Decolonizing the law curricula at Universities of Technology: The student’s perspective on content
Abstract
Universities of technologies (UoT’s) unlike most traditional universities in South Africa do not have law faculties and therefore only certain law modules such as commercial law, corporate law and other business law courses are offered to students. This article seeks to examine the extent to which Africanist epistemologies and perspectives should be included in the content of the business law curricula in UoT’s. The article applies the mixed methods research approach. Questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions are administered to second year business law students of the Durban University of Technology (DUT). A semi-structured interview is conducted with third year business law students to ascertain their perceptions of the first year business law curricula and the content they would like to see included in the curricula. The results indicates that African students desire the inclusion of their lived experiences and epistemologies in the business law curricula. Students desire the inclusion of the indigenous jurisprudence of Ubuntu, traditional dispute settlement mechanisms, and other indigenous traditional contractual practices in the business law curricula. The findings will assist higher education managers and university curricula developers in developing an inclusive curricula that will meet the demands of African students.
Downloads
References
Baron, Philip. 2017. “Changing perspectives in the face of the decolonisation of knowledge at South African public universities: A case for family therapy.” Kybernetes 46(9): 1564‒1577. doi: 10.1108/K-11-2016-0334.
Begum, Neema and Rima Saini. 2019. “Decolonising the Curriculum.” Political Studies Review 17(2): 196‒201. doi: 10.1177/1478929918808459.
Church, Joan and Jacqueline Church. 2007. “The Constitutional right to culture and the judicial development of Indigenous Law: A comparative analysis of cases.” Anthropology Southern Africa 30(1‒2): 56‒64. doi: 10.1080/23323256.2007.11499947.
Coertze, R. D. and F. C. de Beer. 2007. “Succession to Bogosi among the Batlhako ba Matutu in a changing dispensation.” Anthropology Southern Africa 30(1‒2): 45‒55. doi: 10.1080/23323256.2007.11499946.
Dreyer, Jaco S. 2017. “Practical theology and the call for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa: Reflections and proposals.” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 73(4). doi: 10.4102/hts.v73i4.4805.
Faris, John Andrew. 2015. “African customary law and common law in South Africa: Reconciling contending legal systems.” International Journal of African Renaissance Studies ‒ Multi-, Inter-and Transdisciplinarity 10(2): 171‒189.
Fomunyam, Kehdinga and Damtew Teferra. 2017. “Curriculum responsiveness within the context of decolonisation in South African higher education.” Perspectives in Education 35(2): 196‒207. doi: 10.18820/2519593X/pie.v35i2.15.
Griffiths, Anne. 2017. “Broadening the Legal Academy, the Study of Customary Law: The Case for Social-Scientific and Anthropological Perspectives.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 20: 1. doi: 10.17159/1727-3781/2017/v20i0a3263.
Griffiths, Dominic. 2019. “FeesMustFall and the decolonised university in South Africa: Tensions and opportunities in a globalising world.” International Journal of Educational Research 94: 143‒149. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2019.01.004.
Heleta, Savo. 2016. “Decolonisation: Academics must change what they teach, and how.” The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/decolonisation-academics-must-change-what-they-teach-and-how-68080.
Hewitt, Jeffery G. 2016. “Decolonizing and indigenizing: Some considerations for law schools.” Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 33(1): 65‒84.
Himonga, Chuma, and Fatimata Diallo. 2017. “Decolonisation and Teaching Law in Africa with Special Reference to Living Customary Law.” Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 20: 1‒19. doi: 10.17159/1727-3781/2017/v20i0a3267.
Jansen, Jonathan D. 2017. As by fire: The end of the South African university. First edition. Cape Town: Tafelberg.
Kamanzi, Brian/Al Jazeera Africa. 2016. “FeesMustFall: Decolonising education.” https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/10/feesmustfall-decolonising-education-161031093938509.html.
Karabinos, Michael. 2019. “Decolonisation in Dutch Archives: Defining and Debating.” BMGN ‒ Low Countries Historical Review 134(2): 129. doi: 10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10687.
Le Grange, L. 2016. “Decolonising the university curriculum: Leading article.” South African Journal of Higher Education 30(2): 1‒12.
Malik, Kenan/Al Jazeera 2016. “The Cecil Rhodes statue is not the problem, Rhodes Must Fall campaigners are letting the past recolonise them.” https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/01/cecil-rhodes-oxford-problem-160110061336569.html.
Mampane, Ruth M., Margaret F. Omidire, and Folake Ruth Aluko. 2018. “Decolonising higher education in Africa: Arriving at a glocal solution.” South African Journal of Education 38(4): 1‒9. doi: 10.15700/saje.v38n4a1636.
Martinez-Vargas, C. 2020. “Decolonising higher education research: From a uni-versity to a pluri-versity of approaches.” South African Journal of Higher Education 34(2). doi: 10.20853/34-2-3530.
Mashiyi, N. F. 2020. “Lecturer conceptions of and approaches to decolonisation of curricula.” South African Journal of Higher Education 34(2): 146‒163. doi: 10.20853/34-2-3667.
Mbembe, Joseph Achille. 2016. “Decolonizing the university: New directions.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 15(1): 29‒45. doi: 10.1177/1474022215618513.
Mheta, Gift, Bwalya Nyangu Lungu, and Thaiurie Govender. 2018. “Decolonisation of the curriculum: A case study of the Durban University of Technology in South Africa.” South African Journal of Education 38(4): 1‒7. doi: 10.15700/saje.v38n4a1635.
Motshabi, Khanya B. 2018. “Decolonising the university: A law perspective.” Strategic Review for Southern Africa 40(1): 104‒116.
Musitha, Mavhungu E. and Mavhungu A. Mafukata. 2018. “Crisis of decolonising education: Curriculum implementation in Limpopo Province of South Africa.” Africa’s Public Service Delivery and Performance Review 6(1): e1‒e8. doi: 10.4102/apsdpr.V6i1.179.
Ngcobo, Mtholeni N. 2007. Language planning, policy and implementation in South Africa. Researchgate.
Nhlapo, Thandabantu. 2017. “Customary law in post-apartheid South Africa: Constitutional confrontations in culture, gender and ‘living law’.” South African Journal on Human Rights 33(1): 1‒24. doi: 10.1080/02587203.2017.1303900.
Nienaber, Annelize. 2018. “Boundaries of the Episteme: Decolonising the International Law Curriculum.” Scrutiny2 23(2‒3): 20‒27. doi: 10.1080/18125441.2019.1621925.
Padayachee, K., M. Matimolane, and R. Ganas. 2018. “Addressing curriculum decolonisation and education for sustainable development through epistemically diverse curricula: HELTASA conference papers.” South African Journal of Higher Education 32(6): 288‒304.
Phewa, Cat. 2015. IsiZulu ‒ English Legal Dictionary & Thesaurus. South Africa: Multicopy Konica Minolta
Postma, D. J. v R. 2019. “Decolonial pedagogical practices: Engaging with Rancière.” South African Journal of Higher Education 33(5). doi: 10.20853/33-5-3583.
Ramrathan, Labby. 2016. “Beyond counting the numbers: Shifting higher education transformation into curriculum spaces.” Transformation in Higher Education 1(1): 1‒8.
Taiwo, E.A., 2009. “Repugnancy clause and its impact on customary law: Comparing the South African and Nigerian positions-some lessons for Nigeria.” Journal for Juridical Science 34(1): 89‒115. doi:10.4314/jjs.v34i1.62091.
Updegrove, Alexander H., Maisha N. Cooper, Erin A. Orrick, and Alex R. Piquero. 2020. “Red States and Black Lives: Applying the Racial Threat Hypothesis to the Black Lives Matter Movement.” Justice Quarterly 37(1): 85‒108. doi: 10.1080/07418825.2018.1516797.
Van den Heuvel, Henk and Harry Wels. 2004. “Lekgotla. The Art of Leadership through Dialogue, Willem H. J. de Liefde: Book review.” Journal of Public Administration 39(1): 247‒251.
Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. 1986. Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. London: James Currey.
Waghid, Z. 2019. “The need for South African (higher) education institutions to be attuned to Education 4.0.” South African Journal of Higher Education 33(5): 1‒6.
Zembylas, Michalinos. 2018. “Decolonial possibilities in South African higher education: Reconfiguring humanising pedagogies as/with decolonising pedagogies.” South African Journal of Education 38(4): 1‒11. doi: 10.15700/saje.v38n4a1699.
Copyright (c) 2022 Emem O Anwana
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 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