and the value of native languages, encouraging them to get excited about different cultural identities from a young age. The project aims to build up more bilingual resources to be available globally so that children can easily celebrate and learn about Zambian culture. It aims to equip parents and guardians with the tools to start decolonising education from home.

This project is just a small step forward in the Zambian context. As a nation, Zambia has already made significant strides; in 2013, it was mandated that indigenous Zambian languages replace English as a medium of instruction from Grades 1 to 4 in primary school; and there are now several collectives of poets, writers, historians and parents focused on reclaiming our stories and languages to be passed down to the next generations.

Working in tandem, these initiatives ensure that children see their cultures and languages represented in both their formal and informal education. It all plays a part in ending the cycle of internalised hierarchies of language and cultures. I urge WiFP readers to consider how you can play a role in making sure that diverse voices, languages and cultures are not only weaved into formal education, but also in books, TV and media - so that children are immersed in multiple realities and cultures from a young age.

Chanju Mwanza is the Founder of The Zambian Narratives Project.