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30 October 2018 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Peet van Aardt
iCAN contributes to a decolonised curriculum
Some of the student writers who contributed to the anthology that tells their stories in Sesotho, isiXhosa, isiZulu, English and Afrikaans.


How do you transform the higher education curriculum? You involve the exact people the curriculum is intended for. The book, Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN,) illustrates how decolonisation can be achieved through literature   for students by students.

iCAN is an initiative by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to mentor students in creative and narrative writing. Under the mentorship of Dr Peet van Aardt, project coordinator, and Ace Moloi, author and UFS alumnus, iCAN Volume 1 was recently launched with 47 short stories written by UFS students. 

“The project is a response from the centre for the ever-increasing need for decolonised curricula, steeped in the local cultural perspective of ubuntu,” said Dr Van Aardt.

“This book is an example for how decolonisation can be implemented,” said Prof Francois Stydrom, Senior Director of CTL. The overall aim of the iCAN project is to have the content that materialised from it to be included in the curriculum of first-year students at UFS in the near future.

Book provides multiple voices


Starting in May 2018, CTL presented a series of creative writing workshops on all three of the UFS campuses. “It’s a medium that allows a diverse range of students to express their views and develop their voices as writers,” said Prof Strydom.  

It is a form of empowerment, to pass the baton to students to improve the UFS curriculum by writing and publishing their own stories, thereby contributing to larger bodies of knowledge through their lived experiences.

“I believe we as a university need to enable students so that they move away from just being users to becoming contributors to the curriculum,” Dr van Aardt concluded. 

News Archive

UFS Dean critical voice on gender and sexuality education in schools
2012-09-03

Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of our Faculty of Education, will deliver a keynote address on gender, sexuality and homophobia in schools at two events this month.

The Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) and the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation invited him to the first ever Colloquium on Homophobia and Trans-phobia in South African schools.

This takes place at the University of Johannesburg on 6 and 7 September 2012.

The Colloquium provides an opportunity for educators, researchers, activists and policy makers to discuss the impact of homophobia and trans-phobia in education.

Prof. Francis has already done extensive research on this issue and is considered a critical voice on the issue in South Africa.

Later this month, Prof. Francis will travel to Malaysia where he will present a keynote address on gender and education.
 

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