‘South Africans did, Miss, we, we fought for our freedom’: Pedagogy and the potential of primary narratives in a history classroom

Abstract

National and international research on history education and democracy addresses the potential role of first-hand accounts in building a better future by learning from the past. In South Africa, little systematic research has been done on how history teachers construct primary narratives in the history classroom and how this impacts on the interaction with the students. This article presents a micro case study of a history lesson in which both the teacher's positioning and her positioning of the students as learners of history through personal narratives shape the lesson. In order to examine the potential import of such narratives, the analysis entails not only the teacher's use and construction of primary narratives and how she positioned herself and her students in relation to these narratives, but also her approach to history and general pedagogical practice. The observations indicate that while, overall, teacher and students focused on procedural activities, the dynamics changed when the teacher brought primary narratives into the interaction because students started to ask engaged, personally meaningful questions.However, the teacher employed a mode of pedagogical practice and approach to history that closed rather than opened a critical discussion around the primary narratives and the students' questions.

Keywords:

• pedagogy
• primary narratives
• social change South African history education