Ubuntu (pronounced [ùɓúntʼù] is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity”. It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are” (also “I am because you are”), or “humanity towards others” (in Zulu, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_philosophy

A new field has emerged from the field of education. For practical purpose, we can call it the ‘open’ field. The open field is structured around open pedagogies, open practices and open educational resources. Those in the field strive to open access to educational resources, and to create open spaces to learning through open practices.

This type of open-thinking is not new to Africa. In South Africa we have a philosophy of Ubuntu that stretches across many, many generations. In short, Ubuntu means I am because we are. It is the realization that I am part of a larger community which shapes how I think and act in the world, and in turn, I shape how thinking and being develops in my lived-world. Ubuntu mirrors social constructionist approaches, and for me is embodied in Pierre Bourdieu’s work.

Bourdieu’s logic of practice in brief concerns the individual functioning within different fields, collecting and distributing the capital valued in the field, and being shaped and shaping this field. The individual’s view and experiences of the world is structured by structuring structures called the habitus. The habitus functions below the consciousness to structure experiences and in turn structures how experience are perceived. The structures in the individual habitus are structured by the collective habitus in which the individual develops. This collective habitus functions within different fields to equip the individual with the way withal and know-how to effectively operate in different fields, and the flexibility to move across boundaries. In essence it the collective habitus and the individual habitus structure each other, flowing from Ubuntu’s I am because we are and we are because I am.

The philosophy of open and opening ties closely to Ubuntu. Opening up is about sharing and resharing, about bridging divides and saying ‘we‘ and ‘us‘ rather than ‘me‘ and them‘. In the field of education, Ubuntu lets us ask, how can we create structures to shape our field into a stronger, more equitous space, and what structures are needed in this field to support and sustain each other and our collective habitus, our shared being and doing.

The open field is relatively new to the field of education and very much in a state of invention. It’s fledgling structuring structures are visible in the discourses that are growing in the field. Initially open educational resources or OER were created as a means to create resources that are freely available for students to use. Bali, Cronin and Jhangiani (2020) refer to this as content-centric approach, creating open textbooks and making learning more accessible to larger audiences. Discourses around open in this context focus on licensing creative works using different creative commons licensing formats. Creative commons licensing among other indicates whether resources are available for (re)use, whether modification is allowed or not, or whether the original author needs to be acknowledged or not.

Alternative discourses around open regards process-orientation (Bali, Cronin and Jhangiani (2020)), framing open as a verb, an opening of learning or being an opener. It relates to practices of opening learning whether through the production and sharing of educational resources, or through opening learning spaces where students and educators are co-creators in the learning journey. This process is often referred to as open pedagogy or open educational practices. It is creating and structuring the field to value sharing, collaboration and openness, to value ‘we‘ and ‘together‘, to value Ubuntu.

Open pedagogies also relates to the types of learning and teaching that takes place within the field of education. Instead of a discourse that support strong power-hierarchies, with the teacher positioned above students, learning together and shaping knowledge with each other becomes valued in the open field. This ties to discourses already structuring the field of education, discourses around social justice, equity and care, opening learning spaces for more students from more diverse backgrounds.

These discourses help us to understand the capital valued in the open field. These discourses create the structures to restructure that which is valued in the field. Knowledge as a capital remains a structuring structure. Added to this are open literacies, those digital literacies required to search for, find and appropriate open resources, and to reuse, repurpose and reproduce or to create open resources from scratch. Open literacies become a critical capital though, knowing how to access and engage with open practices, and how to contribute and add value to the collective.

Understanding how capitals function within a field provides the key to understanding how the field is structured. Bluntly put (and with sincere apologies to the master’ great depth of thought) Bourdieu refers to knowledge as cultural capital, and to being and acting as social capital. Social capital gets handed down from generation to generation, learning how to act and function in the field(s), what to value and how to accomululate and ‘trade’ in the capital valued in a particular field. In the field of education, knowledge is primarily the capital. Knowledge can of course be commodified as economic capital in other fields, but in the open field this is purposefully avoided. Instead, it may be that the capital most valued in the open field is open literacies. Open literacies refer to the knowledge and know-how of how to search for and find open resources, how to use, reuse, repurpose and reproduce open resources, and how to engage in open practices. Those with these open literacies intentionally or unintentionally teach others, transferring this capital to those in the open field and beyond. Such literacies, once a scarce resource, then become commonly available.

The open field is structured by open literacies acting and embodies structures of care and equity. Like Ubuntu, it creates structuring structures that shape and mold the field around these ideals, purposefully creating a space where I am because we are, I care because we care, I share because we share. What an adventure to be part of a new field emerging, growing and shaping through our action.