3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    Student voices on decolonising the curriculum: a study of two department at the University of the Witwatersrand
    (2019) Mashibini, Sello
    This thesis uses three approaches to the curriculum - Afrocentrism, Pan-Africanism and Pluriversity/Moving the Centre - to explore students’ understandings of decolonising the curriculum. I examine the meanings they attach to this project as revealed in semi-structureddepth-interviews that I conducted from September to December 2016. The study focuses on voices of postgraduate students in the departments of Sociology and Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. I discuss the implications of the culture of this university for Black students in light of its roots in the European Enlightenment project for which Black people are not human-beings. My main findings are first, that students experience this culture as alienating and violent, and that it treats Black students as disabled bodies and constructs them as deficient. Second, scholarship premised on Black thought is not part of the university’s culture even though some of this scholarship is housed in formal structures of the university such as William Cullen Library. Third, intricately related to the content of the curriculum, pedagogical practices and questions of epistemology are deeply shaped by the culture of this university. I conclude that even when African scholarship and Black thought are introduced into the university, the likelihood of its impact would be small unless the culture of the university changes. Furthermore, while students’ understandings of what decolonising the curriculum means are not homogeneous, the similarities in these understandings stem from common experiences of oppression. Finally, I conclude that at the heart of decolonisation and decolonising the curriculum is a quest for humanity and mental liberation.
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    Decolonising curriculum in an African University: the case study of development studies at the University of South Africa
    (2019) Ndlovu, Morgan
    This research project is an examination of the meanings of decolonising curricula within an African university using the case study of Development Studies curriculum at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Thus, I deployed the theory of Decoloniality to examine whether the meanings of decolonising curricula at UNISA’s Department of Development Studies transcend or reproduce coloniality— a power structure with multiple forms of colonialism that affect the meaning of development within the Development Studies curriculum. Through empirical study, I established that there is no singular and homogenous meaning of decolonising the Development Studies curriculum within the Department of Development Studies of UNISA due to differences in the social and epistemic backgrounds of the department’s academic staff and student body. Thus, for instance, there were academic members of staff and students who viewed the current Development Studies curriculum as colonial and not serving the development aspirations, interests and agendas of the marginalised members of the society and those who viewed it as just and uncontaminated by coloniality. In this way, this research project concluded that the meanings of decolonising curriculum at UNISA’s Department of Development Studies are bifurcated between those that synchronically reproduce coloniality in the curriculum thereby enabling continuity instead of change and those that have a potential to cause a diachronic effect to the existing status quo. This creates a stasis in the search for a decolonised Development Studies hence this research project recommends a more radical approach to resolving the question of curriculum decolonization at UNISA in particular and the modern university institution in general. This radical approach entails a ‘reptilian’ epistemic violence against the forces of coloniality—a Fanonian form of temporary violence solely aimed at tilting the status quo of coloniality as opposed to a permanent form of epistemic violence that reproduces the same power structure of coloniality.
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    The narrated social and sexual experiences of black gay university students who have sex in the closet
    (2017) Kekana, Putuke
    The aim of this study was to enquire on the narratives of black gay South African university students who are ‘in the closet" i.e. their parents do not know about their sexuality only a few trusted friends within the university space. These narratives focused on their social and sexual experiences which involved their interactions within the university as black gay men in the closet. Four black gay students from two Johannesburg universities aged 21 to 24 participated in this study. The study made use of a qualitative research design grounded in Narrative Theory. Unstructured interviews were conducted and the collected narratives were analysed using Narrative Analysis. Each participant narrated different individual experiences of the university space as well as how they negotiated their sexual practices as gay men who are in the closet. The participants offered knowledge about the university spaces that they occupied as well as the communities in which they were raised. The participants" narratives highlight the intersectional challenges black gay men from township and rural South Africa endure because of social constructs of heteronormativity, hegemonic masculinity, religious intolerance and homophobia, all which were perpetuated within these spaces. These challenges also affected their sexual experiences; influencing their lack of interest in sexual intercourse. The study highlights the importance of creating safe spaces for gay people to express their sexuality visibly. The study argues that visibility can challenge social ills experienced by gay people within university spaces and the country at large.
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    Structural inequalities between Model C and rural schools: the case of Luphisi in Mbombela
    (2016-07-13) Nyundu, Andile
    Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, significant strides have been made in (ensuring equal access to) education. With that Section 29 of the highest law in the land – the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) – has made provision for the realisation of a basic education for all citizens. Moreover, significant portions of the national budget have since been set aside annually in ensuring the realisation of this right. Yet, the quality of education remains unequal across municipal space(s), even against the backdrop of the amalgamation of previously disadvantaged spaces (such as Luphisi) with affluent areas (such as Mbombela/Nelspruit). This has resulted in the persistence of ‘two worlds of education’ within municipalities as in the case of Mbombela Local Municipality. A world of well-resourced schools and exceptional matric pass rates flourish in Nelspruit/Mbombela, while a world of impoverishment and low academic performance rates is experienced in Luphisi. This research refers to this predicament as ‘structural inequalities between Model C and Rural Schools’ resulting in spatial educational inequalities. The research explores the problems re structural inequalities between Model C and Rural Schools, using the case of Sdungeni Secondary School in Mbombela Local Municipality’s Luphisi village to uncover these hindrances. The report departed by focusing on birth location and the socioeconomic background of learners and how this has a great influence in the kind of education a learner is likely to receive. Using the qualitative method of enquiry, which is a multi-layered type of research technique that crosscuts disciplines, fields, and subjects, the study arrived at presenting a cohort and demonstration of multiple truths rather than ‘a single truth’. The research brought to light that whilst the government has made concerted efforts at ensuring the equal structures of education in different municipal spaces, these efforts are still hampered by class (as a residue of apartheid) as well as government’s adoption of neoliberalist policies which further perpetuate the rich-poor divide. It was also noted that the confusion regarding the governance of schools – due in large part to traditional and/or structural issues – may be hindering the upgrading of rural schools with amenities and higher grades. Consequently, schools – by virtue of their location, morphology, still play a significant role in reproducing and perpetuating social class divisions as well as ordering different societies according to their ‘latently prescribed’ nature(s) of function
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