Email: abdelkader.barounga(at)b-tu.de

Dissertation title:

"The Educational System against the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Africa: Case of the Far North Region of Cameroon" (working title)

Supervisor: Prof. Marie-Theres Albert

Description:

After the arguable independence the respective colonial educational system has been introduced into most African countries regardless the existing local cultures and epistemology. In Cameroon for instance this led decades later to a discrepant society that systematically ostracizes non-scholars. Opinions differ. On the one side the “school” is the key to the future and a great intercultural contribution to bring the multilingual and multicultural entities together. On the other side it is considered as an adroitly method to extinguish the heritage, an act of depersonalization fruit of a brain washing process, because the scholars are trained to refute the local epistemology.

In this century whereby globalization blurs national borders and technology accelerates time and masks distance, what should be considered as intangible cultural heritage that survived evolution and/or resisted destruction? What is the state of its knowledge and practice at the end of secondary school? How does it impact the expression of the cultural identity? What inclusive educational system - the pedagogy, the curriculum and the language - could both tackle the underdevelopment problem and global challenges? Addressing those questions is the aim this research.

Short bio:

Abdel Kader Barounga obtained a Bachelor in Psychology and broke off a two years Master study in Social Psychology at the University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon). After further trainings and works in Morocco and Denmark he obtained a European Master in Intercultural Education at Free University of Berlin, then a Master of Business Administration in CSR and NGO Management at University of Applied Science of Bonn-Rhine-Sieg. Since 2013 he became a PhD Student at the IGS Heritage Studies at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.