ABSTRACT This paper synthesises dialectical materialism, phenomenology, and critical pedagogy to analyse postcolonial texts by Frantz Fanon, Amílcar Cabral, and Kwame Nkrumah, revealing colonialism as an integrated system of psychological, cultural, and economic domination. Scholarly treatments fragment along disciplinary lines, obscuring what these thinkers grasped: that colonialism operates as a total system. Through close readings of three foundational postcolonial texts by Fanon, Cabral, and Nkrumah, this study applies a four-stage integrative method, close reading, multi-lens coding, cross-textual comparison, and integrative analysis, to identify three convergences. First, colonial education simultaneously produces internalised inferiority, cultural erasure, and class structures serving imperial interests. Second, colonial violence operates across bodily, epistemic, and economic registers as a single integrated apparatus. Third, genuine liberation requires simultaneous transformation of consciousness, culture, and economic structure, since partial interventions leave colonial logic intact. A contemporary case study of digital colonialism in Kenya illustrates how data extraction, algorithmic consciousness-shaping, and platform pedagogy reproduce colonial patterns in new technological forms. The study’s contribution is primarily methodological: the four-stage framework offers a transparent and replicable approach to multi-dimensional postcolonial analysis, demonstrating that systematically integrated readings reveal convergences, and productive tensions, that fragmented, single-lens approaches consistently miss.

ABSTRACT The modern world privileges history as an insightful source of information that may be relied on to inform decisions about the present and future. To uphold the modernist vision, historical narratives influence many aspects of society, particularly the political sector. Further, modern nation states are founded on historical events, which establish the principles upon which the nations are founded. However, divergent voices argue that historical narratives are infused with subjective viewpoints, which render them unreliable as sources of guidance for social institutions. Despite claims of utilizing scientific methods as sources of information, historical narratives may depend on the personal perspectives of the authors. This article interrogates the objectivity of historical narratives through examination of Abdi’s Offspring of Paradise (2003) and Farah’s Links (2004). The paper compares Abdi and Farah’s interpretation of the political events in Somalia as represented in the two primary texts. Using qualitative inquiry, I deploy narrative research to analyze data from primary and secondary texts. The study is anchored in the tenets of new historicism and postmodernism to facilitate the interrogation of history as a source of knowledge.

ABSTRACT In almost all electoral democracies around the globe, women are often underrepresented in legislative and executive positions. This paper critiqued the socio-political nest that conditioned and perpetuates this gender inequality and offered a new paradigm for redistributive justice, using Africa as acase study–where women hold merely 27.1% of elective and appointive positions. The Ubuntu philosophy underpinned the study and was used to negate gender imbalances and guarantee political inclusivity. Women’s political underrepresentation, gender inequality, patriarchal cultural norms, and the interplay between political and social structures constituted the principal indicators. Through the Ubuntu Integrated Framework (UIF), the paper offered a practical model for women’s political emancipation: UIF outlined the relationship between these principal indicators and proposed a recontextualised political and institutional positioning through the application of Ubuntu principles in political representation. Overall, the paper holds prospects for upscaling women’s representation in governance through reframing and advocacy, policy development, and systemic change in Africa.

ABSTRACT Investigating the dynamics between non-marital cohabitation (NMC) and marriage has received limited attention in academic literature in Nigeria, unlike marital cohabitation, likely due to cultural stigmatization. This study aims to establish how NMC contributes to mental and marital (MAM) instability in marriages. The study covered four states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which are areas with the highest recorded divorce rates. It utilized qualitative methods, including five Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 50 discussants and 27 interviews with divorced individuals. Findings revealed a strong relationship between NMC and MAM instability, indicating sub-optimal marital relationships and dissatisfaction among spouses. Four complex factors were discovered to be working against MAM stability: (i) the socio-demographic characteristics of divorcees during their cohabitation period; (ii) negative variables within the context of marital quality and satisfaction; (iii) the transfer of aggression from cohabitation-related disappointments; and (iv) depression arising from cohabitation experiences. Extended cohabitation periods brought about heightened emotional bonding and attachment, and the memories of this bond often triggered conflicts and aggression after marriage. All of these factors collectively contribute to the complexity of marital relationships and point to a need to discourage NMC in order to promote MAM stability in marriages.

ABSTRACT Despite government’s anti-corruption policy efforts, insignificant progress has been made due to the domineering relationship between Nigerian government and anti-corruption agency. Adopting a sequential explanatory strategy of mixed-method design and drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from a final sample of 301 respondents, this research found that agency-related structural and political constraints significantly hampered EFCC’s operational effectiveness, reflecting existence of the perennial problem of bad governance occasioned by corrupt Nigerian leaders. Therefore, rather than the current principal oriented anti-graft crusade, creating mechanisms/processes that ensure ethical-based war against white-collar crimes irrespective of who is involved should be pursued. This study contributed to knowledge by demonstrating how the findings represent information asymmetry (occurs when the agent has hidden information as a potential instrument of exploitation), and agency slack (the unintended actions of the agent that negate the ideology and position of the principal) constitutes a significant problem in Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign.

ABSTRACT Self-acceptance is conceptualized as an unconditional acknowledgment of one’s attributes and limits. This paper analyzes the interplay of self-acceptance, culture, and personality through the fictional character Eric Effiong from Netflix’s Sex Education. Using directed, season-structured episode analysis across Seasons 1–4, the interpretation is anchored in Carl Rogers’s self theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The analysis shows that Eric’s Nigerian – Ghanaian heritage and his identity as a gay man jointly shape his interactions in family, church, and peer contexts. Findings indicate that growth in self-acceptance aligns with improved psychological ease and resilience, while contextual value pressures structure the options available for identity expression; competence in navigating cultural expectations (knowledge, adaptable communication, reflective humility) facilitates identity-affirming choices without complete relational rupture. Methodologically, the paper contributes a transparent, theory-grounded character-analysis template for intercultural self-studies. Practically, the study underscores the importance of cultural competence and assertive, respectful communication in supporting healthy identity development.

ABSTRACT Educational technology (EdTech) resources are essential in modern pedagogy; however, their implementation often prioritises physical tools over pedagogical theories. This study aims to explore TVET college lecturers’ reflections on their use of educational technology resources to facilitate teaching and learning. A qualitative case study was conducted with 20 lecturers at two South African TVET colleges in KwaZulu-Natal, using focus group discussions and reflective activities. Data were analysed through Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Results indicate that while lecturers utilize hardware (computers, projectors) and software (MS Teams, Moodle, Zoom), there is a significant absence of ideological-ware resources, such as specific teaching approaches and theories, to facilitate module content. This lack of ideological grounding is critical because these resources are necessary to balance the technical aspects of EdTech with pedagogical purposes. The study recommends enhanced training focused on ideological resources to ensure a balanced integration of EdTech in South African TVET colleges.

ABSTRACT The uproar and civil unrest led by demonstrating youths in 2020 date back to the indignation and grievances that accumulated for over a decade towards the heartrending atrocities perpetrated by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigerian Police Force notorious for human rights violations. This study explores the testimonials of horror and traumatic impulses expressed through the poetry anthology, End SARS Rhythms, interrogating how these narratives reveal the profound impact of police brutality on Nigerians. By examining the intersections of trauma, pain, and resistance in these testimonials, this research highlights the ways in which the badge of authority scars individuals and society. Adopting a content-based methodology, in line with qualitative paradigms, this study applies tenets of Caruth’s Trauma Theory in the analysis of these EndSARS-related poem-narratives. It is demonstrated that the movement’s use of social media and protest-lyrics served as a potent instrumentation for the writing of pain and amplification of the voices of those affected by police brutality. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate dynamics between power, trauma, and resistance in contemporary Nigeria, while also emphasizing the compelling obligation of literary craftmanship in inaugurating processes of healing in troubled societies.

ABSTRACT This paper critiques the rigidity of the Western gender taxonomy, particularly as represented by the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. It does so by highlighting gender identities and roles from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin. Drawing on Ndebele terms such as babakazi (female father), malume (male mother), ncukubili (intersex), and wosana (water diviner), as well as Shona figures like svikiro (spirit medium) and bambomukunda (father-daughter), the paper reveals a rich archive of gender diversity inaccessible through English or Western frameworks. It further examines ‘women marriage’ and female husbands among the Yoruba, Igbo, Nankani, and Dahomey, illustrating how these non-conjugal same-sex unions blur distinctions between gender identity and sexual orientation. Through these case studies, the paper argues for a more expansive, culturally grounded taxonomy that reflects lived multiplicity and challenges colonial erasures.

ABSTRACT This study examines how institutional culture, power relationships, and the mutually formed associations among different social identities influence the experiences of staff about employment equity in a historically white university (HWU) in South Africa. The data were gathered using semi-structured face-to-face interviews among 67 academic and non-academic staff. The narrative data gathered were subsequently evaluated by way of thematic analysis that involved a detailed process of identifying, analysing, organising, describing and reporting the themes that were generated from the data. Findings revealed that institutional adherence to regulatory policies on employment equity and leadership commitment to changes to the institutional culture, structure, and perceived forms of exclusion are important to creating a welcoming environment for the diverse staff of the university. Furthermore, the study revealed that employment equity consists of intersecting social identities, power relations, ethics, and the influence of institutional culture on adherence to policies regarding employee recruitment. The study concludes that the scholarship of employment equity in South Africa should move beyond unidimensional narratives such as gender and race to include an intersectional approach that examines how different social identities contribute to the construction and reconstruction of the knowledge of employees about employment equity.