APARTHEID AND POST-APARTHEID DISCOURSES IN SCHOOL SPACE: A STUDY OF DURBAN JENNIFER KARLSSON A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF LONDON FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2003 Educational Foundations and Policy Studies Institute of Education S 20 Bedford Way London WC 1H OAL DECLARATION The work presented in this thesis is my own. Jennifer Karlsson 1 ABSTRACT In this thesis the transition from one political dispensation to another provides the opportunity for examining spatial practices and political discourses in South African schools. The starting point is the Lefebvrian proposition that space is inscribed with past and present discourses and that new political discourses establish practices that compel the reshaping of space. Six public schools in the South African city of Durban provided the data and context for the study, which focused on apartheid and post-apartheid spatial practices. The objectives were to identify how the social relations of apartheid were learned through spatial relations in schools, how residual traces of apartheid spatial practices remained after the official demise of that political and economic system in the early 1990s, what forms new spatial practices in schools took and what aspects of the new political dispensation these revealed. A range of visual methodologies is used as a means to examine questions concerning spatial relations. Data was collected at six schools (three primary and three secondary) five of which exemplify different administration regimes under apartheid, and one of which opened in the post-apartheid era. Data sources comprised photographic observations recorded during participant observation and some photographs taken by learners from the selected schools. In-depth interviews regarding spatial practices during the apartheid era were conducted with eight adults, including one teacher from each school. Past spatial practices led learners to comprehend apartheid discourse as a nexus of race, class and linguistic hierarchies. Remnants of such spatial practices endure in the conditions at school sites, perpetuating the conjunction of race and class in particular, despite the termination of apartheid education. In the post-apartheid era new spatial practices have emerged that reconfigure social relations within school premises along past hierarchies and in the way that schools work together with other social services. These practices reflect a discursive uncertainty as to whether shared or narrow interests will be the greater force forging political discourse in public schools in the future. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several years ago my friend and colleague, John Pampallis, advised me to seek out Elaine Unterhalter, a South African scholar who had settled abroad, for the supervision of my thesis. His advice represented an institutional practice of Education Policy Units in South Africa. In the twilight years of apartheid, these organisations had sent their researchers for professional development among South Africans in exile at universities in the United Kingdom. Though I did not know Elaine then, I have come to know the privilege of receiving her guidance for this thesis. I was exceedingly naive at the outset to stray into my chosen field of study when my previous work had been in library and information studies. Elaine was adventurous enough to look past such obstacles and urged me onwards, helping me to craft my blunt ideas into something worthwhile. The cost of study abroad is prohibitive for most South Africans, but this research was made possible through financial assistance from several sources, for which I am deeply grateful. I received a scholarship from the National Research Foundation in South Africa, and a grant towards field expenses from the University of London. My employer, the Education Policy Unit (Natal), allowed me two sabbaticals and contributed towards my fees. Opinions expressed in this thesis and conclusions arrived at, are my own and are not necessarily to be attributed to these organisations and institutions. Many others have assisted me, and I thank them all. However, I must mention especially the six schools that allowed me to wander around their premises, learners who photographed their experience of school for me, and teachers and a colleague who let me trawl through their memories; librarians from the Education Policy Unit (Natal) and Institute of Education who tracked down numerous publications; my colleagues in Durban who were understanding when I was unavailable to them; my scattered friends Michele, Ingrid, Rob, John and Karin, and my mother, who is always there for me, as well as Hannah and Thor. But it was Fassil who inspired this intellectual journey and pointed me to new ways of seeing. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table Of Contents 4 List Of Images 7 List Of Tables 14 List Of Figures 15 Chapter 1: At The Entrance: Outline Of The Study 16 1.1. The Study and Its Overall Aim 16 1.2. Key Concepts in the Field of Study 19 1.3. The Problem of School Space 21 School space as a discursive field 21 Discourses in South African school space 23 1.4. Aims and Research Questions 25 1.5. Significance of the Study 25 1.6. Outline of the Thesis 27 Chapter 2: Lining Up To Go In: Theoretical Foundations 29 2.1. Introduction 29 2.2. The Spatial Turn 30 2.3. Henri Lefebvre 32 2.4. Lefebvre's Theory of Spatiality 33 2.5. Discourse and Space 38 2.6. Edward Soja's Development of Lefebvre's Theory of Space 44 2.7. Doreen Massey and the Development of Spatial Theorisation 46 2.8. Spatiality in Writings about Education 48 2.9. Spatiality and South African Schools 53 2.10. Conclusion 58 Chapter 3: Looking Through The Door And Seeing My Reflection: Methodological Issues 60 3.1. Introduction 60 3.2. On Being a Reflexive Researcher 61 4 3.3. Ethical Concerns 64 •3.4. Visual Methodologies to Examine Spatial Practices 65 3.5. A Discourse Analysis Approach 74 3.6. Empirical Component 79 Selection of the sample 79 Methods 86 3.7. Conclusion 100 Chapter 4: On Excursion: Six Schools In Their City Of Durban Context 101 4.1. Introduction 101 4.2. Centenary High School 105 4.3. Simunye Secondary School 119 4.4. Khayalihle Primary School 131 4.5. Maximus Primary School 136 4.6. Highway Secondary School 140 4.7. Heather Primary School 148 4.8. Conclusion 155 Chapter 5: 'a kind of gap between us': Memories Of Apartheid 157 5.1. Introduction 157 5.2. Theorisations of Apartheid Schooling and Apartheid Discourse 158 5.3. Personal Histories Shaped by Apartheid 163 5.4. Encountering the Other and Learning Your Position in Society 171 5.5. Places for Learning Apartheid 181 5.6. Places for Resisting Apartheid 185 5.7. Conclusion 188 Chapter 6: The Past In The Present: Embedded Apartheid Discourse 190 6.1. Introduction 190 6.2. Inequalities in Pedagogic Space 191 6.3. Inequalities in Technologies for Knowledge and Comfort 203 6.4. Racialised Hierarchy in Work 210 6.5. Implications for Post-Apartheid Schooling 217 6.6. Conclusion 219 Chapter 7: The Future In The Present: New Practices 220 7.1. Introduction 220 5 7.2. Insiders and Outsiders 222 7.3. Branding the School 241 7.4. Collaborative Learning 246 7.5. Capital Projects 252 7.6. Inclusive Access 259 7.7. Integrated Planning 262 7.8. School Disaffection 266 7.9. Post-apartheid Discursive Trajectories 270 Chapter 8: Going Home: The Conclusion 273 8.1 Introduction 273 8.2 Overview 273 8.3. Some Critical Reflections on the Limitations of the Study 277 8.4. Looking Forward: Openings for Further Study 278 Appendix 1: Memory Account Interview Instrument 280 Appendix 2: Insider Participant Observation Booklet and Instrument 282 Appendix 3: Background about Sampling and Instrument Administration 288 Appendix 4: Letters Applying for and Granting Permission to Undertake the Study at Schools of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture, South Africa 295 Appendix 5: Sample of the Form Signed by the Principal and Chairperson of the Governing Body, Granting Permission to Conduct This Study at the School 298 Appendix 6: Sample of the Form Signed by Parents Granting Permission for their Child to Participate as an Insider Participant Observer in this Study 299 Appendix 7: Comparative Tables of Technologies Available in Schools 302 References 306 6 LIST OF IMAGES Chapter 1 03K12c: Centenary High: School entrance notice and intercom buzzer Chapter 2 01K20a: Heather Primary: Learners lining up to go into the assembly hall Chapter 3 06K14b: Simunye Secondary: Entrance to administration offices Image 1: Cosas students photographed by Omar Badsha (1981:163) Image 2: 061(20d: Simunye Secondary: Morning assembly Image 3: 06K20e: Simunye Secondary: Morning assembly Image 4: 01K10e: Heather Primary: Mural near car park and entrance Chapter 4 01L309: Heather Primary: Mural art at main exit Image 5: 03K12c: Centenary High: Notice to visitors at main entrance Image 6: 03K22i-X: Centenary High: Signboard at main entrance Image 7: 03K22f: Centenary High: Aerial photo of school site displayed in reception foyer Image 8: 03K19d: Centenary High: Classroom wings and catwalks built in the 1970s Image 9: 03L204: Centenary High: Memorial bell and plaques erected in 1982 Image 10: 03K17c: Centenary High: 1930s triangular stairwells Image 11: 03K17i: Centenary High: 1930s block, corridor open to the elements and with classroom sash windows Image 12: 03K17b: Centenary High: 1930s enclosed corridor and modified classroom