Mthwakazi
“Is it possible to reverse history?” anti-apartheid activist, poet and sangoma Dr Mongane Wally Serote asked during the closing session on the first day of the Act/UJ #CreativeUprising conference. His question was one of knowledge and the power it wields in dictating what is “true”.
Under apartheid he said indigenous knowledge systems were forced underground. In order for us to come to freedom we need to bring back these marginalised perspectives.
The conference focused on arts education in South Africa, with delegates from many fields including academics, creatives, educators and policymakers. Discussions focused on how to make art an integral part of education while dealing the denial of quality education to the majority of South Africans, which continues to this day.
Mthwakazi —opera singer and the MC for the event, who sang and played a traditional Khoisan instrument, the uhadi, at the conference — described the loss of tribal and nomadic lifestyles due to Western lifestyles asserting their dominance. She said there needs to be a balance between Western and African styles; she has herself used her heritage and indigenous knowledge systems to influence the western forms that she was forced to learn.
Nike Romano, a lecturer in the history of art and design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, said that for her, students are the key to challenging current institutions, and she lauded the #Rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall student movements. Her style of teaching has become one of developing the voice of her students to become active creators through their own subjectivities. By having students tell their stories through the objects they design in class, they learn not only about each other, but that each of their stories are of value and worth telling.
The conference also took an interesting turn in style when speaker Avril Joffe, a lecturer at Wits Cultural Policy and Management Unit, moved the conversation to the members of the audience, giving them the opportunity to speak their minds. She posed questions on the idea of informal and formal educations spheres. One member discussed how it is in the informal teaching spaces that they are able to discuss with students their black history. Another mentioned how in the formal teaching spaces she could feel herself “eroding” as she is not allowed to speak her own language and tell her own stories.
Some of the most inspiring aspects of the conference were how students and educators must recognise themselves in their practice and learning, and how important the arts are in their ability to deal with this country’s challenges by expanding our understanding of what is possible.
Thobile Mchunu-Chittenden, funding director of HDI for Good, spoke about her work in leading the art education programme Room 13. One aspect of its work is assisting young creatives in gaining access to business markets. During one of pitching sessions with corporates she was told “I don’t want to spend money teaching people to colour-in”. She said it is a huge challenge to get business to fund the arts, as you have to deal with their warped understanding of the importance of the arts.
The arts are seen as their own distinct discipline by many businesspeople, whose function is seen as secondary to economically driven activities. One participant asked the policy directors from the department of basic education and the department of arts and culture: “When are going to move government’s focus from Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) to Steam (which includes the arts)?” Arts education was discussed in this session as being vital in helping learners master Stem courses.
Motsumi Makhene, art educationist, cultural activist and policy analyst, spoke of the 4th Industrial Revolution, which is characterised by the ways in which technology changes who we are and fuses the physical, digital and biological worlds. He argued that the usability of technologies can become achieved by focusing on making digital platforms more “human”. In order to do this researchers will be needed who are able to think creatively, and the arts are for him the driving force behind innovation.
Throughout the conference there was a call for the arts to be recognised as the site of wherever new ideas are formed. Arts education was also called upon to assist learners in helping them learn about their history and cultures. These students will be dealing with the challenges of the nation and must be empowered to do so. Serote spoke of how “reversing history” means retelling stories that do not condone injustice, and how he calls upon his students to do work that contributes to justice.
Arts education and artists need to be recognised as the being an integral part of society and the driving force to how we as a people will be able to conceive of a collective future that is truly democratic.