Abstract
The position of Shakespeare in the South African secondary education curriculum has become highly contested in response to calls for decolonizing the English curriculum through the deliberate inclusion of indigenous writers. This study proposes that decolonizing the teaching of Shakespeare is not to remove Shakespeare from the curricula but to propose the introduction of transcripts written by alternative voices. This chapter adopts a qualitative research method by employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) since phenomenologists are generally interested in the lived experiences of human beings. The data were collected from previous literature, “Hamlet” texts, and the responses from students during “Hamlet” lessons. The data analysis includes an analysis of the dominant themes present in “Hamlet,” such as the power dynamics of politics, corruption, and the role of women, and how to apply these in society. This chapter draws from the postcolonial theory as a ‘political discourse emerged largely from experiences of domination and struggles for freedom in Africa'.
TopBackground
When South Africa was colonised by the British together with many other countries around the world, they came with Shakespeare, using the plays as instruments to disseminate English culture, religion, language, and values (Bloom & Bates, 2022). The teaching of Shakespeare served as a weapon of the White racist apartheid government to control morality and impose conformity to conventional social standards. This became evident when they went as far as assigning different Shakespeare plays to White schools and different plays to Black and Coloured students (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, 1986). The call to decolonise school and university language curricula persists to rage in South Africa. Shakespeare's plays are prominent for their significance to the debate and for their rigid persistence in the curriculum. Therefore, Shakespeare represents an iconic symbol of oppression in South Africa. However, despite the termination of colonial administration apartheid, Shakespeare remains in the curriculum, particularly at the secondary school level (Wright, 1990). The paper argues that decolonising of the curriculum does not mean the complete removal of Shakespeare from the curriculum for refuting the violent tradition of apartheid and colonialism. The presence in the curriculum indeed leads to students' feeling worthlessness but findings by researchers on decoloniality assist us to see how Shakespeare's plays itself is not the cause of the problem (Cohen, 2003). Although the research by Timmis et al. (2019, p.79) focuses on tertiary institutions, their arguments also apply to secondary schools, where “colonial vestiges in knowledge generation traditions and knowledge itself, psychological enslavement and a sense of unworthiness” are found on both the side of students and their teachers.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Themes: An idea that frequently emerges during literature.
Africanising: The process of defining and embracing African culture, language and identity.
English: European language, widely spoken throughout the world.
Decolonising: To become free and independent from colonial influences such as culture and language.
Students: A person pursuing a qualification at an institution of higher learning.
Hamlet: A tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare: Most well-known poet and actor of the English language.