Chapter 18: Reclaiming the Future?

Can one ‘reclaim’ the future? How can a future, that, by its very definition, has not yet occurred, be reclaimed? The concept is associated with the Sankofa bird, a ‘mythical bird through which individuals, groups and, communities are reminded to look back in order to reposition themselves to more strategically move forward’ (Assie-Lumumba, 2016, p. 10). I have settled on ‘reclaiming the future’ as an appropriate metaphor for this chapter which will tell a story – or stories – of paths along which I have meandered, looked back, repositioned myself several times and, hopefully, continued to move forward in ‘being’ a higher education practitioner and in ‘being’ a human ‘being’. Such meanderings will recall encounters with different philosophies – in particular how they mediate learning and teaching – different knowledges and different people and contexts. It will privilege – but not unquestioningly – the value of critical reflexivity in research and in teaching, revisiting many of the questions that have arisen and continue to arise for me through engaging in these academic practices. It thus addresses the book’s core themes of being, interculturality and – possibly – new knowledge systems.