Towards Decolonising Poetry in Education: The ZAPP Project

Abstract

This article concerns ZAPP (the South African Poetry Project), which is a community of poets, scholars (including the authors), teachers and students, established in 2013 to promote, in educational systems, the work of contemporary South African poets. For the past three years (2017–2019), we have attempted through outreach and research to contribute to decolonising South African education by paying attention to indigenous poetic traditions and practices. Our research has focused on content, pedagogy and institutional practice. The article outlines and attempts to assess three interrelated components of ZAPP’s research into the decolonisation of poetry and education: our research into the transformation of teaching and learning in EFAL (English First Additional Language) poetry classrooms, our ongoing research into what constitutes indigenous South African poetry today, and our research into institutional practices concerning the production and dissemination of knowledge about poetry. We draw on various conceptual frameworks to explore ZAPP’s research, namely, South African poetry scholarship, decolonial theory, theories of indigeneity, theories of multimodality, posthumanism and new materialisms. The article shows both the achievements and challenges of our research efforts in the three areas of content, pedagogy and institutional practice. Its final claim is that these three areas are crucial sites of intervention in attempts at decolonising poetry in existing disciplines in research and education.

Research That Is Real and Utopian: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource to Revitalise High School Poetry

“…The aim is to prioritise, amongst others, the valuing of relationships, a respect for the interconnectedness of all things living and nonliving, an awareness and deliberate addressing of power relations. (Newfield 2017) This statement seems to indicate a foregrounding of relationality and an awareness of power imbalances that point to the principles of equality and democracy as outlined earlier. That is, the statement reflects a conceptualisation and pursuit of connectedness that is more in line with indigenous interpretations.…”

“…In a chapter reviewing a number of theorists working on the Africanisation of the curriculum, Msila argues that the "African University exists at a precarious position" (2016, 57) as long it fails to nurture theory and practice that are not closely informed by indigenous knowledge. It is in this context that ZAPP proposed its research project, which aspired to "contribute to knowledge about the transformation of education in this country, specifically the project of decolonisation of curricula and pedagogy" (Newfield 2017).…”

“…The first of these was held on 31 July 2017, when the research team met with the school principal and the school's Head of English Department to introduce themselves and the research project. At this meeting "[i]t was agreed that the school liaison person [Robert Maungedzo, the teacher in our team] would brief the HOD about the project, and that the researchers will draw up a document which outlines the team's hopes, intentions and processes for the project" (Newfield 2017). At a second meeting on 7 September 2017 the research team again met with the principal for an interview, which primarily sought to understand her views on the priorities and ethos at the school.…”

“…Rather than theorising this question, which has been thrust centre stage through the Fallist movement, through official calls at a range of educational institutions and through countless conferences and symposia over the past few years, this project attempts to implement decolonising pedagogic endeavours, to interrogate core issues, and to assess the impact, value and challenges of such endeavours. (Newfield 2017) After several years of working without funding, in 2017 the National Research Foundation awarded ZAPP a three-year research grant to conduct research on Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Led by senior academics from two institutions, the University of South Africa (Unisa), the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and with members from a range of South African universities and schools, the project is loosely structured around various interventions that hope to contribute to the healing of apartheid-induced teacher and student wounds, and to recognise their indigenous knowledge and cultural practices, rather than continuing to ape European poetry education while paying no more than lip service to indigenous South African poetry.…”

“…Led by senior academics from two institutions, the University of South Africa (Unisa), the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and with members from a range of South African universities and schools, the project is loosely structured around various interventions that hope to contribute to the healing of apartheid-induced teacher and student wounds, and to recognise their indigenous knowledge and cultural practices, rather than continuing to ape European poetry education while paying no more than lip service to indigenous South African poetry. (Newfield 2017) ZAPP framed its research by means of questions that, among others, asked how indigenous South African poetry could be reconceptualised as a resource to enhance poetry learning and teaching, and how, therefore, this reconceptualisation of poetry as an indigenous, multimodal and evolving genre could impact upon the teaching and learning of poetry and on poetry canons in schools, as well as on transformation in language, literacy and literature classrooms. ZAPP's research philosophy is aligned with the dreams articulated in the Basic Education Policy, which espouses the values enshrined in the South African Constitution (Republic of South Africa 1996).…”