Reading race : the curriculum as a site of transformation

Abstract

This article looks at social transformation at a former whites-only Afrikaans university from beyond the conventional focus of demographic reform. Rather, in using a qualitative case study, it broadly explores how transformation of higher education institutions can be read in terms of the re-imaging of racial identity within the curriculum. In looking at how an institution navigates social transformation through its positioning of the role of the curriculum in the transformation process, this article suggests that although rhetorically committed to transformation, the university is struggling to emerge from its own politically instrumentalist past. Further, findings show that pressure exerted on the university from government and grassroots level within the university, are impeding the transformation process.