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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'It is My Right to Participate in the Subject': Contesting Histories in the First Year Lecture Room
Authors:Cornell, CarohnISNI
Witz, LeslieISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Social Dynamics
Volume:20
Issue:1
Period:Winter
Pages:49-74
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:history education
history
History and Exploration
Education and Oral Traditions
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533959408458561
Abstract:Many of the people who decide to study history and are accepted into one of the twenty-three universities in South Africa, come from schools where transmission teaching, rote-learning and reliance on the authority of textbook and teacher are the norm. In an attempt to demonstrate that history is not a fixed body of knowledge to be learned by rote, and to begin the process of induction into historiographical debates, lecture-debates were introduced at first-year level in the History Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 1993. This paper critically examines this innovation and assesses the extent to which the objectives were realized. It begins by contextualizing the development of curricula in history departments at South African universities. It then focuses on the UWC History Department, and describes the changes which took place in the History I course between 1989 and 1992. The main section of the paper outlines the planning of the 1993 lecture-debates, how they were conducted, responses from staff and students, and critiques which emerged. In conclusion, the paper reflects on this process of innovation and evaluation, and discusses some broad implications for curriculum development. App., bibliogr., notes, ref.
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