Representation and use of indigenous heritage constructs : implications for the quality and relevance of heritage education in post colonial southern Africa

This study explores representation and use of indigenous heritage constructs with a view to identifying implications thereof for the quality and relevance of heritage education practices in post colonial southern Africa. Framed within a critical hermeneutic research paradigm under-laboured by critical realist ontology, the study was conducted using a multiple case study research design. The data collection protocol was three-phased, starting with a process of contextual profiling, within which insights were gained into discourses shaping the constitution and orientation of heritage education practices at the Albany Museum in South Africa, the Great Zimbabwe Monument in Zimbabwe and the Supa Ngwao Museum in Botswana. The second phase of data collection entailed modelling workshops in which educators engaged in discussion around the status of heritage education in post apartheid South Africa. This highlighted, through modelled lessons, some of the tensions, challenges and implications for working with notions of social transformation and inclusivity in heritage education. The third phase of data collection involved in-depth interviews. Twelve purposively selected research participants were interviewed between 2010 and 2011. Data generated across the study was processed and subjected to different levels of critical discourse analysis. Besides noting how heritage education in post colonial southern Africa is poorly framed and under-researched, this study revealed that current forms of representing indigenous heritage constructs are influenced more by socio-political discourses than the need to protect and conserve local heritage resources. The study also noted that the observed heritage education practices are oriented more towards addressing issues related to marginalisation and alienation of indigenous cultures and practices, than enhancing learners’ agency to manage and utilise local heritage resources in a more sustainable ways. Based on these findings the study recommends re-positioning heritage education within the framework of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD acknowledges both issues of social justice and the dialectical interplay between nature and culture; as such, it may allow for representation and use of indigenous heritage constructs in ways that expand current political orientations to include sustainability as an additional objective of heritage education. Given that little research focusing on heritage education has been undertaken within southern Africa, the findings of this study provide a basis upon which future research may emerge

Exploring opportunities and challenges for achieving the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into environmental education processes: a case study of the Sebakwe Environmental Education programme (SEEP) in Zimbabwe

The role and value of indigenous knowledge systems in enhancing and contextualizing education has long been recognized (UNESCO, 1978). Against this background a lot of research focusing on the documentation and study of the world’s indigenous knowledge systems, including those of Southern African countries was done. However, within the Southern African context much of this research did not translate into practical curriculum processes leaving educational processes de-contextualized (O’Donoghue, 2002; Mokuku, 2004; Shava, 2005). The linkages between the school, the home and the wider community remained weak (Taylor & Mulhall, 2001). The net effect of the limited integration of indigenous knowledge systems into mainstream environmental education processes has been that indigenous learners (such as those within the Sebakwe rural community) continued to get exposed to two different world views, the western scientific world view and the everyday life world views. The integration of indigenous knowledge systems into mainstream education such as the Sebakwe Environmental Education programme (SEEP) is one way of contextualizing education and improving its relevance to learners’ socio-cultural backgrounds. This research was conceptualized against such a context and seeks to explore the opportunities and challenges for the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into the Sebakwe Environmental Education programme. The ultimate purpose of this research is to contextualize SEEP both in its epistemology, and pedagogy. The research was designed and conducted within a qualitative interpretive case study methodology. The methodology involved a three-phased data collection method namely document analysis, focus group interviews and an inquiry-based workshop. The data was then analyzed and interpreted in relation to a set of theoretical perspectives. This research concluded that there is a possibility of integrating indigenous knowledge systems into the Sebakwe Environmental Education programme. Based on the findings the research came up with a list of recommendations to guide the process of working with indigenous knowledge within the Sebakwe Environmental Education programme

Problematising Local Indigenous Community Research

This book deliberates on developments related to Knowledge Pathing: Multi-, Inter- and Trans-Disciplining in Social Sciences. The book explores the value of this vexed concept in advancing the course for multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives, methodologies, theories and epistemologies of knowledge pathing. The discourse on knowledge pathing remains critical in advancing debates and dialogues in the humanities and social sciences spaces of research and studies. This book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly understanding of indigenous knowledge research by focusing on problematising local indigenous community research from Afro-sensed perspectives. The field of indigenous knowledge research and higher education in Africa is complex. Yet, across the continent, higher education has been the sector to least embrace Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) or regard indigenous science as a legitimate source of inspiration for the development of youth and local communities. Higher education institutions and local indigenous communities should thus generate knowledge and power through research. On the other hand, higher education researchers should use their research processes and skills for cross-beneficiation when engaging local indigenous communities. This book embodies the current discourse on decolonisation and the use of indigenous knowledge in research and is intended for research specialists in the field of indigenous knowledge systems

Problematising Local Indigenous Community Research

This book deliberates on developments related to Knowledge Pathing: Multi-, Inter- and Trans-Disciplining in Social Sciences. The book explores the value of this vexed concept in advancing the course for multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives, methodologies, theories and epistemologies of knowledge pathing. The discourse on knowledge pathing remains critical in advancing debates and dialogues in the humanities and social sciences spaces of research and studies. This book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly understanding of indigenous knowledge research by focusing on problematising local indigenous community research from Afro-sensed perspectives. The field of indigenous knowledge research and higher education in Africa is complex. Yet, across the continent, higher education has been the sector to least embrace Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) or regard indigenous science as a legitimate source of inspiration for the development of youth and local communities. Higher education institutions and local indigenous communities should thus generate knowledge and power through research. On the other hand, higher education researchers should use their research processes and skills for cross-beneficiation when engaging local indigenous communities. This book embodies the current discourse on decolonisation and the use of indigenous knowledge in research and is intended for research specialists in the field of indigenous knowledge systems

The culture hut concept as curriculum innovation: Engaging the dialectic nature of heritage in Zimbabwean schools to support ESD learning

Influenced by Zimbabwe’s cultural policy of 2004, the culture hut concept entails the establishment of a culture hut or village within schools as a curriculum innovation aimed at promoting the teaching and learning of culture within the country’s formal education system. The culture hut is representative of what can be viewed as a ‘mini cultural museum’ in which cultural ar-tefacts and objects are displayed. All schools in Zimbabwe are, therefore, as a matter of policy expected to have a culture hut; hence the culture hut concept itself as a curriculum innovation has, since 2004, became popular in the country. Despite its popularity, little research has been done to evaluate how this curriculum innovation is adding value to Zimbabwe’s education system. It is against this background that this chapter interro-gates the culture hut concept in Zimbabwe, pointing out some of the shortfalls in its current application and highlighting how, if carefully constituted, such curriculum innovation can foster the type of learning envisaged within the Education for Sus-tainable Development (ESD) framework. This chapter, as much as it provides a critique of how the culture hut concept is being used in Zimbabwean schools, also points to what could be done to reconstitute and use this curriculum innovation in ways that support more ESD learning