RECLAIMING BASOTHO INDIGENOUS RELIGION (BIR): TOWARDS DECOLONISED AND TRANSFORMATIVE CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN LESOTHO SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

This article examines the potential of Basotho Indigenous Religion (BIR) as a culturally grounded resource for decolonising and transforming citizenship education in Lesotho secondary schools. Drawing on a qualitative interpretive documentary approach, the study critically examines scholarly literature, historical and missionary accounts, education and curriculum policy documents, and literature on indigenous knowledge, decoloniality, transformative pedagogy, and peacebuilding. The analysis focuses on the ways BIR has been represented and marginalised within colonial and contemporary educational knowledge systems and considers its potential contribution to citizenship formation. The article argues that BIR should not be understood merely as a set of traditional religious beliefs and practices but as an indigenous knowledge system encompassing relational personhood, botho, communal responsibility, moral accountability, intergenerational learning, and harmonious relationships between people and their social and natural environments. These dimensions provide culturally meaningful resources for developing learners' capacities for dialogue, social responsibility, peaceful coexistence, and democratic participation. The article further argues that the critical inclusion of BIR in citizenship education can contribute to epistemological justice and a more culturally responsive and transformative curriculum. Such inclusion, however, requires critical engagement with BIR alongside democratic values, human rights, religious pluralism, and contemporary educational principles. The study proposes that reclaiming BIR can broaden the epistemological foundations of citizenship education and contribute to the formation of socially responsible, culturally grounded, and peace-oriented citizens in Lesotho.

Keywords: Basotho Indigenous Religion; decoloniality; citizenship education; transformative pedagogy; peacebuilding.