Where are our heroes and ancestors? The spectre of Steve Biko's ideas in Rhodes must fall and the transformation of South African Universities. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ntloedibe, France Nkokomane
• Is Part Of: African identities. Volume 17:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 64
• Page End: 79
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Decolonisation -- transformation -- curriculum transformation -- 'Rhodes must fall' student movement -- Steve's Biko's black consciousness movement -- African history; National characteristics, African -- Periodicals; Africans -- Periodicals; African diaspora -- Periodicals; Africa -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 305.896
• DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2019.1654851
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-5843

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 'Rhodes Must Fall, ' a student protest that rocked South Africa's democratic dispensation in 2015 – has significantly reinvigorated Steve Biko's ideas on education, African culture and the transformation of South African education. Students' calls for transformation, especially their demands for curricular change, reveal striking resonances with and are informed by Biko's ideas on transformation of education. To be sure, Chumani Maxwell's exhortation 'where are our heroes and ancestors' invoked Biko's critique of European history as the parochial understanding of the work of white heroes, without recognising the contribution of great black leaders such as Hintsa, Moshoeshoe and Shaka, who were often portrayed as tyrants in European accounts. Despite the relevance of Biko's ideas in Rhodes Must Fall student movement, scholars of transformation of education have remained mute about it. This article argues that Rhodes Must Fall student protests were calls for transformation – and not decolonisation — of university curricula and institutional culture, which found profound expression in Biko's conceptions of education and African culture.