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.

摘要

本文的目的是描述莱索托公民如何以及在何处了解民主，公民生活和公民身份。该论文取材于2013年进行的一项更大的博士研究，研究重点是巴索托人如何理解公民身份和民主的概念，这些概念对莱索托的公民教育有影响。本文提供有关以下问题的数据：普通公民，公民教育者和社区领袖如何了解莱索托的民主和公民概念？他们从哪里学到了这些概念？它简要介绍了莱索托的政治背景，并回顾了莱索托等以前殖民国家的传统公民教育文献。接下来是通过Ubuntu / Botho的概念对非洲土著知识和学习的解释，在详细介绍适用于调查结果的成人学习理论之前。方法论部分后面是调查结果，讨论和结论部分，建议在制定公民教育计划的同时，应考虑莱索托不同社会群体的需求，并考虑其背景。