Decolonising the curriculum in South African universities

The student protests of 2015/16 brought about a renewed interest in the debate about decolonisation. Student movements such as RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall call for the decolonisation of South African universities. Central... [ view full abstract ]

The student protests of 2015/16 brought about a renewed interest in the debate about decolonisation. Student movements such as RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall call for the decolonisation of South African universities. Central in this call for the decolonisation of universities in South Africa is the call, in particular, for the decolonisation of the university curriculum. Recent literature on this debate focuses on two central questions. The first question is “what does it mean to decolonise the curriculum?” and the second question is “why do we need to decolonise?” In terms of why university curriculum needs to be decolonised, much of the literature points to the “Western/Eurocentric”, “neo-colonial”, “exclusive-to-non-whites” nature of university curriculum—and institutions of higher education in SA more generally—as warranting the serious call to decolonise. The central claim from this literature is that curriculum that was designed to serve the interests of colonialism and Apartheid—which entailed the subjugation and marginalisation of non-whites—continues to be taught in our universities today. This debate on the decolonisation of the curriculum raises important questions about the intended learning outcomes of the university curriculum, curriculum responsiveness to context and societal needs, and who should inform curriculum design.

This paper is a theoretical exploration into the rising questions and views on the debate, drawing on analysis of current academic and media publications on the subject. It argues that the conceptual frameworks for thinking about what decolonisation entails require more engagement and need to be articulated in ways that provide specific guidelines for practical implementation if they are to serve as more than mere theorizations of the problem.