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Browsing by Author "Davids, Nuraan, 1970-"

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Covid-19 : undoing our "normal" to find our humanity
(HESA, 2021) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
At the time of writing this article South Africa has entered yet another hard lockdown, casting darkening shadows over, if not a hopeful return to “normal”, then at least to the establishment of a “new normal”. Clearly, even amid the unpredictability and trauma of a virus which strikes in an undifferentiated way across race, class, age, and geopolitical contexts, there should be nagging suspicions about a forward-looking narrative which relies on a repeated reference to “a normal”. In the case of the educational institutions, a “new normal” is embodied in virtual spaces of teaching and learning. Seemingly, objectives of embarking on a “new normal” have scant regard for the myriad existing inequities, which continue to render South African educational institutions into categories of either historical advantage, or historical disadvantage. Seemingly too, a “new normal” chooses to disregard the reality that if educational institutions are not on an equal footing, then why is there an uncritical presumption that learners and students, or teachers, for that matter, are able to access and participate in virtual learning in parity? It is a big enough challenge for most learners and students to actively participate in educational settings, when one considers the dismal living conditions of the majority of South Africans. For many of these learners and students, educational settings, even in their poor infrastructural states, represent an escape and haven from the hardships of a life entrenched in poverty. What happens when the expectation of learning shifts entirely to the capacity of the home to become a space of learning? Can we, therefore, continue to speak of a “new normal” when it is evident that there is no “normal”, not in our educational institutions, and not in our citizenship?
An educational opportunity for (re)-scripting gender justice as an imperative of faith and citizenship : a South African case
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022-09-12) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
The centring of Muslim women in Islam resides in an intertwining historico-politico -theological narrative of gender reform, first promulgated in a seventh century revelation of the Qur’an. Significantly, the gains derived by the women of Islam’s first community, have become lost in the dominance of contemporary androcentric-patriarchal interpretations. The argument advanced by this paper is that Muslim educational institutions have a responsibility in (re)-scripting gender justice as an imperative of the scripture; and in establishing resonance between identities of faith and citizenship. I commence by looking at the disjuncture between what Islam says about gender equality, and how it unfolds under the predominant auspices of a patriarchal gaze. As an example of this disconnection, I focus on the trajectory of the ‘women in mosques’ campaigns in South Africa, spanning from an apartheid to a democratic context – noting that despite, or perhaps, because of far-reaching political change, the resistance encountered by Muslim women has remained the same. Thereafter, I turn my attention to an intertwining consideration: the responsibility of Muslim education in (re)-scripting gender justice as an imperative of the scripture; and the obligation of Muslim education in establishing resonance between identities of faith and citizenship.
Exploring the(in)commensurability between the lived experiences of Muslim women and cosmopolitanism : implications for democratic citizenship education and Islamic education
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-12) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-; Waghid, Yusef; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Impressions and perceptions about Islām, particularly in a world where much of what is known about Islām has emerged from after the tragic devastation of the Twin Towers in New York, are creating huge challenges for Muslims wherever they may find themselves. Women as the more visible believers in Islām are, what I believe, at the forefront of the growing skepticism surrounding Islām. And central to the modern day debates and suspicious regard meted out to Muslim women today is her hijāb (head-scarf). Ironically, it would appear that the same amount of detail and attention that Islamic scholars have devoted to the role of women in Islām and how they are expected to conduct themselves is now at the centre of the modern day debates and suspicious regard. Yet, the debates seldom move beyond what is obviously visible, and so little is known about what has given shape to Muslim women’s being, and how their understanding of Islām has led them to practise their religion in a particular way. This dissertation is premised on the assertion that in order to understand the role of Muslim women in a cosmopolitan society, you need to understand Islām and Islamic education. It sets out to examine and explore as to whether there is commensurability or not between Muslim women and the notion of cosmopolitanism, and what then the implications would be for democratic citizenship education and Islamic education. One of the main findings of the dissertation is that the intent to understand Muslim women’s education and the rationales of their educational contexts and practices opens itself to a plurality of interpretations that reflects the pluralism of understanding constitutive of the practices of Islam both within and outside of cosmopolitanism. Another is that inasmusch as Muslim women have been influenced by living and interacting in a cosmopolitan society, cosmopolitanism has been shaped and shifted by Muslim women. By examining the concepts of knowledge and education in Islām, and exploring the gaps between interpretations of Islam and Qur’anic exegesis, I hope to demystify many of the (mis)perceptions associated with Muslim women, and ultimately with Islām. And finally, by examining how Islamic education can inform a renewed cosmopolitanism, and by looking at how democratic citizenship education can shape a renewed Islamic education, the eventual purpose of this dissertation is to find a way towards peaceful co-existence.
Gender under-representation in teaching : a casualty of the feminisation of teaching?
(HESA, 2020) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-; Waghid, Yusef
Much has been written on the relationship between gender and schooling, and teaching. In particular, the focus has been on the significant dis-proportion between female and male teachers, which remarkably, inverts in relation to educational leadership positions. Arguments abound as to the social factors and hegemonies, which have created not only what is referred to as the “feminisation of teaching”, but the risks associated with feminised classrooms and pedagogies, particularly, in relation to boys. Not surprisingly, therefore, an equally dominant narrative calling for the (re)masculinisation of teaching has gained increasing momentum. The basis for this argument is not limited to a seeming need for male teachers as role-models. More disturbing, is the idea that the standing of the profession – invariably measured in terms of salary – might improve if more males are encouraged to become teachers. Our interest in this article is in the patriarchal hegemonies, which give shape to constructions of teaching as “women’s work” in the first place. We argue, that rather than contributing to what has been an overdue preoccupation gender-based socialisations, the concern should be on ensuring that teaching transcends framings of “feminisation” and “masculinisation” so that it serves all teachers and all learners.
Geweld in post-apartheid skole – waar lê die oplossing?
(Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, 2015-12) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-; Waghid, Yusef
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die meerderheid staatskole in Suid-Afrika het voortdurend met geweldige hoë vlakke van geweld te kampe. Die toenemende aantal insidente van fisiese geweld tussen leerders sowel as tussen leerders en onderwysers bring nie net vernedering teweeg nie, maar het ook daartoe gelei dat skole minder funksioneel geword het (Leoschut & Bonora 2007; Mncube & Harber 2013; Zulu, Urbani & Van der Merwe 2004). Die nasionale Departement van Basiese Onderwys (DvBO) het met verskeie beleide, prosedures en strategieë gereageer wat onder andere die volgende insluit: Alternatives to corporal punishment (DvBO 2000) en verskeie veiligheidsprogramme, soos A national school safety framework. Hierdie beleide en strategieë was nie net onvoldoende nie, maar het ook die onvoorspelbaarheid van geweld blootgestel. Gevolglik poog hierdie artikel om, eerstens, die aard en voorkoms van geweld in Suid-Afrikaanse skole te openbaar, en tweedens, aan die tekortkominge van huidige beleide en strategieë rakende die ontwikkeling van veilige skole aandag te skenk. Daarna poog ons om ’n interpretatiewe analise van wyses om oor geweld wat deel van demokratiese burgerskap uitmaak, te beredeneer. Die bedoeling is om die gedagte van burgerskaponderwys in wording wat die onvoorspelbaarheid van geweld in eie potensialiteit die hoof kan bied, te belig. Ons probeer nie om ŉ resep vir die hantering van geweld in skole te verskaf nie. So ŉ poging sal veronderstel dat ons die aard van geweld verstaan, wat nie moontlik is nie. In stede hiervan verwys ons na Rancière (1991:15) se mening dat leerders gemaan moet word om hulle intelligensie te gebruik, om juis deur die toepassing van spraak gewelddadige optrede die hoof te bied.
Love in the time of decoloniality
(CSSALL Publishers, 2019) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
The most recent student protests have yet again echoed calls for ‘decolonisation’. In reaction, much has been offered by way of responses in terms of decolonising curricula, knowledge, and spaces. Now that the proverbial dust has settled (somewhat), it is necessary to cast some much needed attention on what exactly is understood by decolonisation, and indeed, whether the bull has actually been taken by its horns. The concern of this article is twofold. In the first instance, it troubles commonly accepted conceptions of decolonisation, and makes an argument for decoloniality instead. In the second instance, by reconsidering understandings of decoloniality, I make a case for a decoloniality of love, as a form of rupturing.
On extending the truncated parameters of transformation in higher education in South Africa into a language of democratic engagement and justice
(AOSIS, 2016-11-22) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
Universities, in their multiplex roles of social, political, epistemological and capital reform, are by their constitution expected to both symbolise and enact transformation. While institutions of higher education in South Africa have been terrains of protest and reform – whether during apartheid or post-apartheid – the intense multiplex roles which these institutions assume have metaphorically come home to roost in the past 2 years. Not unlike the social-media-infused rumblings, coined as the ‘Arab Spring’, the recent cascades of #mustfall campaigns have brought to the fore the serious dearth of transformation in higher education and have raised more critical questions about conceptions of transformation, and how these translate into, or reflect, the social and political reform that continues to dangle out of the reach of the majority of South Africans. What, then, does transformation mean and imply? How does an institution reach a transformed state? How does one know when such a state is reached? These are a few of the concerns this article seeks to address. But it hopes to do so by moving beyond the thus far truncated parameters of transformation – which have largely been seeped in the oppositional politics of historical advantage and disadvantage, and which, in turn, have ensured that conceptions of transformation have remained trapped in discourses of race and racism. Instead, this article argues that the real challenge facing higher education is not so much about transformation, as it is about enacting democracy through equipping students to live and think differently in a pluralist society.
On the problematique of decolonisation as a post-colonial endeavour
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
Inasmuch as postmodernism has enjoyed commonalities and convergences with post-colonialism, the relationship between the two has been a somewhat uncomfortable one. Does the demise of postmodernism, therefore, open the path for a re-emergence and re-consideration of post-colonialism? Conceptions of post-colonialism lean extensively on the idea of turning the world inside out, and upside down so that it might be seen differently, or how it might otherwise be. Post-colonialism uses a post-structuralist language to bring into contestation binary understandings of dominance/subjugation, centre/margin, and superiority/inferiority. Implicit in this contestation is that an undermining of hegemonic discourses and ideologies will redress historical imbalances, inequalities and displacements. In this regard post-colonialist theory has bode well for post-apartheid discourses in South Africa. Of late, however, post-colonialism has uncontestably – and rather recklessly - been conflated with, and subsumed into calls for decolonisation. Calls for decolonising the university curriculum and space, have found renewed impetus in the #feesmustfall campaigns, which have not only disrupted classes, but have left numerous campuses vandalised. What the #feesmustfall campaigns have revealed is a complex collision between the postcolonial binaries of dominance/subjugation, centre/margin, and superiority/inferiority – all the while underscored by a grand narrative of Race. There are two immediate oddities about the calls for decolonisation. Firstly, there is seemingly no consensus, let alone clarity about what a decolonised university in South Africa might look like. Secondly, and ironically, the very violence, which post-colonialism is meant to offset, has defined the decolonisation project, thus far. Following the above, and in response to the question: ‘What comes after postmodernism?’ I offer the following points of discussion in this article. Firstly, calls for decolonisation by South African university students is a misnomer, because the language of decolonisation cannot be extricated from colonisation. Secondly, in light of the promises of openness, and re- imaginations, promulgated by post-modernism, it seems rather contradictory to look towards constructions of other forms of ‘post’, unless the intention is to return to what was before. Thirdly, South Africa is not in need of a decolonisation project. It is, however, in need of an educational theory that is less concerned with what has already been – that is, being trapped in the abyss of a ‘post’. It should, therefore, be more concerned with (re)-evoking that which already resides in all of us, and that which we might yet become.
Philosophy for teachers (P4T) in South Africa – re-imagining provision to support new teachers’ applied ethical decision-making
(Routledge, 2019) Orchard, Janet L.; Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
Conventional teacher education programmes do not equip practitioners adequately to navigate ethically complex situations that arise in teaching. One initiative responding to this deficit is ‘Philosophy for Teachers’ (‘P4T’), a 24-hour residential approach to community philosophy. Piloted originally in England, a further workshop took place in South Africa in October 2017, comprising student teachers, teacher educators and philosophers from three historically different universities in the Western Cape. Significant new insights to emerge included greater clarity on the respective contributions of P4T and other initiatives already applying ‘P4C’ to address professional ethics within teacher education. In particular, P4T re-framed within this new context can be seen to create shared space for reflection on teacher identity and the complexity of difference and ‘otherness’ in classroom practice.
Religion, culture, and the exclusion of Muslim women : on finding a reimagined form of inclusive-belonging
(Addleton Academic Publishers, 2016) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-
Though seemingly cocooned by collective values, traditions, dress and ways of understanding, culture is inherently defined by two desires: on the one hand, to preserve that which is perceived to be unchanging, and on the other hand, to resist any change. In its purpose of preservation, it offers a haven of nostalgic comfort – a means through which the self finds identity. In its resistance to change, it makes vulnerable not only its contested nature, but also reveals that what makes it distinctive and exclusive might very well be its weakest point. And yet it would seem that, even when it includes those who resonate with its collective discourse, it might also exclude them on the same basis. In terms of both Muslim culture and religion, a Muslim woman, for example, might be perceived, and therefore constructed, as the custodian of family values, modesty and purity. Yet the very essence that designates her as the custodian of particular values – and therefore at the center of Muslim culture – relegates her to the periphery. While she is included and centrally located on the basis of what she brings in terms of her Muslim identity as daughter, wife and mother, she is excluded on the basis of her gender and sexuality – that is of being a woman. In other words, if she accepts her inclusion as a Muslim woman, she simultaneously has to accept her exclusion as a (Muslim) woman – because that is what ensured her inclusion in the first place. But what exactly excludes and includes her – her religion, her culture, her gender, her sexuality, or her education? By focusing specifically on Muslim women in South Africa, this article contends, firstly, that any Muslim education would necessarily be permeated by culture. To this end, religion and culture cannot be separated. Secondly, if religion and culture cannot be separated, then Muslim women, by virtue of receiving a Muslim education, would also be acculturated. Following this, I will argue that, in order for Muslim women to find a sense of inclusive-belonging, they would need to produce a particular form of knowledge – one that makes a contribution to both education and culture.
Responding to violence in post-apartheid schools : on school leadership as mutual engagement
(University of South Africa Press, 2016) Davids, Nuraan, 1970-; Waghid, Yusef
Schools in post-apartheid South Africa appear to be under siege by violence. In turn, school leaders find themselves in the unenviable position of not only having to deal with inadequate educator professionalism and learner underachievement – particularly in previously disadvantaged schools – but are under pressure to find ways to counteract the violence, and to restore schools as safe sites. Among the biggest challenges facing school leaders is that they have not necessarily acquired sufficient training to deal with violent encounters, and often have responded in equally violent and violating ways, which, to some extent, has enhanced the expulsion and alienation of learners. In drawing on our own project work at five high schools in the Western Cape, we explore the challenges school leaders experience in responding to school violence. In questioning the often equally violent responses of school leaders, we contend that they ought to adopt practices of becoming. That is, school leaders should engage in intimate encounters with the other; not based on a desire to change the other, but rather for the purpose of mutually engaging with the other in an effort to inhabit practices of coming into presence that are humane and just.

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