Decolonising and Africanising Curriculum Knowledge: The Utility of the Music of Bob Marley, Fela Kuti and Tupac Shakur in Teaching Decoloniality in African Universities

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to examine the practical use of music in university teaching. Music has been seen as a useful tool in communicating certain messages in society. The main aim of this research is to examine and assess the utility of the music of Bob Marley, Fela Kuti and Tupac Shakur in teaching decoloniality in African universities. Using the ideas on decoloniality by Chinua Achebe (1983), we explore how the messages encapsulated in the song called ‘Redemption Song’ by Bob Marley, ‘Teacher don’t teach me nonsense’ by Fela Kuti and ‘Changes’ by Tupac Shakur may help in teaching decoloniality in African universities. Drawing on qualitative research, content analysis was used to get a systematic and objective approach to analysing texts, images and videos of the songs of the selected artists. An analysis of the selected songs reveals that the revolutionary and liberatory undertones in the selected songs can inform teaching decoloniality in African universities and beyond.