Deepening students' understanding of democratic citizenship through arts-based approaches to experiential service learning

Abstract

2012) Deepening students' understanding of democratic citizenship through arts-based approaches to experiential service learning, South African Review of Sociology, 43:2, 76-88, ABSTRACT Inspired by models of community engagement initiated in North-American universities, the Visual Arts Department of the University of Johannesburg (UJ), together with the community-based organisation Tshulu Trust, developed an experimental service learning course aimed at evolving an approach to community engagement appropriate to the South African context. This article assesses the first iteration of this visual arts-based service learning intervention specifically with regard to the quality and content of student learning achieved. The results suggest that the methods and ethical-political approach of the community engagement movement significantly enhance the quality of student learning across the domains of academic enhancement, civic learning and personal growth. Furthermore, visual tools such as Photovoice, relationship-building tools such as Appreciative Enquiry and guided reflection that aims to describe, examine and articulate learning, could be adapted to enhance and deepen the learning of other student groups that regularly spend time in the same community.

We Can’t Be Here Forever”: University Students’ Reflections on Terminating Community-Engagement Relationships

“…This is also possibly related to her being a Black woman from a similar racial, socio-economic and cultural background as the participants she engaged with, which may have led to her feelings of uncertainty about the counselling for career and life choices she had provided them in the project she was involved in. In that sense, she reflected on her own positionality and proximity to the participants (Berman & Allen, 2012;Constandius et al, 2014;Naudé, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, in the South African context where students often engage with participants from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds (as relates to the contextual border-crossing element in Kiely's (2005) model), it is important for them to reflect on their positionality and proximity to the participants (Berman & Allen, 2012;Constandius et al, 2014;Naudé, 2012). Care taken in ending processes well can leave students with a sense of satisfaction and appreciate the value of their CE efforts towards the bigger cause of societal transformation, enhancing in turn their general sense of morality and empathy towards others and leading to further such engagements in the future (Berman & Allen, 2012;Brown, 2011;HEQC, 2006;Lazarus, Erasmus, Hendricks, Nduna & Slamat, 2008;Thomson et al, 2011).…”

“…Others encounter Western customs and culture first-hand for the first time, for example, old people in care homes, which is often bewildering to understand. Even students sharing language and cultural backgrounds with project participants find that the engagement process is not neutral, with personal and interpersonal challenges present involving power differentials relating to class, education and positionality of community participants predominantly as recipients of services provided in interventions (Berman & Allen, 2012;Fluks, 2017;Naudé, 2012).…”

Finding Voice

“…The series of interviews exploring aspects of resilience and leadership among the women of Phumani Paper groups was conducted as a joint project of the University of Michigan and the University of Johannesburg in July 2008. It has since been developed into a book, Women on Purpose: The Resilience and Creativity of the Founding Women of Phumani Paper (Berman et al 2012).…”

“It Didn’t Seem Like Race Mattered”

“…Studies also find that service learning helps students accumulate social and human capital (D'Agostino 2010;Scharff 2009;Stewart 2011) and enhances their understanding of course material (Bach and Weinzimmer 2011; Berman and Allen 2012;Hattery 2003;Huisman 2010). Furthermore, scholarship demonstrates how community-based service-learning courses impact students' understanding of social issues.…”