Nsaka Sunsum (Touching the Spirit): A Pedagogy and Process of Black Educational Excellence

Abstract

The real crisis in Black education is a crisis of culture. It is a crisis of culture because culture, as the medium wherein life is defined and developed, is where the meaning of being human is found. Culture, though multifaceted, is where human beings give fundamental expression to their meaning, possibility and potential. Hence, the crisis in Black education is found in the organized structure and process of education that has absolutely no regard for the African meaning of being human nor respect for educational requisites of reproducing and refining African possibilities and potentials as cultural phenomena. In response to the lack of cultural congruency in the education of Black children, this article identifies the specific cultural ideas and techniques designed to establish a teaching and learning environment wherein a teaching/learning process is created to help the teacher to connect deeply with the spirit (essence) of the child so as to animate, arouse, affect and/or influence the student’s exalted feelings, thoughts or actions in the service of learning.