Decolonising the university curriculum
Abstract
The student protests of 2015 precipitated a renewed interest in the decolonisation of the university in South Africa, and by association the decolonisation of the university curriculum. The decolonisation of the curriculum is an important conversation, and long overdue, given that the Western model of academic organisation on which the South African university is based, remains largely unchallenged. In this article I add to the conversation by discussing what decolonisation entails, why the need for decolonisation, the importance of rethinking how curriculum is conceived, and outlining some possible ways of decolonising the university curriculum. The purpose is not to provide a set of answers but to open up ways of (re)thinking the university curriculum.
Downloads
References
Aoki, T. 1999 Rethinking curriculum and pedagogy. Kappa Delta Pi Record. Summer, 180-181.
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G. and H. Tiffin. 2000. Post-colonial studies: The key concepts. London: Routledge.
Chetty, R. and C. Knaus. 2016. Why South Africa’s universities are in the grip of a class struggle. Sunday Times. http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/opinion/2016/01/13/Why-South-Africa%E2%80%99s-universities-are-in-the-grip-of-a-class-struggle. Retrieved on 28 April 2016.
Chilisa, B. 2012. Indigenous research methodologies. Los Angeles: Sage publications.
DeCarvalho, J.J. and J. Flórez-Flórez. 2014. The meeting of knowledges: A project for the decolonisation of the university in Latin America. Postcolonial Studies 17(2): 122-139.
Dei, G. (2000). Rethinking the role of indigenous knowledges in the academy. International Journal of Inclusive Education 4(2): 111-132.
Deleuze, G. and F. Guattari. 1994. What is Philosophy? H. Tomlinson and G. Burchell (Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.
Disemelo, K. 2015. Student protests are about much more than just #FeesMustFall. Mail&Guardian. http://mg.co.za/author/katlego-disemelo. Retrieved on 28 April 2016.
Gough, N. 2011. A complexivist view of higher education: Implications for curriculum design and research on teaching and learning. Invited keynote address at the 5th annual university teaching and learning conference. Durban: University of KwaZulu-Natal, 26-28 September.
Grumet, M.R. 1981. Restitution and reconstruction of educational experience: an autobiographical method for curriculum theory. In Rethinking curriculum studies: A radical approach, eds. M. Lawn and L. Barton, 115-130. London: Croom Helm).
Guattari, F. 2001. The three ecologies, trans. Ian Pindar and Paul Sutton. London: The Athlone Press.
Le Grange, L. 2007. Integrating western and indigenous knowledge systems: The basis for effective science education in South Africa? International Review of Education 53(5-6): 577-591.
Le Grange, L. 2014. Currere’s active force and the africanisation of the university curriculum. South African Journal of Higher Education 28(4): 1284-1294.
Le Grange, L. 2015. Currere’s active force and the concept of Ubuntu. Keynote address at the triennial conference of the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (IAACS). University of Ottawa. 26-30 May.
Mtshali, N. 2015. A little more money for no-fee schools. http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/a-little-more-money-for-no-fee-schools-1806803. Retrieved on 12 May 2016.
Nabudere, D. 2011. Afrikology, philosophy and wholeness: An epistemology. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.
Nzimande, B. 2015. Speech by Minister Blade Nzimande at the Higher Education Summit held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC, Durban. http://www.gov.za/speeches/speech-minister-be-nzimande-higher-education-summit-held-inkosi-albert-luthuli-icc-durban. Retrieved on May 2016.
Odora-Hoppers, C. and H. Richards. 2011. Rethinking thinking: Modernity’s ‘other’ and the transformation of the university. Pretoria: Unisa Press.
Olssen, M., Codd, J. and A. O’Neill. 2004. Education policy: Globalization, citizenship and democracy. London: Sage publications.
Peters, M. 2007. Knowledge economy, development and the future of higher education. Rottedam/Tapei: Sense publishers.
Pilane, P. 2016. Three reasons why #FeesMustFall protests will continue. Mail&Guardian. http://mg.co.za/article/2016-01-13-three-reasons-why-feesmustfall-protests-will-continue. Retrieved on 28 April 2016.
Pinar, W.F. 2011. The character of curriculum studies: Bildung, currere and the recurring question of the subject. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Pindar, I. and P. Sutton. 2001. Translators’ introduction. In The three ecologies, F. Guattari. Translated by I. Pindar and P. Sutton. London: The Athlone Press.
Smith, L. 1999. Decolonising methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed Books.
Santos, B. 2014. Epistemologies of the south: Justice against epistemicide. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.
Taylor, F.W. 1911. The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Turnbull, D. 1997. Reframing science and other local knowledge traditions. Futures 29(6): 551-562.
Wallin, J.J. 2010. A Deleuzian approach to curriculum: Essays on a pedagogical life. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Žižek, S. 2009. Violence. London: Profile Books.
Copyright (c) 2016 Lesley Le Grange
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0