Curriculum Change in the Postcolonial Art History Classroom: A Case Study

Abstract

Decolonised curricula in higher education continue to be a significant issue in the South African context following the student-led protests of 2015–2016. These protests revealed the urgent need for real transformation in the sector and the wide-ranging issues students encountered, including demands for decolonised curricula. In this article I focus on one postgraduate art history course and its curriculum to discuss how postcolonial and decolonial theories both advanced opportunities and presented limitations for students in the programme. The insights are presented as potentially illustrative of some of the challenges in the sector. The article draws on findings from an analysis of one course, titled Post/Decolonial Art History (PDCAH), offered in 2015, which revealed that the course was not sufficiently able to respond to political calls for pedagogical decolonisation at the time. These findings are positioned in relation to subsequent developments in the course. I argue that a more responsive and dynamic approach to pedagogical requirements and changing student contexts is necessary in order to more robustly decolonise the art history curriculum. The article concludes by suggesting that this responsiveness and dynamism remain difficult to navigate within the existing structures of curriculum design, course outcomes, and the complex range of student expectations.