Indigenous African Music Curriculum in Universities: Exploring Possible Approaches of Learning and Teaching at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Fikelepi-Twani, Z. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ngoma, Kutala | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-09T13:20:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-09T13:20:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-06 | |
| dc.description | PhD Thesis | |
| dc.description.abstract | Post-1994 curriculum changes in South Africa are prescriptive of consciously raising the status of indigenous African music, both at universities and in the schooling system (DBE, 2011b). Regardless of the attempts at the transformation of the South African education system and the subsequent inclusion of African music, in practice, transplanting Indigenous African Music (IAM) content that is learnt within the community by informal means into the formal structures of music education has been problematic (Carver, 2014). An ethnographic study was conducted as an attempt to determine the appropriate and effective models, approaches, strategies, methods and techniques for the transmission of IAM that is mostly practiced in the community to the institutions of higher learning. The focus was on discovering epistemologies to develop scholarship in the learning and teaching of IAM in higher education. The collaborative and ethnographic methodological approach to research resulted in different kinds of interactive and inclusive participation by Walter Sisulu University (WSU) students, myself and community experts and that seemed to respond well to the call to recontextualise indigenous music for classroom use, in such a way that a bridge is built between the cultural practice and institutional approach (Omolo-Ongati, 2010). The research yielded additional knowledge that was not expected, regarding the decolonisation of teaching methods, approaches and strategies at universities and respect of indigenous cultures. Findings from this investigation revealed the usefulness of methods and approaches of learning and teaching Indigenous African music (IAM), which were applied during the engagement of WSU lecturers and students with community music experts and relevance of praxis (Freire,1973), praxial (Elliott,1995), and the Ubuntu (Letseka, 2013) theories. My research suggests the possibility of breaking down the barriers of marginalization and discrimination, as well as celebration of human capabilities through the use of local resources and engagement of the community, thus, striking a meaningful and appropriate balance between the two approaches: traditional (community) and institutional. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4073 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of Fort Hare | |
| dc.subject | Decolonisation | |
| dc.subject | community music experts | |
| dc.subject | ethnographic study | |
| dc.subject | Indigenous African Music | |
| dc.subject | ubuntu | |
| dc.subject | praxis | |
| dc.title | Indigenous African Music Curriculum in Universities: Exploring Possible Approaches of Learning and Teaching at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. | |
| dc.type | Thesis | |
| person.identifier.orcid | 0009-0005-9174-5888 |