Democracy, civic life and learning for citizenship in Lesotho

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to describe how and where Lesotho citizens have learned about democracy, their civic life and citizenship. The paper draws from a larger PhD study that was conducted in 2013 that focused on how Basotho people understand the concepts of citizenship and democracy with implications for civic education in Lesotho. This paper provides data in respect of the questions: How have ordinary citizens, civic educators and community leaders learned about the concepts of democracy and citizenship in Lesotho? Where have they learnt about these concepts? It briefly introduces Lesotho’s political context and reviews literature on traditional civic education for formerly colonised countries like Lesotho. This is followed by an explanation of African indigenous knowledge and learning through the concepts of Ubuntu/Botho, before detailing the adult learning theories that are applicable and relevant to the findings. The methodology section is followed by the findings, discussions, and a concluding section, which recommended that civic education programmes should be tailored to meet the needs of different social groups in Lesotho, taking their context into consideration.