Cultures et représentations d'un champ disciplinaire en évolution :$ble cas de la littérature au sein des études franc̨aises à l'université en Afrique du Sud.
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Date
2013
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the evolution of cultures and
representations in the field of French Studies at tertiary level in South Africa,
in order to gauge its impact on the teaching of Literature. The field of French
Studies, traditionally divided into the areas of language and literature, has
gone through a series of far-reaching changes over the last few years, in line
with global trends but also as part of the transformation of the South African
educational, socio-economic and cultural landscape. This has manifested
itself in a shift from a literary ‘academic’ culture to more functional, skillsbased
teaching cultures, embodied in the field of French Studies, by the
emergence of the discipline of French foreign language didactics. As a result,
the identity of the discipline, traditionally dominated by literary studies, has
been called into question, as well as the teaching approaches, content, aims
and outcomes of French Studies. This study investigates representations of
academics with regard to these changes, as well as the shift in disciplinary
research and teaching cultures, by drawing on the values, practices and
epistemological fields of language didactics and literary studies and their
interaction within the wider field of French Studies. It further examines the
specificity of teaching and learning literature in a foreign language
environment and its relationship to established and emerging teaching
cultures.
The question of the evolution of teaching cultures points to the actors who
define this context, that is, the academics, the students and their relationship
to the literary text as a scholarly object. This study focuses in particular on
academics’ profiles and representations and the construction of their
relationship to the literary text in teaching and research. The knowledge,
skills, perceptions, habits and values specific to these relationships underpin
the overarching notion of ‘culture’ which are analysed through
representations. Aspects of disciplinary, educational and interpretative
cultures and representations are highlighted from the viewpoint of literature
as a dialectical construction between individual reader and text and reader
and culture and textual practices.
With this in mind, the study explores the question of the complex identity
particular to French Studies, the challenges the discipline is facing at a
turning point in its disciplinary history, and the function of literature within this shifting field. Finally, it sheds light on the crucial role culture and
representation play within academic disciplines.
Description
Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.
Keywords
French language--Study and teaching--South Africa., French literature--Study and teaching--South Africa., Theses--French.