Confronting the Colonial Library: teaching Political Studies amidst calls for a decolonised curriculum
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142191 , vital:38057 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2018.1418204
- Description: This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the ‘colonial library’ with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term ‘colonial library’ refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistemological order. This presents a profound challenge for attempts to decolonise university curricula as it suggests that the colonial library's reach extends into attempts to dismantle it. In response to this challenge, I discuss ways in which we can oppose epistemological ethnocentrism and argue that we need to be open to the possibility of the emancipatory reappropriation of aspects of the colonial library. The paper concludes by relating the foregoing discussion to the South African political studies classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142191 , vital:38057 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2018.1418204
- Description: This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the ‘colonial library’ with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term ‘colonial library’ refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistemological order. This presents a profound challenge for attempts to decolonise university curricula as it suggests that the colonial library's reach extends into attempts to dismantle it. In response to this challenge, I discuss ways in which we can oppose epistemological ethnocentrism and argue that we need to be open to the possibility of the emancipatory reappropriation of aspects of the colonial library. The paper concludes by relating the foregoing discussion to the South African political studies classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
On Their Own: women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa, by Allison GoebelUbuntu und die Post-Development-Debatte. A review
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142169 , vital:38055 , DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2017.1400210
- Description: Allison Goebel's book gives much-needed attention to the experiences of women in South African cities. While there is plenty of literature on the urban experience in South Africa, such literature does not often give much attention to gender. Goebel's book draws on the experiences of poorer women living in informal and township areas in the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Goebel has conducted extensive fieldwork in the area and uses this fieldwork to provide the reader with a sense of South African women's experiences of urban living.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142169 , vital:38055 , DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2017.1400210
- Description: Allison Goebel's book gives much-needed attention to the experiences of women in South African cities. While there is plenty of literature on the urban experience in South Africa, such literature does not often give much attention to gender. Goebel's book draws on the experiences of poorer women living in informal and township areas in the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Goebel has conducted extensive fieldwork in the area and uses this fieldwork to provide the reader with a sense of South African women's experiences of urban living.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018