Using Afrocentrism to explore African values in selected short stories prescribed for grade 10 English First Additional Language learners in South Africa.

Abstract

Literature and culture have an interlinked relationship, and therefore literature texts have a fundamental role to play in ensuring that these work harmoniously. If we agree that culture is the social programming of the mind, then literature as an educational tool should accommodate the majority of African learners in South African classrooms. To achieve this nationally aspired decolonised approach to education, centralising African Values in prescribed literature should be prioritised in South African classrooms. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the presence and representation of these African Values in prescribed literature, particularly short stories. The Afrocentric paradigm was used in this study with a qualitative approach. Two short stories were purposively sampled and selected on the basis of their affiliation to an African context and the authors’ Afrocentric background. The data from these short stories were generated using a Textual Analysis, with specific focus on the Short story’s Characterization, setting, plot and theme. Afrocentrism was also used as a conceptual underpinning for the study and a method to analyse the data. The analysis was completed using Reviere’s (2011) Afrocentric canons. The findings of the study revealed that African Values were consistently present in these Short stories and were represented in different components of the story. However, the study recommended that literature teachers and learners need to be actively conscious of the existence of these Afrocentric values and their purpose in literature analyse and the South African classroom.