IKS Policy Study: Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Doctoral Education

Home » Faculty of Education » Research » South African Research Chair in Teaching and Learning » Projects » Socially Just Pedagogies and Curriculum Decolonisation » IKS Policy Study: Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Doctoral Education

Comparative Research on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Doctoral Education

This comparative research project is part of a wider international collaboration led by Professor Catherine Manathunga at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
Partners include institutions from Australia, New Zealand, and China, with funding from the Australian Research Council.

The partnership conducts policy analysis focusing on protocols that respect Indigenous and transcultural knowledges, histories, geographies, languages, and cultural practices
within doctoral education. The analysis uses Carol Bacchi’s policy framework to explore Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in higher education, beginning with document analysis
to identify gaps in relevant IKS policies.

The South African partnership specifically explores best practices in doctoral education regarding IKS and analyses IKS-related policies in South African higher education.
Further research collaborations are being considered with the Indigenous and Transcultural Centre (ITRC) at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Selected Publications:

  1. Seehawer, M., Khupe, C., & Keane, M. (2022). On the impossibility of instrumentalising Indigenous methodologies and Indigenous knowledges for the sustainable development agenda.
    In M. Mba, W. L. Filho, & S. Ajaps (Eds.), Indigenous Methodologies, Research and Practices for Sustainable Development. Springer.
  2. Keane, M., Raciti, M., Van der Westhuizen, G., Motala, S., Stanton, S., Gilbey, K., Msimango, S., Manathunga, C., & Qi, J. (2023). Indigenous knowledge systems in South Africa and Australia:
    Transforming doctoral education. Curriculum Perspectives.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-023-00183-1
  3. McDonald, Z. (2023). Moving from a madrasa situation to the process of doctrinal development: An explication of the extended case method in the study of Islam.
    In A. Aghdassi & A. Hughes (Eds.), Supplements to Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (pp. 230–252). Brill.