Learners' understandings and reflections of place and belonging in Sophiatown: explorations in a grade 11 English classroom.

Abstract

Issues of place and belonging are major themes in the play, Sophiatown, and are issues that play a significant role in the lives of grade 11 learners. The history-based play, Sophiatown, is studied across many South African secondary schools and was found to be suitable for this study which aimed to explore grade 11 learners’ understandings and reflections of place and belonging in the play, Sophiatown, and in their own lives. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is two-pronged, using the theories of Place Attachment and Place-Belongingness. This study used a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm and employed thematic analysis. The sample consisted of 102 grade 11 learners from a secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In analysing the text and learners’ responses from a diary entry, Venn diagram, an open-ended questionnaire and focus group interviews, six findings emerged. The overall findings may be categorised as follows: grade 11 learners ‘deep reflections and understandings of place and belonging; the importance of place and belonging for grade 11 learners; grade 11 learners’ astute reflections of their communities; recognition of Sophiatown as a paradox; recognition of Sophiatown as a place of belonging; insightful comparisons between place and belonging in learners’ communities and Sophiatown. Although place and belonging remain well researched in the field of psychology, it was found to be lacking in the field of education. There is a great deal of literature focusing on Sophiatown, the place, and its history, but there appears to be limited literature available regarding the play, Sophiatown, and even less literature available exploring issues of place and belonging in the play. Thus, this study aimed to address these gaps. Seeing that issues of place and belonging play a significant role in the lives of learners and remain major themes in the play, Sophiatown, it is important that these areas are focused on while studying the text and that learners are given given the chance to draw on their own lives as this will allow valuable information to be communicated in the literature classroom.