How might we co-create Economics curriculum reform in an African context?

Today’s economies reproduce, and often worsen, vast and harmful inequalities between people and countries. These inequalities are often inextricably bound up with historical violence and oppression.

Human economic activity is also unsustainable, fuelling global heating and destruction of the living world, which will make large parts of the earth uninhabitable, and already causes untold damage to people in countries with the least historical responsibility for causing this crisis.

Until we fundamentally reorganise local, national and global economies, we will not be able to address the interlinked challenges of systemic racism, gender-based inequality, the Covid-19 pandemic and the nature and climate emergency.

Society entrusts the discipline of economics with the tasks of understanding our economies and educating the economists who go on to guide government and business. But economics has failed to grapple seriously with the crises we are facing, so we are left without access to the knowledge, skills or tools we need to build better futures.

Across the world, economics students are coming together under the banner of the student movement, Rethinking Economics, to create a better economics – one which can help to create a world where all our children can flourish regardless of their gender, background or birthplace.
The struggle to reclaim economics could not be more crucial – our futures depend on it. Our guest, Michelle Groenewald wants to discuss with the Young Scholars on How might we co-create Economics curriculum reform in an African context?

Our speaker hopes to have the session be as collaborative as possible so we would like that anyone who joins will also be able to share their journey with reforming economics curricula specifically in Africa.

*Date & Time: * March 4, 2022 at 13:00 GMT (15:00 Central Africa Time, CAT)

*Venue: *: Online Zoom Call, Register here to receive the link

About Michelle Groenewald

Michelle Meixieira Groenewald is currently a lecturer at the North West University, Vanderbijlpark campus in South Africa. She holds an MSc in Political Economy of Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, and a MCom in Economics from the North West University. She was also the recipient of the Chevening Scholarship. She is a contributor for a forthcoming book by Manchester University Press titled: Reclaiming Economics for Future Generations, which discusses the importance of diversifying, decolonising and democratizing Economics. Her research interests include political economy, curriculum reform of economics education and feminist, decolonial and ecological economics.