Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007. / This study explores the coming into being of a new Learning Area called
Arts and Culture in the school curriculum in South Africa since 1997. The
critical questions ask why Arts and Culture was deemed necessary in the
new curriculum (Curriculum 2005); what factors influenced its design and
did the Review process of 2000/1 effect significant changes to the Arts and
Culture curriculum? The study draws its methodology from narratology,
heuristic theory, discourse analysis and literary criticism in various ways. It
uses narratology as the basis for analysis and as a representational device.
As I was part of the policy development, the study commences with a
personal narrative that sets the scene for the research.
The primary data derive from interviews with policy makers, arts curriculum
developers and arts practitioners and detailed analyses of relevant arts
education policies. The first level of analysis entailed a narrative analysis of
the interviews, focussing on the point of view and voice of the speaker.
Documents were similarly analysed using a narratological lens developed
for this study. The second level of analysis brought together the two sets of
data and their individual stories to produce two differently focalized stories
about the Arts and Culture curriculum: a curriculum of the Heart and a
curriculum of the Head, both in the service of social transformation in South
Africa. A third story, representing an unseen character - resistance arts, was
introduced as pivotal in the Arts and Culture story.
The third level of analysis dealt with abstractions from the group stories,
arguing that nation building and identity formation and the potentially
transformative role of the arts were central to this Arts and Culture
curriculum. Discontinuities in the socio-political context and the curriculum
discourse between 1997 and 2001 resulted in shifts in focalization of the
curricula and may do so in the future. Current discourse allows for the
creolisation of the arts and a re-imagined cultural identity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/863 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Singh, Lorraine Pushpam. |
| Contributors | Malcolm, Clifford Keith. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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