This is a first year Bachelor of Visual Arts module.
The Social Consciousness and Sustainable Futures (SCSF) module emerged out of the #Must Fall Movements 2015 - 2017, which was a decolonial ‘moment’ in South African higher education and was characterised by a demand for open access in terms of curriculum, culture, and history of the future university. This means SA students demanded to be “visible” in the curriculum and cultures of the higher education to fully participate in it. One of the key ways to ‘visibilise’ students and ensure their success upon accessing the higher education system is assisting the students to be part of the co-production of the curriculum that reflects their history and humanising futures.
At Nelson Mandela University, the students demanded a foundational course in which all students can understand the basic social issues tied to justice, fairness, freedom, sustainability, dignity, and recognition.
The SCSF module consistently evolves to meet the changing needs of the students and graduates. As part of this process, it also reflects on fundamental questions like: Can students relate to and see themselves in the curriculum? How are we accessing this understanding, and are our models of assessment cognizant of the various ways in which assessment can be measured? To what extent are students engaged or involved in creating the curriculum that is being presented to them? These questions are used each year to assess whether the module is fulfilling its goal, which is rooted in the Must Fall movement of creating a curriculum that fosters a sense of belonging,
Mission/ Vision
The Social Consciousness and Sustainable Futures Module aims to address issues like social justice, freedom, and sustainability. It promotes transformative, decolonial education through a humanizing pedagogy that encourages learning, unlearning, and relearning.
Objectives
This module, inspired by the university’s values and identity, creates a space for students to explore and shape the idea of an African and sustainable university. It encourages social responsibility, integrates academic knowledge with the university’s core values, and promotes holistic development grounded in local ways of knowing.
The SCSF (Social Consciousness and Sustainable Futures) operates under the Portfolio of the DVC for Learning and Teaching at Nelson Mandela University. In response to the #MUSTFALL movement, the SCSF aims to humanise the pedagogical approach to learning. This foundational module seeks to integrate disciplinary knowledge with values desired by the university for its graduates’ attributes.
This module aims to create a learning experience that challenges current ways of knowing, thinking, and being, enabling new learning, unlearning, and relearning. It draws on humanizing pedagogy as a liberating tool for transformative and decolonial education, incorporating student voices as equal contributors to knowledge. This module hopes to cultivate and build an environment where students interrogate and help define an understanding of the African and sustainable university as its core mandate.