Greetings,

On behalf of the newly constituted UCT Curriculum Change Working Group (CCWG) we would like to invite you to participate in an open Imbizo on various aspects of "curriculum" in particular in relation to the critical issues raised by the various student movements across the curriculum. The space will be facilitated by students as is being planned by students on the committee.

We are proposing to host an Imbizo over two days (24, 25 September 2016) bringing together voices from different parts of the country to discuss issues centered around the following 10 questions in line with the conceptual framework of the CCWG team. With this said, we will remain open and flexible to organic changes to the flow and scope of the discussion on the basis of organic interest and participation.

We will work hard to secure transport, accommodation and food for those from outside Cape Town for a limited number of contributors.

The Imbizo will be documented in several different ways and we encourage contributions in poetry, essay, prose, music and so on. A journal consolidating some of the contributions will be assembled over the course of the programme to which we remain open for abstracts until 25 September 23:59 (submit through this form).

See the full list of questions below:



1.
“What is the purpose of a Public University in Africa?”

This conversation explores the socio-historical context of the emergence of the public university as a site of knowledge production and dissemination. It also examines the similarity and difference between this historical formation and the changes and challenges encountered in the establishment of universities in the colonies and in Africa and the Global South.

2.
“What is disciplinary knowledge? How do disciplines travel?”

This conversation examines the making of the disciplines from the perspective of the openings and opportunities provided for bringing rigour and reliability to knowledge production. It also highlights the en/closures and marginalisations that arose as a result of this process and the ways in which these were transferred into the curriculum.

3.
“Epistemic violence and knowledge generation in post coloniality – unpacking key issues”

This seminar explores the importance or otherwise of subaltern knowledges to disciplinary change and transformation. Should we create space for these knowledges to surface in our curriculum and in our teaching?

4.
“Doing science at a University? How it is different to other sites of knowledge generation”

This conversation explores what it means to do science in a university setting. A historical account of how the sciences became disciplines within the university rather than being the activity of experimenters and entrepreneurs will be important here. This provides a platform for investigating how doing science within the university may or may not be different from these other sites of producing scientific knowledge.


5.
“Disability Issues in University curricula “

This workshop will share examples of how issues pertaining to disability can be infused into curricula in a manner that equips future graduates to engage with disability issues in their workplaces.    

6.
“The Commerce Curriculum: Do race, gender, and inequality matter?”

Much work has been done in the humanities and social science on why the categories of race/colonialism, gender/sexuality and disability matter in the production of knowledge about our social worlds. Do these categories matter in the production and dissemination of knowledge about management, financial and economic models, systems and technologies?


7. “Between the profession and the discipline ”

Professional considerations often weigh heavily on disciplines that provide a direct pipeline to professions and professional practice. How often do these considerations thwart disciplinary change and transformation or how often do they aid this process?

8.
“Pedagogies of Sameness, Pedagogies of Difference.”

Who is the imagined student that the professor addresses in the classroom? Are there specific pedagogic practices better suited to diverse classrooms? If so, what might these entail and how do we ensure that they permeate our approaches to teaching?

9.
 “What does the professor assess in his (sic) tests and assignments?”

This theme focuses on the appropriateness or otherwise of assessment practices to the students and subjects assessed in assignments, tests and examinations. Do these practices bring out the best in our students or do they play to their weaknesses?


10.
“Time and Place in the Making of the Curriculum.”

This theme explores the influence and impact of time, history and geographical location in the making of the curriculum. An important step in this regard should be to see how knowledge/scientific paradigms mutate, change and are remade in every discipline and every area of knowledge production.

11.
“Interdisciplinary knowledge”
How important or desirable is it to provide students with opportunities to acquire capacities for seeing and understanding continental and global challenges through drawing on sources of knowledge beyond their disciplinary specialisations?

12. Workers and the curriculum
This conversation looks critically at the ways in which worker education has been dealt with at various institutions and discusses potential ways that workers can participate and transform the educational space through participation. Sharing of ideas and practices from unions and the methodologies they use to deal with legal & financial education as but a few examples raising the question as to how best the "university" can become a space that opens, up expands and bolsters these activities and more.



For more information about UCT's Curriculum Change Working Group (CCWG) and it's composition please see: http://uct.ac.za/dailynews/archives/?id=9882