Feminist Analysis of Tagore’s Selected Short Stories: A Subaltern Study

Gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa has historically been pronounced in all spheres of life. To plug that, educationists have tried to engage with local contexts to bring girls into the education system. In light of this worrisome trend, this paper assessed the extent to which policies and measures framed and circulated by the South African government in the post-independence era have addressed gender imbalances in the education sector in line with the notion that girls’ education has been promoted by policymakers as a kind of an antidote to the manifold socio-economic problems. The researchers gathered and performed close textual readings of official government policy documents and journal articles from 1994 to date. The research found that the history of educational reforms depicts that gender deconstruction is still on the margins as evidenced by the women’s limited access to education and the genderisation of the school, its curriculum and practices among others. The article thus advanced the argument that although remarkable strides have so far been made towards the enactment of policies that enhance the education of the girl child in post-colonial states, much work still needs to be done to create a better world for all regardless of gender. This study offers insights on how to navigate future educational reforms that seek to deconstruct the marginalisation of girls in education and the gendered culture of educational institutions. Keywords: Gender Deconstruction, Inequalities, Marginalisation, Policies, Postcolonial Education

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Deconstruction on the Margins: A Historical Analysis of South Africa’s Post-Colonial Gender Policies in Education

Chimbunde,

Moreeng

2023

Fostering Decolonization, Reading and Multilingualism through Book Donation: A Case Study of One Primary School in South Africa

Mbatha,

Mokoena

2024

Despite the UNESCO declaration of literacy and access to primary education as a fundamental human right, many developing countries still face low literacy levels, limited access to reading material and poor reading culture. This can arguably be used to explain why children from developing countries are (according to large-scale studies such as Progress in International Reading Competency Study) performing below the expected standard compared to those from developed countries. While the low literacy levels are not solely attributed to limited access to reading material, the researchers argue that exploring the positive impacts of book donation will, in one way or the other, subvert the issue around low reading competency levels, and advance multilingualism as well as curriculum decolonization. This paper, therefore, discusses how decolonialism, reading and multilingualism are concurrently developed and realized through book donation. Using the decolonial thought theory as a lens, a qualitative design and case study approach were followed to explore how teachers used donated books to foster decolonization and advance reading as well as multilingualism in their classrooms. Three teachers from one rural primary school participated in the semi-structured interviews. Data was analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that the donated books written by university students empowered teachers to decolonize lesson presentations. In addition, the study found that the different languages in which the donated books were written promoted multilingualism. Finally, teachers reported learners’ interest in reading the donated books written by university students. This study concluded that it is important to evaluate the practice of book donation considering the current debates around decolonization, low reading competencies and multilingualism. Keywords: Book Donation; Decolonization, Primary Schools, Rural, Multilingualism

Missio Maritatus in the Missio Dei: Genesis 1:28 for Marriage Missiology

Thinane

2024

Marriage is a sacred institution that represents God’s sent interpersonal relationships to proliferate humanity, rather than just the act of remaining as husband and wife. The phrase “be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth” is perhaps a better way to describe this missio maritatus, or marriage mission, as God instructs humanity in Genesis 1:28. God, the eternal missionary here, calls on humanity to be fruitful, multiply, and steward the earth. Although missiology has frequently examined how marriage intersects with redemptive goals within the complex framework of missio Dei, no study has formally introduced the theoretical framework of missio maritatus. This paper therefore presented the theoretical underpinnings of missio maritatus, which embraces the complexity of missio Dei and interprets Genesis 1:28 as expressing marriage missiology. It firmly based this mission’s theoretical framework on the central Christian doctrines of predestination and divine foresight. It states unequivocally that the limited traditional understanding of marriage still has issues, but it leaves it to future studies to define missio maritatus in light of contemporary marriage trends. To put it another way, despite its shortcomings, missio maritatus is a useful theoretical framework in missiology, and the scope of this paper justifies further investigation into this area. This paper makes two important contributions to the respective areas of theology: The first and most general part concerns practical theology, as it examines the intersection of marriage with broader Christian social theological teachings. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the novel development of the missio maritatus in missiology adds a new missio-theological framework which incorporates the institution of marriage with the context of the missio Dei. Keywords: Missio Dei, Human Creation, Genesis 1:28, Procreation, Missio Maritatus, Marriage Missiology.