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Durham E-Theses Post-apartheid Education and Building `Unity in Diversity': Voices of South African youth FLEETWOOD, TAMLYNN How to cite: FLEETWOOD, TAMLYNN (2012) Post-apartheid Education and Building `Unity in Diversity': Voices of South African youth, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5934/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Post-apartheid Education and Building ‘Unity in Diversity’: Voices of South African youth Tamlynn Fleetwood The challenges facing nation-building and overcoming the legacy of apartheid in South Africa are immense. This thesis examines the crucial role of education in this effort. Drawing primarily on the perspectives of secondary school learners through Participatory Research (PR), this study explores the role of education in providing young people with productive spaces in which they can strengthen national unity. The research makes four key contributions. Firstly, it engages directly with the generation born after 1994, whose attitudes have yet to be adequately reflected in understanding nation- building in South Africa. Secondly, it contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting ‘best practice’ in integrating post- apartheid schools. Thirdly, it offers critical insight into the function of the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum in citizenship education and nation-building. Finally, it decentres and challenges the western emphasis of geographies of education literatures. Drawing on the concept of ‘race trouble’, the results reveal the extent to which the spectre of race, rooted in the apartheid past, continues to haunt the lives, subjectivities and experiences of young people. Overcoming race is crucial to building a united nation for the large majority of learners. Notions of nation and state are intimately connected, and negative perceptions of the current government can lead to marginalisation and disassociation with the nation. Through examining the role of multicultural schools in creating democratic and inclusive spaces, it is argued that they can potentially provide opportunities for meaningful contact that can strengthen national cohesion. More direct interventions are also necessary, however, to ensure that racism, in all its manifestations, is acknowledged and confronted. Although citizenship education also has a role in bridging social divides, this thesis identifies a number of problems confronting teaching and learning in LO. Finally, the research also draws attention to the importance of viewing school spaces as relational and embedded within wider social contexts. In this respect, social attitudes, norms and identities, circulating in broader society both affect and are affected by what happens inside school spaces, with implications for nation-building endeavours. i Post-apartheid Education and Building ‘Unity in Diversity’: Voices of South African youth Tamlynn Fleetwood Submission for Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography Durham University 2012 ii Table of Contents Page Abstract..………………………………………………………………………………………. i Table of Contents..……………………………………………………………………………. iii List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………....viii List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………...ix List of Plates…………………………………………………………………………………....x List of Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………xi Declaration and Statement of Copyright……………………………………………………...xii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..xiii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………….xiv Chapter One: Introduction…...................................................................................................1 1.1 Background……………………………………………………………………………..1 1.2 Research rationale……………………………………………………………………....4 1.3 Research aim and objectives…………………………………………………………....7 1.4 Structure of the thesis…………………………………………………………………...8 Chapter Two: The apartheid legacy………………………………………………………..12 2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………....12 2.2 The apartheid regime………………………………………………………………….13 2.2.1 Apartheid ideology and Afrikaner nationalism……………………………………….14 2.2.2 Implementing apartheid…………………………………………………………….....19 2.3 Apartheid education………………………………………………………………….. 21 2.3.1 Educating white students under apartheid…………………………………………… 22 2.3.2 Educating black, Indian and coloured students under apartheid…………………….. 26 2.4 The fall of apartheid and the 1994 democratic transition……………………………. 30 2.5 Post-apartheid South Africa and the educational context…………………………… 36 2.5.1 Socio-economic inequalities………………………………………………………… 37 2.5.2 Socio-spatial divisions………………………………………………………………. 40 2.5.3 Psychological scars………………………………………………………………….. 41 iii Page 2.5.4 Civic deficit………………………………………………………………………….. 45 2.6 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………… 46 Chapter Three: Building a South African nation: The role of education and school spaces……………………………………………………………… 49 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………... 49 3.2 Nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa……………………………………... 51 3.2.1 Creating a new national identity: civic nationalism and ‘unity in diversity’………… 52 3.2.2 Healing past divisions………………………………………………………………... 56 3.2.3 The twin goals of reconciliation and redress………………………………………… 57 3.3 Nation-building and the role of education: formal curricula and institutional contexts………………………………………………………………………………. 60 3.3.1 Citizenship education………………………………………………………………… 61 3.3.2 Teaching political literacy and values education…………………………………….. 62 3.3.3 Fostering national unity and reconciliation………………………………………….. 69 3.4 Fostering meaningful contact in school spaces…………………………………........ 72 3.4.1 School spaces and the relational construction of social identities…………………… 72 3.4.2 Social diversity and making meaningful contact…………………………………….. 76 3.4.3 Race and racial identities in South Africa……………………………………………. 81 3.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………… 84 Chapter Four : Engaging young South Africans in Participatory Research……………. 87 4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………... 87 4.2 A brief overview of Participatory Research…………………………………………. 88 4.3 Participatory Research with children and young people……………………………... 91 4.4 Adopting a Participatory Research approach………………………………………… 94 4.5 Fieldwork preparation………………………………………………………………... 98 4.6 The two study sites: Buxton High School and Spring Vale High School………….. 101 4.7 Primary data collection……………………………………………………………... 104 4.7.1 The ‘Activity Afternoon’ sessions………………………………………………….. 106 4.7.2 The Life Orientation lessons………………………………………………………... 115 iv Page 4.7.3 The interviews with the learners……………………………………………………. 119 4.7.4 The interviews with the school principals and educators…………………………... 121 4.8 Data analysis and interpretation……………………………………………………...122 4.9 Critical reflections………………………………………………………………….. 125 4.10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….. 128 Chapter Five: Learners’ perspectives on national identity and unity in the ‘new’ South Africa…………………………………………………… 130 5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 130 5.2 Proudly South African? National identity and pride in post-apartheid South Africa………………………………………………………………………... 132 5.2.1 Relational identities and civic pride: the role of the state and the ‘international gaze’………………………………………………………………… 133 5.2.2 “I’m proudly South African, but…”……………………………………………….. 137 5.3 National unity in post-apartheid South Africa……………………………………... 142 5.3.1 The pervasiveness of a racial consciousness………………………………………. 143 5.3.2 The weight and influence of the older generations………………………………… 146 5.3.3 A delicate balance: affirmative action or ‘apartheid reversed’?................................ 148 5.3.4 Positive views of the future………………………………………………………… 154 5.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 156 Chapter Six: Working towards integration: Creating democratic and inclusive Schools……………………………………………………………………… 159 6.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 159 6.2 Patterns and progress in desegregating schools……………………………………. 160 6.3 Trends in racial integration in South African schools……………………………… 164 6.4 Assessing integration in the two case study schools……………………………….. 165 6.4.1 Institutional cultures, values and school practices…………………………………. 170 6.4.2 “There is something for everyone at this school”: learners’ perspectives on diversity and inclusion………………………………………………………….. 175 6.4.3 Integrated spaces? A critical assessment………………………………………….. 178 v Page 6.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 182 Chapter Seven: Making meaningful contact: Race and identity inside school spaces…………………………………………………………………… 184 7.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………... 184 7.2 “Birds of a feather…”: Normalising segregation and personal choice…………….. 185 7.3 Crossing social boundaries and the policing of identity …………………………... 189 7.4 Just a joke? Elusive racism and the crisis of interpretation…………………………