Academics and the decolonial moment : in pursuit of fostering curriculum transformation

Abstract

The South African higher education landscape was and is still facing numerous challenges. Even after the new democratic government implemented major policy reforms to address these challenges, epistemologies and knowledge systems at most universities still remain embedded in Western worldviews. Considering South Africa’s higher education history, it seemed a valuable contribution to explore how academics are pursuing curriculum transformation, in an effort to eliminate the power of Western epistemological traditions, by means of decolonising their curriculum. The scholarly literature explored the influential discourses that are crucial in understanding decolonisation and its role in curriculum transformation. It was, therefore, important to first discuss a few significant events, both pre-1994 and post-1994, that have helped shape the higher education landscape of South Africa by necessitating the urgency to decolonise the curriculum. To better understand the nuances of decolonisation, I explored decoloniality, in response to colonialism and coloniality. Africanisation and indigenisation are unpacked as two important interlinking concepts of decolonisation. Decolonising the curriculum is then addressed through the theories of the lived curriculum and currere. I unlocked some of the complexities of decolonisation by exploring different approaches and possibilities to decolonising the curriculum. The central part of this study is to investigate curriculum transformation as well as how it can be fostered through academics and a decolonised curriculum, which is why I explored Ubuntu-currere and the importance of becoming in the context of this study. The phenomenological study was situated in an idealist interpretivism paradigm and utilised a qualitative research design. Seidman’s (2006) in-depth, phenomenological interviewing approach was used as the foundation for my semi-structured, one-on-one interviews as the data generation method. The University of Cape Town (UCT) was purposively selected as the research environment, mainly because UCT was at the forefront of the student protest in 2015 (through the #RhodesMustFall movement), which ignited the decolonial movement and placed decolonising the curriculum in the spotlight. UCT academics specialising in curriculum studies or education as their area of scholarship were purposefully chosen to participate in my study. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was the method of analysis.

From the views shared by the participants, eight themes have emerged. The first theme highlights the participants’ personal views on the importance of the 2015 student movement and the decolonial moment. The second theme reveals that decolonisation within the context of the university and its curriculum is a complicated and multi-layered concept. The third theme discloses the impact on teaching and learning as well as on academic freedom as a result of the transformation committee and the Curriculum Change Framework. In the fourth theme, it was revealed how participants have perceived transformation within the university as a result of the 2015 student movements. The fifth theme displays the need for more cultural and curriculum change within the university environment. Participants provide their approaches to a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy in the sixth theme. In theme seven, it was revealed that participants believe English, as a medium of instruction, is obstructing the transformation process in universities. In the last theme, it becomes evident that the participants have enjoyed a valuable journey of transformation and self-discovery through a momentous shift in their ideology. The concluding chapter captures how academics who have embraced the decolonial moment transform their curriculum through decolonisation. Five reflective statements emerged: 2015 #Fallism student movements revived dormant decolonisation conversations; English as a medium of instruction as counterproductive to the ideals of decolonising the curriculum; challenges of fostering curriculum transformation; absence of cultural and curriculum transformation at the university; engaging with decolonising the curriculum as a becoming, through learning to unlearn. The dissertation concludes by highlighting possible limitations and suggestions for further research.