Members of the task team who designed the module are, from left, Professor Sarah Gibson (Task Team Member), Professor Heike Tappe (Task Team Member), Melodious Ndlovu (CSJ Tutor), Professor Thabo Msibi (DVC Teaching and Learning and Task Team Chair), Dr Antoinette D'amant (Module Coordinator and Leader), Dr Sebastian Sanjigadu (Post-Doc Researcher) and Sihle Ncube (Module Administrator).
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) will be starting the 2024 academic year with the roll-out of the innovative Critical Social Justice and Citizenship Module.
The module has been created to change prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes and address ongoing societal injustices such as GBV, racism, xenophobia and homophobia. UKZN said the module is it’s “bold response” meant to spark a transformational journey and serve as a catalyst for change.
Around 9000 first-year students will make up the majority of the first cohort to benefit from the university-wide module which will be compulsory for all first-time entry students as of 2024. It encompasses eight online lectures and eight supporting tutorials.
Reflecting the inclusive nature of the module, students have a choice to engage with the learning material, lectures, and tutorials in either English or isiZulu. The module which is going to be run in both the first and second semesters of each year, challenges students to recognise a bit of themselves in everyone else and to respond with kindness, humility, and humanity.
Deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning at UKZN and task team chair, Professor Thabo Msibi said they were hoping to produce graduates who were more conscious of humanity.
“Through this module, we hope to produce graduates who are more conscious about their own humanity and that of others, and who have a good sense of dealing with injustice in society,” said Professor Msibi.
The module was initially developed in response to the high rates of gender-based violence (GBV) incidents in the country and across university campuses. However, during its conceptualisation process, the module task team realised that GBV intersects with other social issues, and so a much broader subject framework which incorporates and also engages with race, culture, xenophobia, homophobia, disability, class, and other forms of difference, was adopted.