Browsing by Author "Bam, June Catherine"

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    The current relevance of populist history in schools : the attitudes of Cape Town youth to history
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-12) Bam, June Catherine; Bekker, S. B.; Waghid, Yusef; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthroplogy.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis exanunes whether the historical consciousness of grade 10 youth would increase should there be an intervention facilitated for this purpose, that is that they would show a heightened consciousness of the relation between school history and current affairs, politics and other societal issues. This intervention comprises the My New World text produced within the populist historiographical tradition in South Africa. The notion of historical consciousness is defined as the complex relation between an interpretation of the past, a perspective of the present and expectations of the future ROsen (1989; 1994). The investigation comprised a theoretical and empirical component. The theoretical component is informed by the theories of epistemology, knowledge, schooling and curriculum. The empirical component is based on the Youth and History Survey conducted on historical consciousness amongst youth in Europe in the early 1990s. Both this study and the European study were conducted during periods of political transition. The chosen research methodology was that of triangulation, combining quantitative with qualitative methods. The quantitative component was based on the measurement used in the European study, and comprised an experimental pre-test and post-test research design, measuring "inside school" and "outside school" historical consciousness. The study was conducted in 8 grade 10 classrooms at 8 schools in Cape Town, representative of class, race, language and gender. The teachers acted as facilitators of the intervention. The conclusion reached in the research is that although the intervention resulted in an increased enthusiasm amongst individuals for school history and interest in political issues and an understanding for the present as in evidence from the qualitative data, this was not reflected in the quantitative data which showed no significant increase in the "inside school" nor "outside school" historical consciousness amongst youth of average 15 years in grade 10 history classrooms in Cape Town. It can therefore not be empirically concluded that when youth are exposed to populist history over a limited period that they would show an increased "outside school" or "inside school" historical consciousness even though an intervention might aim to increase such a consciousness. A significant finding is that the case for an already existent historical consciousness related to the variables of class and gender holds. Instead of increasing the levels of historical consciousness, the intervention resulted in a surfacing of long-held attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of people, society, the past, the present and the future. The intervention succeeded in bringing these complex layers of variables and related factors that impact on perceptions and attitudes to the surface. Given this complexity, it was also concluded that an empirical study of historical consciousness amongst youth through an intervention over a limited period of time is risky, if not of little value.