CW-Department of Music and Dance

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Browsing CW-Department of Music and Dance by Author "Notshulwana, Velile"

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    Building an anti-racist academy: Plotting a Pathway for Youth (the Next Generation of Academic)
    (University of South Africa, 2013-07) Gitonga, P. N.; Notshulwana, Velile; Mugabe, Tanaka; Jama, Ngewalisa; Asisipho Petelo; Kudakwashe Muchene
    South African academy is perhaps the most colonized space. It is a site for production and reproduction of a variety of discourses which keep in place certain colonial and apartheid structures which have as their intent the maintenance of Eurocentric hegemonies at the level of thinking, teaching and learning, research and the production, dissemination of knowledge and therefore dominate the larger material world. Implication of changes in the global scale to the universities of South Africa South African universities are under pressure to confront the complex transformation, currently taking place in the economic, political, scientific and social climate in the 21st Century, The university‘s response to the external challenges represented by knowledge-driven , global economy is increasingly contested in its quest to balance better the economic purpose of higher education with its cultural, moral and intellectual purposes. The apartheid legacy Which saw higher education in South Africa skewed in ways designed to entrench the power and privilege of the few. Higher education institutions established in the 20th Century were incorporated into a system which was subsequently shaped, enlarged and fragmented with a view to serving goals and strategies of successive apartheid governments.. It was in this context that the new higher education policies of South Africa’s first, and second democratic government sought to reshape the system into one that met the goals of equity, democratization, responsiveness and efficiency. The post 1994 saw unprecedented changes in South African higher education. The first two years were dominated by the massive, participatory drive towards policy formulations to address the issues of racism and equity that culminated in a report from the National Commission on Higher Education in 1996
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    Reflections on an era: freedom songs and liberation movements in Africa: a case study of Kenya and South Africa
    (The East Africa at 50 Conference, 2013) Gitonga, P. N.; Notshulwana, Velile
    This paper argues for an interdisciplinary educational approach, towards an understanding of the African Liberation struggle and the recognition of the liberation songs as important historical documents. In order to allow these songs to be fully understood a link had to be found to move musicology towards an accommodation with cultural history. The work thus drew on the theory of Shepherd and Wicke (1997), which allowed for an analysis using both musicology and cultural history. The theory was especially suited to this presentation as it also allows for insights into the processes of affect and meaning as they operate in wider cultural-historical contexts, which can be gained through an examination of the music of a particular historical period. Since the beginning of resistance against Colonialism liberation songs by African liberation movements were used as a strategy to accelerate change in African societies. In order to understand the music of the African liberation struggle there has to be a departure in methodology, theory and content from the narrow paradigms of history. History has to take into account these songs as they reveal a spectrum of communal perceptions and responses to the unfolding events that faced Africans, for example, Miriam Makeba who, in relation to the South African Context, explains that “In our struggle, songs are not simply entertainment for us. They are the way we communicate. The press, radio and TV are all censored by the Government. We cannot believe what they say. So we make up songs to tell us about events. Let something happen and the next day a song will be written about it” (Makeba, 1988, record sleeve). This paper argues that the liberation struggle is more fully understood if the songs of the time are taken into account. It emphasises the importance of establishing links between cultural history and musicology, showing how each discipline can inform and enrich the other.