Practice as Research in South Africa

Baxter, Veronica

doi:10.1057/9781137282910_10

Cited by 6 publications

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“…defines practiceled research as a methodology that finds practical ways of knowing by doing. Practice-led research is a growing methodology in South Africa, especially in the applied theatre and performance fields(Baxter 2013in Hellemann 2017.The first phase of the methodology involved doing a substantial amount of reading on special needs education to establish what theory would work best with the practical components of my drama-based pedagogy. Thus, I used Freire's problem-posing theory and the capability theory as additional elements that aided my research design.…”

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confidence: 99%

Towards a problem-posing pedagogy: Using teacher-in-role in a special needs classroom

Hellemann

2022

South African Journal of Childhood Education

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Background: Teacher-in-role (t-i-r) drama method is explored as a pedagogical approach that can transform special needs curricula in South Africa.Aim: To use t-i-r to create a collaborative educational environment between learners and teachers. This article drew on Paulo Freire’s problem-posing pedagogy as a framework that encourages critical thinking and engagement.Setting: The study took place in the Skills Phase classroom, which handles school-to-workplace transitions at a local special school in a small town.Methods: This practice-led research study reflects on the uses of Dorothy Heathcote’s teacher-in-role to extend the curriculum beyond the Foundation Phase (Grade 3) level. The lessons involved a series of practical cross-curricular drama lessons that integrated topics from the Life Orientation (Grade 10–12) and the Drama (Creative Arts Grade 7–9) curriculum. The topics encouraged better linkages to work environment capabilities such as communication and problem-solving.Results: The findings revealed that combining drama-based pedagogy with Freire’s problem-posing pedagogy can help learners become decision-makers and problem-solvers in the classroom. As a result, the learners improved their critical thinking skills, self-esteem and confidence.Conclusion: The paper showed how drama-based pedagogy within a South African context of learning disability is an area that remains untapped, thus advocating for the uses of this approach as a possibility in improving special needs curricular implementation and practice.Contribution: The research provided insight into the care and education of special needs learners. Thus, it contributes to the growing academic literature on Drama-in-education (D-i-E) and inclusion in special needs schools in drama practices in South Africa.

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Towards a problem-posing pedagogy: Using teacher-in-role in a special needs classroom

Hellemann

2022

South African Journal of Childhood Education

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“…When my Ba died, as I began the final year of my BA degree, I was learning and being conscientised about the connections between our identities, our histories, our creative practices, and our socio-political and cultural environments (Baxter, 2013;. I was learning about the second-wave feminist slogan "the personal is political" (Heddon, 2006: 132), and I was seeing, through my own family, the truth of this statement.…”

Section: 1: Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Baxter explains that, "the thorny question remains of how to evaluate and reward the research This is unfortunate as PaR has rich and unique potential in South Africa (Baxter, 2013). Our country's fractured history, as a result of colonialism and apartheid, means that in our present, democratic South Africa, our identity as a nation, society and as individuals needs to be renegotiated (Baxter, 2013). Theatre allows artists, with their audiences, to engage with identity communally (Baxter, 2013).…”

Section: 44: Documenting the P In Par…mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our country's fractured history, as a result of colonialism and apartheid, means that in our present, democratic South Africa, our identity as a nation, society and as individuals needs to be renegotiated (Baxter, 2013). Theatre allows artists, with their audiences, to engage with identity communally (Baxter, 2013). As I have established, I had this opportunity with Devi (2019).…”

Section: 44: Documenting the P In Par…mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In regards to SAI people renegotiation is vital as, during apartheid and now post-apartheid, we have and continue to contend with the affirmation and acceptance of our nationality as South Africans (Durrheim, Mtose & Brown, 2011;Pillay, 2017;Rastogi, 2008). The unique potential of PaR (Baxter, 2013) is reflected in my play where, after the short scene on indenture, through a series of monologues and tableaux, I traced the history of ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID, showing the audience the conditions of their lives, highlighting when progression was made and where it has been stifled. I had the cast create various tableaux, from showing how unjust divorce proceedings were in the time of indenture for women, to showing the beginnings of women being able to work and study, to the subtle changes in the domestic structures of SAI families (Moodley, 2019: 30-31).…”

Section: 44: Documenting the P In Par…mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mother, daughter, sister, wife? interogating construction of South African Indian women's Identity – a study of South African Indian women playwrights and our plays.

Devaksha

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This thesis interrogates the gendered constructions and representations of Indian South African women (ISAW), South African Indian women (SAIW), and/or South African women of Indian descent's (SAWOID) identity through a study of such playwrights and their plays, including my own work. ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID lives are critically affected by the roles we are expected to perform in our families, namely those of daughter, sister, wife, and mother. Sylvia Walby (1990) distinguishes two key forms of patriarchy: public and private. Such a differentiation is particularly relevant to ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID who have long been confined to the private domain in South African Indian (SAI) communities and families for the purposes of patriarchal and cultural preservation (Govender, , 2001. Thus, although great strides have been made in ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID's lives, traditional patriarchal roles remain entrenched (Rajab, 2011).Theatre, particularly in this study playwriting, offers SAIW like myself, an empowering public space to articulate our own subject positions (Govender, 2001). The study therefore adopts an autoethnographic and practice-based research (PaR) approach, methodological modes that are rooted in each individual's creativity and experiences.Autoethnography and PaR connect in my thesis through the play I have written and directed as a primary part of this study, Devi (2019). Furthermore, the research explores the theatrical work of ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID through a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with selected playwrights and a textual analysis of their selected plays. In undertaking such a study, I unpack the politics of identity construction through a feminist poststructural framework. Principally, I assert that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), as conceptualised by French philosopher Louis Althusser (1971, 2006), especially those of family, religion and culture, are powerful ideological constructs. These ISAs strongly shape our experiences and the construction of our identities, which paradoxically, are both personally chosen but also socially regulated Weedon, 1997;. As a SAIW playwright, I am critically examining the specificity of the SAI (diasporic) community and how we continue to maintain traditional patriarchal values postcolonialism and post-apartheid. The often marginalised yet vital voices of ISAW, SAIW and/or SAWOID playwrights challenge the predominant patriarchally embedded socio-cultural practices of SAI communities and families, offering a dynamic "re-representation of brown female identity" (Naicker, 2017: 39). iv DEDICATIONThis thesis is dedicated to my parents, Dr PK Desai and Dr SP Moodley. Mummy and Dad, my deepest thanks will never be enough. Everything, everything is because of you… v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thesis journey would not have been possible without the following people, for whom I express my heartfelt gratitude:• The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), in collaboration with the South African Humanities...

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