Abstract:
This article discusses the revision of a history honours historiography
module. It discusses the rationale, methodologies and material used to
respond to the imperative of curriculum transformation and decolonisation.
The article is titled ‘testing transformation and decolonisation’ to
emphasise the exploratory nature of this revision, but also to underline
the challenging nature of teaching new material, which educators have
often not been taught themselves. The article draws on the University of
Pretoria’s 2016 Curriculum Transformation Framework document and
narrates the practical challenges of implementing its recommendations.
The article also provides a personal perspective of my embrace of calls for
transformation and decolonisation of the university, which highlights the
continuities I see in these contemporary calls with the historical concerns
of the previous generations of progressive South African scholars who
similarly called for and worked to realise a decolonisation of knowledge.
