Browsing by Author "Maposa, Marshall Tamuka."

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A decolonial critique of discourses of western colonialism in South African, Namibian and Zimbabwean school history textbooks.
(2023) Iyer, Leevina Morgan.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
European influence in Africa has portrayed the continent through the perspective of Europeans while the African perspective has been neglected. The undeniable continuation of the hegemonic epistemic turmoil due to western colonialism in the Africa, is a perpetual challenge. One of the key sources of knowledge in the educational setting is History textbooks. Taking into account the multifaceted and complex angles through which historiographies of western colonialism are presented in these textbooks, the purpose of this study was to explore the prevailing colonial discourses in South African, Namibian and Zimbabwean school History textbooks through a decolonial critique. The theories of decoloniality and postcoloniality informed the theoretical underpinning of this study, resulting in a lens that acknowledged the remnants of western colonial influence in the existing post-colonial structures of Africa, but also challenged these oppressive Eurocentric hegemonies. Decoloniality and postcoloniality, both advocate that the generations of epistemic violence should be disrupted, thus making space for increased African agency. Summarily, using Fairclough’s (1995) version of CDA methodology, the analysis of the sample school History textbooks revealed five key discourses. These included the discourses of forces of western colonialism, conflict-fomentation, economic exploitation, environmental degradation, and anti-colonialism. In keeping with the idea that knowledge production, undeniably, continues to be influenced by the structures of western colonialism, it was not unexpected that the content in the sample school History textbooks varied, especially in terms of the prevailing historiographies. The understanding from this study was that school History textbooks are not completely decolonial. Rather, the sample textbooks illustrated discourses of western colonialism in Africa from a place of hybridity, which the theory of postcoloniality defines as a fusion of African identity and cultural influence from western countries. Given the political history of each of the sample countries, their political ideologies were reflected in the school History textbooks through the historiographies presented. Considering the incongruity of historiographies in the sample school History textbooks, I have developed the ‘Decolonial model of African epistemology’ - a framework that could ideally be used as an educational tool to promote African indigenous knowledge, especially in school History textbooks by deconstructing existing historiographies,
Analysing historical significance through the representation of couples in South African history textbooks.
(2018) Mbobo, Phumza Precious.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.; Kgari-Masondo, Maserole Christina.
This study was motivated by the lacuna in academia on the concept of historically significant couples even though historical significance is one of the most cardinal second order concepts in History. Situated within the interpretivist paradigm, this study applies content analysis in answering the only research question in this study: How are historically significant couples represented in South African History textbooks? The findings show that historically significant couples are represented in various ways in the analyzed South African History textbooks. They are represented as couples of contemporary historical significance; couples of pattern historical significance; couples of symbolic historical significance; couples of revelatory historical significance and couples of causal historical significance. Therefore, how are historically significant couples represented in South African history textbooks? They are represented as historically significant based on their influence as a couple in various historically significant events in South Africa.
An analysis of the construction of African consciousness in contemporary South African history textbooks.
(2014) Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.; Wassermann, Johannes Michiel.
This study is rooted in the move by the South African government at the turn of the 21st century to spearhead the conception of what then President Thabo Mbeki referred to as an African Renaissance. This move entailed cultivating an African consciousness; education being one of the key tools. With textbooks still playing a critical role in the education system, I therefore set out to analyse contemporary South African History textbooks in order to understand the type of African consciousness that they construct for their audience. I conceptually framed this study within a conceptual architecture of African consciousness, adapted from Rüsen’s (1993) typology of historical consciousness. Theoretically, the study is framed within discursive postcolonialism and oriented in a social constructionist paradigm. The sample consisted of four Grade 12 History textbooks with a focus on the themes on post-colonial Africa, on which I conducted Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. At a descriptive level of analysis, the findings are that Africa is constructed in the analysed textbooks as four-dimensional: the spatial, the temporal, the humanised and the experiential notions. Correspondingly, the African being is constructed as five-dimensional: the spatial, the physical, the philosophical, the cultural and the experiential notions. The interpretation is that Africa and the African being are constructed as multidimensional and largely ambiguous. I argue that the revelation that the analysed textbooks contain a bricolage of three forms of African consciousness (traditional, exemplary and critical) implies a consciousness conundrum that is a manifestation of the hybridity characteristic of postcolonial representations. In fact, the research shows that while the macro-level of power produces the dominant discourses, the micro-level of the citizen also contributes to the discourses that permeate the History textbooks. Indeed, the production of textbooks is influenced by multifarious factors that when the discourses from the top and from below meet at the meso-level of textbook production, there is not just articulation but also resistance, thus producing heteroglossic representation of African consciousness. On one hand, South Africa is constructed as part and parcel of postcolonial Africa. But more dominantly, there is on the other hand, the exceptionalism of South Africa and the South African from the construction of Africa and the African being. I argue that the kind of African consciousness that is promoted in the textbooks to a greater extent leads to the polar affect, which is a preference of the group one identifies with over others.
An analysis of the representation of citizenship education in contemporary grade six South African social sciences textbooks.
(2017) Atanga, Belmondo Achiri.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
This thesis comprises a case study of four grade six South African Social Sciences textbooks, published in the post-apartheid era. The study focuses on how they represent citizenship education. It examines citizenship education as a highly important concept, used in many nations with different aims. An important resource in education, textbooks have been used as a channel through which learners are educated regarding citizenship. This dissertation answered a main research question on how citizenship education has been represented in the selected textbooks. Based on an interpretivist paradigm and approached from a qualitative perspective, I generated data from four contemporary Social Sciences textbooks, compliant with the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS), that are utilised at the grade six level. Semiotic analysis was used as a method of Discourse Analysis (DA) to analyse the data. The findings revealed that citizenship education is taken very seriously in the textbooks, which cover virtually all aspects of the political, social and economic rights and responsibilities of citizens as a means of creating an identity for South African citizens.
Black African parents and school history: a narrative inquiry.
(2019) Langa, Mauricio Paulo.; Wassermann, Johannes Michiel.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
This study set to explore narratives on how Black African parents experienced school history in the apartheid era and how these experiences informed the parents’ views of school history in post-apartheid South Africa. Literature on schooling during apartheid shows that most Black Africans’ experiences were characterised by difficulty. It also shows how school history was abused as a tool to promote the apartheid ideology. However, Black Africans’ experiences of school history are under-researched. This motivated the need to explore narratives of Black Africans, especially if one considers the fact that these Africans are now parents whose views may inform their children’s decisions on studying school history. This study was guided by two research questions: What are the narratives of Black African parents as they relate to school history in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa; and How do their narratives explain why their children do or do not do school history? The Narrative Inquiry methodology was employed to make sense of the lived experiences of the participants (Black African parents). The study was situated within the critical paradigm, which tallies with Critical Race Theory, which is the theoretical framework. The sample comprised ten participants, who were purposively chosen middle class Black African parents. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews enhanced by photo elicitation and was analysed through open-coding. The first level of analysis generated narratives which both diverged and converged. The findings from the second level of analysis showed that the participants had negative experiences of education in general and school history in particular during the apartheid era. As a result of these negative experiences, Black African parents admit to not wanting their children to study history, despite the acknowledgement that the post-apartheid school history curriculum has improved. This shows that the parents project their negative experiences of school history onto their children. This is not helped by the finding that while the apartheid government’s conception of school history deterred the participants from promoting history, the post-apartheid government has inadvertently continued to solidify the parents’ anti-history resolve because of the promotion of sciences over humanities. This phenomenon is theorised as Perpetual Stagnation a model that explains how Black African parents’ narratives in relation to school history have remained largely negative regardless of change in time and circumstances. Therefore, the study concludes that Black African parents viewed apartheid as monstrous and evil as well as oppressive system. Also, school history education under apartheid was viewed by participants as meaningless and memory discipline thus leading the participants to dislike the subject. Furthermore, the study showed that in post-apartheid South Africa Black African parents have much expectations for their children while at the same time admitting that school history curriculum has changed for the better since apartheid. In nutshell, the study concludes that while apartheid policies made the school history unlikable to participants, the post-apartheid policies of prioritising mathematics and science has equally made school history unlikable. This stagnation shows how some things have changed in post-apartheid era, while some have remained the same.
Conceptualising historical literacy in Zimbabwe : a textbook analysis.
(2009) Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.; Wassermann, Johannes Michiel.
While debates rage over the relevance and worth of school history, history has been one of the five compulsory subjects up to Ordinary Level in Zimbabwe. However, far away from the corridors of power, it is essential that research be conducted on what school history is for and what represents that which the learner of school history acquires through at least eleven years of school history studies in Zimbabwe. Using the concept of historical literacy as its framework, this study is an analysis of three Ordinary Level history textbooks in Zimbabwe to explore how historical literacy manifests itself in Zimbabwean school history textbooks. In a context of increased government concern over what and how school history should be taught, the study explains how the textbooks that were produced more than ten years ago can still be turned into resources for the propagation of patriotic history, which emerged in the last decade. While conceptualisations of historical literacy continue, I argue for multiple historical literacies, that is, historical literacy which actually takes different forms in different times, spaces and contexts. Thus, what is represented as historical literacy in Zimbabwean history textbooks is not necessarily what historical literacy is elsewhere. This research is a qualitative textual analysis which was conducted in an interpretivist paradigm. I employed historical discourse analysis, question analysis and visual analysis as the analysis methods. The analysis was conducted through an instrument created from the benchmarks of the conceptual framework. The study concluded that despite attempt to push for an activitybased curriculum, historical knowledge, especially the nationalist narrative, is still the dominant benchmark of historical literacy in Zimbabwean textbooks. As a result, the current textbooks can be used, not only for a state sanitised version of historical literacy, but also a version of political literacy.
Does food in History matter? exploring 4th year History education students’ views on the space for food in the South African History curriculum.
(2022) Mhlanga, Nomkhosi Mightgirl.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
The purpose of this study is to understand the historical significance of food as a topic in school history, according to History Education students. The history curriculum is a contested space for content that is relevant to learners, and this has manifested itself recently in South Africa, with students calling for the revision of the curriculum as part of the quest for decolonisation of education. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on which content deserves to be included in the history curriculum. Acknowledging the role that food has played in the unfolding of history, this study was guided by historical significance as a conceptual framework for understanding History Education students’ views on the space for food as a topic in the South African history curriculum. The study is qualitative in nature and is situated in the interpretivist paradigm. Open-ended interviews were held with a sample of eight 4th year History Education students. The findings from the data revealed that the participants advocate for the overt inclusion of food history in the South African History curriculum, either as part of the metanarrative or as a separate topic. They justify the historical significance of food for its influence on economy, politics, migration, social cohesion, identity, and as a nutrient. The conclusion is that the History Education students use their understanding of historical significance to argue that food is central to the narrative of humanity and should therefore overtly feature as a first-order concept in the school history curriculum.
An examination of post-apartheid social transformation through the representation of black women in South African history textbooks.
(2018) Mosina, Dineo Felicia.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
The purpose of this study is to understand how Black women are represented in South African NCS and CAPS history textbooks. This was conducted by employing social transformation as a theoretical framework. In order, for the set research questions to answer I conducted this study using the interpretivist paradigm, a longitudinal qualitative approach, and a case study methodology which consisted of collecting data from a sample size of six history textbooks, three from NCS and three from CAPS history textbooks. The findings for both NCS and CAPS history textbooks were divided into two main themes agency and non- agency. It is within these two main themes that sub themes emerged illustrating different representations of Black women and how these themes have transcended from one curricula to another. The findings further illustrate some similarities and differences between the textbooks in terms of how they represent Black women and highlight that the representation of Black women is still based on the marginalisation in the roles and identity in history.
Experiences of the teaching and learning of history in a context of rurality: a case study of a South African rural high school.
(2020) Mqadi, Ntombiyoxolo.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
The teaching and learning of History continues to gain momentum in post-apartheid South Africa and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has even proposed a decision to make History compulsory in South African schools. Within such a context, it is of paramount importance to take into consideration the reality that teaching and learning is not uniform. In fact, most teaching and learning policies are not created with the schools in rural areas in mind. Hence this dissertation presents an exploration of how teaching and learning of History is experienced by teachers and learners in a rural context. It foregrounds the voices of the participants of the teaching and learning process in the rural areas to counter the dominance of the perspectives of the people in urban areas and those in managerial positions at school and government levels. This study is a phenomenological case study in which focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews were used as data generation methods. The participants were three History teachers and seventeen History learners who were conveniently selected from one of the schools in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal. The findings suggest that rurality influences the teaching of learning in both positive and negative ways. The negative factors are predominant, and they demonstrate that either the policies must change to suit History teaching and learning in rural areas as well, or the History teachers and learners must improve their additivity in order to teach according to the expectations of History education. Despite the predominance of negative experiences, the ingenuity of both History teachers and learners in the context of rurality however creates some positivity in History teaching and learning. The study concludes that not all hope is lost for school History in the rural areas and, in fact, a lot can be learnt from rural History teachers and learners.
An exploration of selected South African history teachers’ content knowledge of African history.
(2021) Zulu, Emmanuel Bongumusa.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
The dissertation presents an exploration of selected South African history teachers’ content knowledge of African history. Available literature says that teachers should have some benchmarks in order for them to be considered historically literate so that their learners benefit from them. The literature also reveals that, although it is impossible to measure how much content knowledge a history teacher should have, there is a certain level of content knowledge that is expected of them. The conceptual framework for this study that I use is called historical literacy as content knowledge. It consists of different four aspects: knowledge of historical dates, knowledge of historical figures, knowledge of historical places, and knowledge of historical events. This study was conducted in Mtubatuba, in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Ten (10) history teachers were conveniently sampled, and data was generated through a focus-group discussion and individual interviews (which included evaluative questions). The selected history teachers were asked questions which revealed their content knowledge of African history, and their views on their respective content knowledge. The findings are thematically presented in response to the two key research questions. The data revealed that the participants were able to display differing levels of content knowledge such as average level, below average level, above average level, and a level of excellence. While some were able to respond to the evaluative questions, some could barely respond, demonstrating below average content knowledge. The participants demonstrated higher levels of content knowledge of South African history, but performed poorly when responding to questions about other African countries. The participants who struggled to answer the evaluative questions believed that some questions were not fair to them, as they had not taught on the topics recently, and had even forgotten content. The participants who did well said that they were satisfied with their performance since the questions they were asked required their basic knowledge as answers. These participants said that they were asked questions that required them to give answers based on the information they had already known even before they started school. The participants were proud of answering questions correctly; there was also a feeling that questions that were asked empowered them in terms of content knowledge. The participants acknowledged that it was important to own a certain level of content knowledge so that a history teacher could be regarded as historically literate.
Heritage in contemporary grade 10 South African history textbooks : a case study.
(2011) Fru, Nkwenti Raymond.; Wassermann, Johannes Michiel.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
Drawing on two research questions, this study presents an understanding of the nature of heritage in selected contemporary Grade 10 South African history textbooks, and elucidates factors responsible for the depiction of heritage in a particular way. The context that informed this study was that of South Africa as a post-conflict society. Using the interpretivist paradigm and approached from a qualitative perspective, this case study produced data on three purposively selected contemporary (post-1994) South African history textbooks with regards to their representation of heritage. Lexicalisation, a form of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used as method to analyse the pre generated data from the selected textbooks following Fairclough’s (2003) three dimensions of describing, interpreting, and explaining the text. The study adopted a holistic approach to heritage as a conceptual framework whilst following social constructionism as the lens through which heritage was explored in the selected textbooks. My findings from this study concluded that although educational policy in the form of the NCS-History clearly stipulates the expectations to be achieved from the teaching and learning of heritage at Grade 10 level, there are inconsistencies and contradictions at the level of implementation of the heritage outcome in the history textbooks. Key among the finding are the absence of representation of natural heritage, lack of clear conceptualisation of heritage, many diverse pedagogic approaches towards heritage depiction, a gender and race representation of heritage that suggests an inclination towards patriarchy and a desire to retain apartheid and colonial dogma respectively,and finally a confirmation of the tension in the heritage/history relationship. The study discovered that factors such as the commercial and political nature of textbooks, the lack of understanding of the debates around the heritage/history partnership, and the difficulties involved in post-conflict reconstruction are responsible for this type of heritage depiction in the textbooks.
History education students' experiences of assessment at a higher education institution.
(2016) Omaar, Bbira.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
Assessment in History Education takes a wide range of strategies of which students have different experiences. Determining the mode and course of assessment is often the responsibility of lecturers, sometimes without seeking the students‟ contribution. Administering the different assessment strategies without understanding how they are experienced and their significance from the perspective of the student may drive the lecturers to a wrong direction. Literature acknowledges the power of assessment in enhancing higher education students‟ academic achievement. It also demonstrates how students experience assessment. However, there is limited literature on specifically History Education assessment. This research therefore investigates the voice of the student by tracing History Education students‟ experiences of assessment in a higher education institution. Using social constructivism as a theoretical framework, and with specific reference to Vygotsky‟s ZPD model, I worked within the interpretivist paradigm to conduct a case study design focusing on 3rd year History Education students in a selected higher education institution. I employed both focus group and face-to-face interviews to gather data. Using inductive analysis, the study revealed that students experience History Education assessment through a four-stage process. The first stage is preparation, which involves all activities carried out before the final assessment task is done or written. The second stage is engagement, which is all about attempting the given assessment task. Feedback is the third stage, and it has to do with students getting to know the results of their assessed task/s. The fourth stage is reflections on growth where students tell if and how they benefit from the assessment task given. The study revealed that students acknowledged the power their assessment experience has in creating a huge Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), but few students were keen to push to their full potential. Instead, they preferred to stick to their comfort zone within the same ZPD. It can be concluded that History Education students‟ experiences of assessment largely comprise an easy-going approach to reading, consultation, preparation and engagement activities, resulting in limited growth to a new ZPD.
Selected millennial history teachers’ engagement with rainbow nation discourses in relation to post-apartheid South African history.
(2020) Gxwayibeni, Fezeka Cynthia.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
This dissertation presents an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) on how the millennial history teachers engage with the discourses of the Rainbow Nation in relation to post-Apartheid South African history. Millennials are understood as “digital natives”, those born after 1980, thus they form a cohort of history teachers with a generational experience of communicating, working, creating, and maintaining relationships through Internet-based technology. With the changing political discourse in South Africa, the Rainbow Nation has come to be a contentious phenomenon; both as a nation-building metaphor, and a notion capable of serving socio-economic justice. This contention was visibly manifested amongst the millennials, who expressed their frustrations through the #MustFallMovement, some of whom are history teachers. For the purpose of this study, 10 millennial history teachers were conveniently sampled as participants. Data was generated through three stages of 1) visual elicitation technique, 2) video-recorded unstructured interviews, and 3) focus-group discussions. The findings are thematically presented; and show that the millennial history teachers engage differently from those in the Rainbow Nation Discourses, depending mainly on the environment (space) in which the engagement occurs. While most history teachers are personally critical of the Rainbow Nation, they seem prepared to teach in its favour when in the classroom. I therefore argue that there are tensions in the engagement, which this study has found to be inextricably linked to the context of engagement.
Towards a decolonised philosophy of African history: theoretical reflections of the history academics in South Africa.
(2022) Tabhu, Mlamuli.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
This study sought to investigate the coloniality and decolonised philosophy of African history through the theoretical reflections of the designated history academics in South Africa. The research was informed by the quest to revisit the philosophical question extended on the Africanness of African history, encapsulating the epistemic predicaments confronting history academics as they propound African history. The literature search covered in the study leaned more on the African archive since the study is designed from an African-centred worldview, and which in the main incorporated the succeeding themes with an attempt to unearth the epistemological, ontological, and metaphysical nature of philosophy of African history: the nature of history, modernist theory, and African history, neo-liberalism and African history, the conceptual meaning of African history, the philosophy of African history, academia in South Africa, the role of academics in African philosophy, decolonisation in Africa. African philosophy and decolonial theory as a conceivable decolonised philosophy of African history was closely considered in an attempt not only to frame the study from a particular dimension but also to make sense of the theoretical contributions made by the designated history academics in South Africa. The main endeavors of this research were to explore how history academics in South African institutions theorise the coloniality of the philosophy of African history and to understand how they also theorise a decolonised philosophy of African history. The study followed a qualitative research approach and a conceptual research design. This dissertation also closely considered an Afrocentric paradigm with an attempt of seeing, writing, and interpreting the philosophy of African history from an African centred worldview that views reality to be a construction of a community of learning. The five designated history academics in four different universities in South Africa were considered through convenience sampling. To generate the data from the designated participants the study employed semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the academics viewed the coloniality of the philosophy of African history through a modernist conception of the philosophy of African history, emphasis on African crisis, Africa as ahistorical. They also depicted that concerning a decolonised philosophy of African history can be theorised through an Africanist conception of the philosophy of African history, emphasis on African agency, and African self-consciousness. It is within the consideration of the above research findings that the study aimed at contributing to the looming and continued debates in Africa and precisely South Africa concerning the nature of the philosophy of African history in this age of decolonisation discourses with specific reference to History Education.
Why do rural learners choose or not choose history?
(2013) Mhlongo, Daniel Muziwokubongwa.; Wassermann, Johannes Michiel.; Maposa, Marshall Tamuka.
The aim of this case study was to understand why in the rural area of Zululand, South Africa learners chose or did not choose History as a school subject. Qualitative research methods, including open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, were used in the process. Both learners and teachers made up the research population. What emerged in terms of results was that learners in a rural context did not choose history as a subject because they were influenced by their peers, parents, siblings and teachers not to do so. In the process those who did choose History were belittled. Learners also did not choose History because they did not like certain topics like apartheid, found the subject boring and too much work, thought the subject would not give them work and would hamper their efforts to go to university and to leave the rural areas behind. However, a small group of learners did, despite the pressure that they had to endure, elected to do History at school. They chose the subject because they liked the kind of knowledge that History represented and the actual content of the subject and viewed History as something that must be told to others. They also thought the subject would provide them with work in a rural context. Importantly learners who did choose History did see a future for themselves in the rural areas. What can be concluded is that History as a subject is under immense pressure in rural schools from all sides because of misrepresentations and negative experiences around the subject. It is only a small group of dedicated learners who still chooses the subject in a rural context.