Work

Land Use Change Detection as a Decolonial Pedagogy for Food Sovereignty in South African Vocational Education

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study invesƟgates a criƟcal paradox in South African vocaƟonal educaƟon. While food sovereignty depends on community control of land, prevailing technical and vocaƟonal educaƟon and training (TVET) curricula depoliƟcise agricultural land use, reducing it to a technical input and thereby reinforcing historical dispossession. There is also a profound disconnect between technical land use and land cover (LULC) skills and criƟcal land jusƟce frameworks in TVET. It is posited that vocaƟonal educaƟon must become a site of epistemic struggle to counteract this. Hence, this study confronts the technicist dominance in geospaƟal educaƟon by invesƟgaƟng LULC change detecƟon as a decolonial pedagogy for food sovereignty within TVET. This research examines LULC potenƟal to depoliƟcise vocaƟonal training and align it directly with food sovereignty. Further, the study is addressed through theoreƟcally synthesising Freirean conscienƟsaƟon, Ubuntu ethics, and food sovereignty theory. In South African TVET colleges, students employ LULC analysis as co-researchers interrogaƟng historical land alienaƟon and contemporary threats to communal food systems. The study findings reveal that students evolved from passive skill-recipients into agents of counter-cartography, producing “sovereignty maps” that visualise land loss, thus advocaƟng for agroecological reclamaƟon and community tenure. This process fostered criƟcal consciousness, challenged neoliberal and colonial logics, and reshaped professional idenƟty towards ecological stewardship. The study recommends that TVET systems urgently pivot to pedagogies framing agricultural land as the foundaƟonal territory for food sovereignty. This necessitates curricula integraƟng geospaƟal technology with criƟcal agrarian studies, lecturer development focused on epistemic jusƟce, training in facilitaƟng land-rights dialogues, and partnerships with social movements to ensure vocaƟonal skills serve the democraƟc reclamaƟon of food systems.

Source: Educational Research for Social Change

DOI: 10.17159/2221-4070/2026/v15i0a14

Authors: Tolulope Ayodeji Olatoye, Raymond Nkwenti Fru, Adeyemi Isaac Sanusi, Anathi Magadlela

Institution: Sol Plaatje University

Language: English

Topic: Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development

Subfield: Development

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Zero hunger, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $217