Contrapuntal Curriculum and Epistemic Transformation in South African Universities
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| Title: | Contrapuntal Curriculum and Epistemic Transformation in South African Universities |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Aslam Fataar (ORCID |
| Source: | Transformation in Higher Education. 2025 10. |
| Availability: | AOSIS. 15 Oxford Street, Durbanville, Cape Town, 7550 South Africa. Tel: +27-21-975-2602; Fax: +27-21-975-4635; e-mail: publishing@aosis.co.za; Web site: https://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 10 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Evaluative |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Foreign Countries, Universities, College Curriculum, Curriculum Development, Cross Cultural Studies, Indigenous Knowledge, Epistemology, Social Justice, Equal Education, Racial Segregation, Inclusion, Educational Change, Traditionalism |
| Geographic Terms: | South Africa |
| ISSN: | 2415-0991 2519-5638 |
| Abstract: | This article calls for a fundamental reconstitution of the South African university curriculum through a contrapuntal lens that centres epistemic justice. Drawing on Edward Said's concepts of worldliness and contrapuntal reading, it argues that dominant knowledge systems must be brought into critical and sustained dialogue with the subjugated epistemologies they have historically excluded. Rather than conceiving the curriculum as a neutral repository of inherited content, the article positions it as a site of ongoing epistemic contestation and structural exclusion. It revisits the Mafeje, Makgoba, and Mamdani affairs as key historical flashpoints that exposed the university's deep-seated resistance to African and Global South intellectual traditions, often under the guise of safeguarding academic preparedness and institutional standards. The analysis then turns to the post-apartheid shift towards skills-based and managerialist curriculum models. While framed as inclusive and pragmatic, these models have narrowed the curriculum's scope, sidelining historical critique, ethical reflection, and epistemic diversity in favour of throughput, market readiness, and technical proficiency. In response, the article then explores the marginalised intellectual and cultural contributions of enslaved and indigenous communities at the Cape. Their vernacular literacies, oral traditions, and relational knowledge practices are presented as generative resources for curriculum renewal. The article concludes by proposing five guiding principles: epistemic redistribution, plural reasoning, relational pedagogy, problem-centred learning, and assessment for justice. Together, these offer a framework for reimagining the university as a democratic and socially responsive space of inclusive knowledge making. Contribution: The article advances a contrapuntal curriculum framework that reconstitutes South African university knowledge structures through historical critique and epistemic justice. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1489881 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This article calls for a fundamental reconstitution of the South African university curriculum through a contrapuntal lens that centres epistemic justice. Drawing on Edward Said's concepts of worldliness and contrapuntal reading, it argues that dominant knowledge systems must be brought into critical and sustained dialogue with the subjugated epistemologies they have historically excluded. Rather than conceiving the curriculum as a neutral repository of inherited content, the article positions it as a site of ongoing epistemic contestation and structural exclusion. It revisits the Mafeje, Makgoba, and Mamdani affairs as key historical flashpoints that exposed the university's deep-seated resistance to African and Global South intellectual traditions, often under the guise of safeguarding academic preparedness and institutional standards. The analysis then turns to the post-apartheid shift towards skills-based and managerialist curriculum models. While framed as inclusive and pragmatic, these models have narrowed the curriculum's scope, sidelining historical critique, ethical reflection, and epistemic diversity in favour of throughput, market readiness, and technical proficiency. In response, the article then explores the marginalised intellectual and cultural contributions of enslaved and indigenous communities at the Cape. Their vernacular literacies, oral traditions, and relational knowledge practices are presented as generative resources for curriculum renewal. The article concludes by proposing five guiding principles: epistemic redistribution, plural reasoning, relational pedagogy, problem-centred learning, and assessment for justice. Together, these offer a framework for reimagining the university as a democratic and socially responsive space of inclusive knowledge making. Contribution: The article advances a contrapuntal curriculum framework that reconstitutes South African university knowledge structures through historical critique and epistemic justice. |
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| ISSN: | 2415-0991 2519-5638 |
