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What is the role of the school and the teacher in the context of democratic social transformation? How has it changed globally and in the South African context during the past fifty years? Is there room for optimism among teacher educators in the 21st century? I offer some modest reflections on my own career in the hope of provoking some debate from colleagues. "A life history is a life story located within its historical context." (Ivor Goodson)1 "I used to think that public school were vehicles for reforming society. And now I think that while good teachers and schools can promote positive intellectual, behavioral and social change in individual children and youth, [American] schools are (and have been) ineffectual in altering social inequalities." (Larry Cuban) 2 "Nearly half century of experience in schools and the sustained research I have done have made me allergic to utopian rhetoric." (Larry Cuban) 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) school history curriculum of post-apartheid South Africa is littered with sensitive and controversial topics. Many history teachers and their learners do not know how to confront these topics, especially in multiracial, multicultural, and diverse classrooms. Therefore, this paper explores how the idea of decolonial love (Sandoval, 2000; Maldonado-Torres, 2006) could inform alternative creative pedagogies or contribute to existing pedagogical frameworks that history teachers and their learners employ when engaging sensitive and controversial topics. In this paper I argue that decolonial love has the potential to enable both history teachers and their learners to engage with sensitive and controversial topics in history in ways that promote empathy, cognitive, social and epistemic justice, inclusivity, critical thinking, respect, love, and tolerance for others as envisioned in the CAPS document. This would, in turn, promote the transgression of knowledge boundaries for knowledge co-construction (Keating, 2013) and thus, enable a way of doing history that promotes pluriversal (situated) knowledges (Santos, 2014). Lastly, I argue that decolonial love can provide a useful pedagogical framework for teaching sensitive and controversial topics since it ties together different approaches to teach such topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The History Ministerial Task Team Report (HMTT) on the proposed compulsory school history in South Africa was made public in February 2018. Ever since, it has generated many debates and concerns among in- and pre-service history educators, History (of) Education scholars as well as the general public. Many of these concerns are premised on the fear that there is an attempt, at least by the state, through the work of the HMTT to (re)capture school history. This (re)capture, some argue, would deliver a school history that is both nationalist and patriotic in its approach, and glorifies only the African National Congress's (ANC) role in history, much in the same way as the apartheid curriculum glorified the role of the National Party (NP), Afrikaner nationalism and white supremacy thinking. However, we are convinced that there might as well be a different reading of the HMTT and its Report; thus, a different form of (re)capture. In this paper, we will explore, theorise and reflect on the HMTT's work and Report, as well as recent scholarly debates regarding the HMTT itself and its Report. This we do by employing the notion of (re)capture as our theoretical framework which is derived from the current 'state capture' discourse in South Africa. We then use this theoretical lens to review literature on the contested epistemic nature of school history, as well as to read and make sense of the HMTT and its Report. We conclude that those who argue that there are indeed attempts to (re)capture the school history for narrow nationalistic aspirations which are nativist in nature, provide us with a different reading of the HMTT and its report. We contend that the form of (re)capture advanced by the HMTT, and its Report is for a greater cause related to current calls for decolonisation and Africanisation of school history in post-apartheid South Africa -- where the colonised ways of knowing and being can also take centre stage in the historical literature and where cognitive, epistemic, existential, and ontological justice is realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History education in post-apartheid South Africa addresses topics that are highly salient to the concept of race. To make sense of colonialism, slavery, the Holocaust, and most notably apartheid, students require an understanding of what race is, and how it has been used to justify discriminatory and unjust behaviour. The South African Curriculum and Policy Statements for Grade 9 History therefore devotes two hours to a topic on "the definition of race" (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011a: 43). However, what are students learning about 'the definition of race' from their history education? In this article, we draw on our experience as a history educator and history education researcher to argue that students often develop inaccurate and unhelpful understandings of race. This is partially since both the South African history curricula and textbooks describe race as a "myth" (DBE, 2011a, 43; Bottaro, Cohen, Dilley, Duffett, & Visser, 2013) with no scientific or evolutionary basis. Hence, students who learn that race is a 'myth' understandably struggle to understand discourses and policies that refer to racial identity and are at risk of misunderstanding theories of evolution. While we agree that the concept of race has no legitimate scientific basis, we nonetheless argue that students require an historical understanding of race; one that demonstrates how racial identities have been constructed in different ways and for different purposes over time. Such an approach would introduce students to the extensive historiography of the construction of race (e.g. DuBois, 1940; Dubow, 1995). By understanding race as a construct rather than a myth, we suggest that students will be better able to engage with the legacies of racialised violence as well as the ways in which racial identity is a legitimate source of meaning for many South Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing History learning and teaching in schools of South Africa over the years has been characterised by diverse opinions regarding the causes of learner underperformance, who is to be held responsible over learner performance and possible leadership influence on History learner performance. In addressing the problem of underperformance in History from a leadership point of view, the researchers were guided by the managerial leadership and humanism learning theories. The selected qualitative methodology adopted an ethnographic design to establish hidden inferences. A sample of thirty participants comprising the provincial coordinator for History, subject advisor, principals, departmental heads, teachers and learners was obtained based on the availability of History-offering schools in the study area. Data collection was mainly through interviews and meta-analysis of documents. Both deductive and inductive reasoning was applied using ATLAS.ti version 8.4 and thematic analysis in the data analyses process. The findings suggest several managerial leadership measures ranging from policy to practice. These amongst others include the recommendation that History as part of social science should be separated in totality from Geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how young South Africans think about the need for a reparative future through a consideration of their relationship to South Africa's historic moral community. By historic moral community I draw on MacIntyre (2007), Sandel (2009), and Shotwell's (2016) work to refer to the network of those from whom we inherit, and to whom we owe, an obligation – past, present, and future. This paper draws on data from a ten-month classroom ethnography in Cape Town. The ethnography looked at four Grade 9 history classrooms in four racially distinct schools and included multiple interviews with between four and six students from each class (n = 20) over the course of the year. Data collection focussed on how the legacies of apartheid were taught, and how students learned to use history to make sense of their personal circumstances and contemporary society. It also explored students' narratives regarding their own social mobility trajectories, how they perceived the effects of apartheid on their own lives, and attitudes regarding the need for reparative action in light of apartheid. The data demonstrated not only the diversity of attitudes towards reparative futures that exist among South African youth, but also suggests that young people who narrate their life trajectories as being intertwined with South Africa's historic moral community both advocate for collective responsibility for past injustice, and feel a sense of agency over their future social mobility. • This paper explores how young South Africans think about the need for a reparative future. • It draws on data from a ten-month ethnography of four Grade 9 classrooms in Cape Town. • The paper finds that young South Africans have diverse attitudes regarding the need for a reparative future. • Desire for reparation is strongest among those who see their lives intertwined with South Africa's historic moral community. • Taking collective responsibility for past injustice is associated with a sense of agency over future social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers detailed reflections of two lecturers on the teaching of Social Sciences Education Honours modules in a multidisciplinary context at one university in South Africa. The reflections portray that, while in Social Sciences Education students from diverse specialisations are enrolled in courses that are multidisciplinary in nature, the teaching pedagogy used continues to be disciplinary-based. Through the qualitative self-reflective narrative study of two lecturers teaching Commerce Education and History Education in the Honours programme in this university, the paper explores how these lecturers teach these Honours modules in a multidisciplinary context. Drawing on the reflections of the two lecturers, the conclusions of the study were that, the Honours programme in Social Sciences Education needs to be an integrated and multidisciplinary study, given the pedagogical weaknesses, and the resultant compromising of the quality of the teaching of the disciplines within this programme. The paper proposes 'border crossing pedagogy' as a solution that can be used in a multidisciplinary classroom because it allows for integration of disciplines in terms of content and teaching approach. This calls for revisiting how the modules within Social Sciences Honours programme are taught in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research article, Sarah Dryden-Peterson explores the concept of researcher positionality, focusing on its malleability over time. The methodological analysis is situated in an empirical study of history teaching and learning in Cape Town, South Africa, schools in 1998 and 2019. Dryden-Peterson argues that researcher positionality is often articulated as static, ignoring temporal shifts. She analyzes the ways shifts in identities, comparative frames, and positions on expertise and vulnerability have implications for how researchers collect and interpret their data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the research that explored the implementation of Chiefs' bulls and iminombo (genealogies) in the teaching and learning of South African history in the further education and training (FET) phase. Focus was on these historical sources as important ingredients used in the teaching and learning of South African history in order to embed indigenous knowledge in the curriculum. The aim was to demonstrate to what extent do teachers and learners acknowledge the rich history and heritage of South Africa. An assessment was made of the importance and relevance of Chiefs' bulls and iminombo in transforming and re-constructing content knowledge, and shaping new perspectives on South African history. Having used both quantitative and qualitative research methods in gathering data for the research, the researcher observed that most teachers do not use Chiefs' bulls and iminombo as historical sources. If used effectively, Chiefs' bulls and iminombo play a significant role in de-colonizing western-based knowledge (decolonizing theoretical framework), and de-construct research approaches that emerged from western scientific research in favor of promoting teaching and research for sustainable development within schools. Chiefs' bulls and iminombo as historical sources also occupy a central place and play a significant role in the re-enactment of South African history and challenging traditional western perspectives on history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia is the property of Historical Association of South Africa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to the South African curriculum, two of the aims of learning history are to learn the process of historical enquiry and to understand historical concepts such as the use of historical sources and examining evidence. This paper explores how a sample of seven social science South African textbooks uses historical sources to enable learners to learn the process of historical enquiry. The findings show that there were no primary sources presented in the Grade 3 - 6 textbooks, although there were many generic pictures and texts. There is an increase in the number and use of sources in the Grade 7 to Grade 9 textbooks, but issues of contextualisation and lack of provenance remain a challenge to the process of developing historical thinking. 'Pseudo sources' (a picture or text recreated to look like a primary source) and generic sources of information do not support historical thinking. The multiperspective approach, which means understanding the diverse ways of interpreting the same event, is poorly developed in the lower grade textbooks but became more evident in the Grade 9 books. Thus, specialised procedural knowledge is only introduced to learners in Grade 9, suggesting that the primary school textbooks analysed in this study are not fully supporting the aims of the official history curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the South African context, the need for peacebuilding is sometimes not acknowledged in a post-conflict society, although there are ongoing everyday examples within the educational sphere that challenge this assumption. A way of addressing the need for peacebuilding in education is via a reconciliation pedagogy, which uses oral history tasks and cooperative learning in the history curriculum. By drawing on the similarities and differences between a reconciliation pedagogy, and reconciliation as articulated by the ‘4R’ framework for peacebuilding, this article shows that there are constraints and possibilities inherent in this process at school level. The main argument is that there are a number of practical constraints within and beyond the classroom which hinder peacebuilding in practice. Using a method of narrative inquiry, this article focuses on the results of the research conducted by a history teacher educator who observed and interviewed eight teachers in history primary school classrooms in Johannesburg. While some of the successes of using a reconciliation pedagogy show that it has the potential to facilitate peacebuilding from the ‘bottom up’, teachers’ intentions and how they implement a reconciliation pedagogy affect whether or not sustainable peacebuilding is possible in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today’s learners are born into a multimedia world and feel quite comfortable in an electronic learning environment. The high-quality sound, realistic colour images, graphics, narrations, real-time recordings and full motion videos from multimedia, which are integrated in History lessons, are what the learners of today want and need in their learning. In the study on which this article is based, efforts were made to determine the extent to which Intermediate Phase History teachers (Grade 4-6) of schools in the townships and rural areas in and around the Klerksdorp, Rustenburg and Vryburg districts of the North West Province of South Africa were willing to utilise multimedia in their History (Social Science) lessons. The challenges these History teachers experienced when they were faced with the application of multimedia in their lessons are also highlighted. In the last part of the article recommendations are made to serve as future suggestions for History teachers to apply multimedia in the teaching of the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racially diverse schools are often presented as places where students can learn to challenge racist discourse and practice. Yet there are a variety of processes through which such schools reproduce the very hierarchies they are meant to dismantle. Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork in two racially diverse South African high schools, I add to the literature by analyzing moments that threatened to undermine harmonious race relations. First, I focus on racially charged interpersonal incidents at school. Second, I examine how teachers dealt with topics of racial inequality that emerged in the context of the formal curriculum. School personnel addressed these challenges in ways that hindered discussions of interpersonal and structural racism. A normative climate limited students’ abilities to label racially charged incidents as racist. Further, teachers managed potentially conflictual classroom dynamics by downplaying the salience of contemporary racial stratification. I discuss the implications of these findings for scholarship on racial inequality in racially diverse schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broader education system in South Africa, and specifically history teaching, has undergone changes that aimed both to cleanse the subject content of discriminatory and incriminating practices, and to affirm previously neglected histories. Thus, the principles of democratic citizenry, such as critical thinking, clear reasoning and respect for multiple perspectives were enhanced. This article uses a postcolonial discourse to report on a study conducted in the Free State, South Africa. It adds to the debate on enhancing democracy through education and augments the creation of sustainable learning environments by accommodating previously neglected forms of historical knowledge and heritage conceptualisation. Qualitative focus-group interviews were used to investigate how teachers conceptualise and teach heritage during their history lessons. The findings revealed that the participants' initial training and socialisation plays an important part in conceptualising and teaching heritage from a predominantly colonial and imperialistic perspective. This approach disdains African knowledge systems and how Africans make meaning of their past, thereby compromising critical learning, as experiences and interpretations from one perspective only are promoted. It is recommended that history educators be exposed to other ways of interpreting the past, for example postcolonial discourse, to assist in challenging the legacy of imperialism, colonialism and apartheid instilled in history educators' and learners' approach towards heritage. The findings impact on the initial and in-service training of history teachers in that a more open way is needed of looking at the past and exposing them to multiple perspectives in the teaching of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article anticipates the 50th Anniversary of Politikon, by suggesting themes that will need to be included in a comprehensive history of the development of the field in South Africa. It draws on Intellectual History, the Sociology of Knowledge and Institutional History to locate the development of the academic study of politics in South Africa and points to several proto-types of the discipline. Two major ‘conventions’ of Political Science are identified – one British and the other American. These traditions as well as the contributions of several political scientists are briefly discussed. The conclusion points to lacunae in the field, especially understandings of Africa and on the issue of voice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the experiences of several learners in KwaZulu-Natal schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, focusing on the teaching and studying of various reportedly controversial historical issues in schools. It states that history was taught according to a positivist model during South Africa's Apartheid period. South Africa's National Curriculum Statement plan from 1994 is mentioned, along with educational philosophies and the roles that history teachers play in South Africa.

Theoretical and methodological matters pertaining to school textbook analysis are an under-researched and under-documented area of specialisation. In this article I attempt to contribute to this field by reflecting on my own experience of grappling with these issues as relevant to the study of a number of South African school history textbooks. The topic of investigation is that of race and racism. I use this as a vehicle for operationalising the theoretical and methodological issues at hand. A key issue is whether historians and other 'scientists' make the methods of their disciplinary discoveries explicit or not, and the implications this could have for developing historical understanding. In the second part of the article, I explain the theoretical position I assume towards the object of my study. It is a hermeneutic realist stance; a stance that attempts to use the researcher's (own) particular historically and culturally conditioned mindset in the interpretive process. In some cases, this led to an interpretation of the messages communicated in the textbook as flat and sterile, reinforcing stereotypes, while in others the reader is drawn into a discourse that tends to appeal to his or her humanity rather than judgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the history lessons produced by the History Workshop that were published in the Learning Nation section of The New Nation newspaper between 1986 and 1990. Specifically, I examine the rhetorical dimensions of these historical narratives, which not only provided readers with factual information about the past, but also offered black South Africans a new framework, a new 'conception of reality', to that provided within the Department of Education and Training (DET) schools of the apartheid era. This new framework provided by these historical narratives was significant for two reasons. First, it offered black South Africans alternative ways of understanding and analysing conditions in apartheid South Africa. Second, by examining the heroic acts of resistance by everyday people and prominent leaders in the past, these narratives also sought to provide inspiration and encourage continued acts of resistance during a very violent and fraught period in the anti-apartheid struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What role might Holocaust education play in post-apartheid South Africa? What role might the teacher of the Holocaust play? This paper examines the considerations that have shaped the programmes developed by the South African Holocaust Foundation to support South African teachers teaching about the Holocaust. This programme is set against a society removed in time and space from the history of the Holocaust, but in which teachers, like other members of this society, have recently emerged from a traumatic past. Informed by the experience of working with history teachers from diverse communities across rural and urban areas of South Africa, this paper argues that, if teachers are to be active players in the process of social transformation, teacher training has to go beyond supporting the content knowledge and methodological skills of teachers. Training programmes have to facilitate not only the development of an understanding by teachers of what is meant by human rights, but more importantly, facilitate the process by which teachers can come to value human rights, and not see them as an obstacle in their path to teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History curriculum revisions post 1994 were followed by a range of new History textbooks intended to meet the needs of teachers seeking to implement the revised curriculum. I sought to establish whether or not a sample of these textbooks had built upon the gender equality initiatives introduced after 1994. A qualitative intrinsic case study was conducted to determine the extent of the representation of women in three South African school History textbooks. The results demonstrated that, despite the introduction of gender equality initiatives, in the sample selected the role of men in history continued to receive emphasis. In South African history men have indeed been more prominent than women, and have been viewed as the decision-makers, yet there is room in standard South African History textbooks for the inclusion of the ordinary daily events in which women participated or through which they exercised an influence on decision-making by men. Shepherd's media literacy curriculum model, incorporating the Department of Education's approaches to critical media education, is proposed as a tool to empower in-service History teachers to teach learners to deconstruct patriarchal or hegemonic power relations in school History textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridging the somewhat arbitrary divide between history and archaeology remains a critical aim of the study of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the South African interior. Despite the prejudice inherent in the oral records collected by state ethnologist P.L. Breutz and others, it is argued that they still play a fundamental role in ascribing a historical identity to the countless Late Iron Age stone-walled sites that have been attributed to Tswana speakers. The focus of this study is on the settlement sequence of a Tlokwa branch along the Kgetleng (Elands) River in the Rustenburg region of present-day North West Province. More specifically, it examines the evidence that identifies the stone ruins on Vlakfontein and adjoining farms as Marothodi, the capital of the Rustenburg Tlokwa, prior to their dispersal during the difaqane. Though it was renowned for its copper industry and constituted one of the largest African towns in the interior prior to the difaqane, Marothodi has largely faded from historical memory. This article explores the historical roots of the Tlokwa, their settlement history at Marothodi, and their interaction with near neighbours, such as the Fokeng, the Tlhako and the Kgatla. It highlights the potential contribution of an integrated historical and archaeological study of late precolonial Tswana society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information is presented about the September 11-12, 2011 colloquium in honor of the centenary of Rhodes University held at the university's history department in Cape Province, South Africa. Topics included historians W.M. Macmillan and Winifred Maxwell, and historian Rodney Davenport discussed his studies at Rhodes. Presenters included historians Hugh Macmillan, Robert Morrell, and Rosemary Jackson.

This article focuses on how some aspects of the South African history curriculum are interpreted and "lived out" in two South African high schools. The article introduces the history curriculum reconstruction process and its surrounding developments from 1994 until the release of the National Curriculum Statement in 2003. It then focuses on the curricular intentions, which reflect the reorganization of history teaching and serve as a benchmark for teachers. Using empirical data gathered in Afrikaans schools, I describe how classroom practices represent the history curriculum. The data indicates that schools provide space for curriculum modification and the creation of a "hidden curriculum." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on vulnerability within transformative pedagogy. Excerpts from two conversations on racism and xenophobia between a history teacher and her grade nine class in a Jewish school in Cape Town, South Africa in 2005 are analysed. The two interactions, which aimed to question and deconstruct prejudiced thinking, differed in the teacher's use of vulnerability. The need for more discussion about the potential role of vulnerability in pedagogical interactions is proposed.

This study is an overview of the chequered nature of history education in Lesotho primary schools. It highlights the nineteenth century missionary-led, humble beginnings and goals of formal education, which did not change much during almost a century of British colonial rule. The thrust of the study is that Lesotho primary schools currently teach history as a concentrated component of Social Studies at Standard 6, which is illustrated with a few examples and a brief analysis of learners' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National and international research on history education and democracy addresses the potential role of first-hand accounts in building a better future by learning from the past. In South Africa, little systematic research has been done on how history teachers construct primary narratives in the history classroom and how this impacts on the interaction with the students. This article presents a micro case study of a history lesson in which both the teacher's positioning and her positioning of the students as learners of history through personal narratives shape the lesson. In order to examine the potential import of such narratives, the analysis entails not only the teacher's use and construction of primary narratives and how she positioned herself and her students in relation to these narratives, but also her approach to history and general pedagogical practice. The observations indicate that while, overall, teacher and students focused on procedural activities, the dynamics changed when the teacher brought primary narratives into the interaction because students started to ask engaged, personally meaningful questions.However, the teacher employed a mode of pedagogical practice and approach to history that closed rather than opened a critical discussion around the primary narratives and the students' questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia is the property of Historical Association of South Africa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Presented is an interview with Prabashini Moodley, a South African author of Indian heritage. In the interview Moodley addresses a number of issues including the history curriculum in South African schools, the nature of her writing process and the position on South Africans of Indian descent in South African history.

Abstract: This article examines the use of testimony in the making of a new history in South Africa, situating this phenomenon in the context of public construction of memory and identifying history teachers as critical to the process. Through an ethnographic study of 16 schools that illuminates the use of teacher testimony in Cape Town history classrooms, the authors explore the nuanced use of testimony as a pedagogic tool and probe the role of history teachers as memory makers. Finally, this article assesses implications of teachers creating space for dialogical memory making in post-apartheid South Africa and outlines lessons of this experience for other countries in democratic transition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Literator is the property of African Online Scientific Information System PTY LTD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses an innovative professional development project in South Africa designed to support teachers in the introduction of the new South African history curriculum. The curriculum covers the ninth grade history requirement to teach human rights issues during and after World War II. The project was developed by several organizations, including Facing History and Ourselves.

Presents a conference session on writing and teaching the history of land and environment in Africa in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers, Topics discussed.

Presents a conference session on writing and teaching the history of unfree labor in Africa and the Indian Ocean in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers; Topics discussed.

Presents a conference session on writing and teaching urban history in Africa in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers; Topics discussed.

Presents a conference session on writing and teaching gendered history in Africa in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers, Topics discussed.

Presents a recap on the panel of discussion on the role of University of Cape Town in writing and teaching history in Africa in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers; Topics discussed.

Presents a conference session on writing and teaching race and ethnicity in South African history in the twenty-first century, during the University of Cape Town History Department Centenary Colloquium in South Africa. Theme; Keynote speakers; Topics discussed.

Examines developments in film and history studies in South Africa. Overview of case studies including the representation of the holocaust and of apartheid on screen and the long-history of the war-film genre; Emphasis on the reception of cinema in colonial Zimbabwe; Factors influencing African cinematic tastes; African responses to cinema.

Presents an interview with leading African American historian of the modern era Robin D. G. Kelly. Study of history to solve a series of political problems, not to become a historian; Desire to be a professional Communist; Study of Alabama as an alternative to studying South Africa; Moving from New York to Seattle, Washington to California; Kelly's interest in history and black studies as a college student.

Examines the development of a competence-based history curriculum in the South African institution, the University of North West. Factors that influence the development of the history curriculum in the university; Institutional challenges facing universities in the country; Factors that caused the decline in student registrations in the university's history subjects.

In all parts of the world, the teaching of history, because of its important ideological dimension, tends to be influenced by social and political changes. The recent upheavals in South Africa have confronted the nation with so many new tasks that it is difficult to decide which of them should have priority. These tasks include the establishing of a new educational curriculum which, paradoxically, no longer includes the subject of history as such. Instead, history is subsumed under the human and social sciences. This article analyses the content of history text books from the primary level upwards and from the 1980s to the most recent publications. On this basis it attempts to assess the extent and limits of the changes within a political setting marked by a tension between the historic struggle for equality and justice and the constraints imposed by the functioning of a liberal economy within the context of the globalization of modern capitalism. The considerable changes in the content of these books seem to be based on two different theoretical models: the multicultural model embodied in the idea of the "rainbow nation"; and the notion of the universality of humanity, transcending the diversity of cultures and confirmed by the findings of archaeology. While these two models can be a basis on which to refute racial inequality, they are not used to combat other forms of inequality, in particular social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses claims made for the social power of academic history in South Africa. Reasons for the decline in history's status as a school subject; History's potential ability to influence actions and events; Functions of historical consciousness; Ordering of the past so as to attribute continuity to life; Representation of the past in a way that is meaningful to the present.

Focuses on a school curriculum in South African known as 'Curriculum 2005.' Argument of the curriculum's possible detrimental effect on the teaching of history; Contradictory impulses of the curriculum; Understanding of why history offers challenges to certain vested interests; Paradoxical defense of the content of history.

Discusses South African academic historians' perceptions of the changing nature of history, both in society generally and on university campuses. Effects of deep-seated political, economic and cultural shifts that have national and international dimensions; Politics of history in South Africa in the 1990s.

The new democratic dispensation in South Africa since 1994 has necessitated the development of a new approach to history as a school subject in the framework of the recently inaugurated Curriculum 2005. The new education authorities regard history as one of the keys to a new social and political dispensation, especially in view of its abuse during the apartheid era. This article briefly covers history curriculum development during the pre-1994 apartheid era, and also the various efforts since 1994 to ensure the development and future of a history curriculum suitable for the new democracy in South Africa. Two problem areas are discussed, viz, the role of the Government in these efforts and the constraints of integrating history into the Curriculum 2005 learning program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an outline of a national strategy for heritage training of archivists in South Africa. Proposed establishment of a National Heritage Training Institute (NHTI); Need for the NHTI; Public and private sector partnership in the creation of the institute; Formation of a steering committee; Long-term tenure of the NHTI; NHTI structure; Sponsorship for the initiative; Standards and criteria.

Discusses the implications of Curriculum 2005 for teaching history in South African schools according to the South African Historical Society. Nature of Curriculum 2005; Areas in which Curriculum 2005 did not benefit the teaching of history; Value of history as a discipline; Strategy for teaching history in grades 10-12; Role of history professors.

Argues for the need to review filmic representations of South Africa's past in the study of the country's history. Example of the use of motion pictures in the study of history in the United States; Visual history.