Sammendrag
In recent times, the schooling system has faced criticism for its failure to fulfil the promises of realising children's aspirations and futures. A growing body of research epitomizes this profound lack in the system, which is founded on epistemological and ideological traditions. In response to these concerns, there has been a recognition of the virtue and legitimacy of indigenous metaphysics, emphasizing the need to rethink the entire schooling system. Yet, the question remains how schooling can be reimagined in an indigenous context to make it responsive to the visions of the future among children. Studies conducted thus far have not thoroughly examined indigenous ways of understanding futurity in relation to children’s aspirations. This study attempts to enquire into this by exploring this through the lens of the intellectual and socio-political ecologies of Ethiopia. I draw on ethnographic research conducted with yeabnät tämariwoc (students) aged 9 to 15, their parents, and other stakeholders in Ethiopia. Data was collected through indigenous methodologies of knowing with attention to the researcher’s positionality and reflexivity.
The study theoretically puts forward the tenets of a constructivist approach to unpack how children construct their aspirations and imagine the future through their school and life world. I am also draws inspired by decolonial theory to examine schooling in terms of the realisation of children's visions of the future. Additionally, it enquires into how children use indigenous and modern schooling for their future aspirations through the Sankofa theory. The question of how children's future is negotiated with their parents and educational policies is inspired by the relational lens. By bringing these theories together, the empirical findings suggest that children's future aspirations are not only located in the present socio-political and economic phenomena but also in a 'forward movement to the past,' where their future is culturally and religiously constructed. This suggests that the underlying secular ethos in the schooling system disconnects children from envisioning their future unless their religious sense of the future, which they believe is the supreme source, is considered. Additionally, the possibility of integrating schooling and indigenous educational systems to explain children's future aspirations is challenged by the fact that the two systems have different ideological, philosophical, and traditional roots. This unambiguously points to the need to explore the fusion of the systems, which could be the focus of future research.
The implication of this study highlights the importance of considering the lived realities of children, challenging unilinear conceptions of their visions of the future solely based on the schooling system. It contributes to the ongoing dialogue on questioning schooling as the only framework for theorizing childhood aspirations and the future. However, the disposition to examine children's visions of the future within cultural specificities may overlook the need for cross-cultural realism, which emphasizes the virtues of humanity and religious essence. This emphasizes the need for scholarly work to move childhood studies beyond relativism and cultural reductionism.