Decolonizing the Teaching and Learning of Indigenous Nguni Music Instruments in Higher Institutions of Learning in South Africa
Kutala Ngoma 
& Zoliswa Fikelepi-Twani
Issue: Vol.5 No.5 Issue Article 2 pp.578-592
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024552 | Published online 3rd May, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This is an ethnographic study which was carried out to determine appropriate and effective models, approaches, strategies and techniques, for the transmission of Indigenous African Music (IAM), as practised in the communities of Tsembeyi village in the Eastern Cape Province and Impunga Village in KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa to the institutions of higher learning. The research explored pedagogical intervention measures for transplanting the teaching and learning of indigenous Nguni music instruments at Walter Sisulu University. This enquiry is underpinned by the praxial and Ubuntu theories, which ensure that participants are practically involved in doing, making, and experiencing learning as a collective. The study adopted an interpretive paradigm entrenched in a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were administered to collect data from 13 preservice music teachers including the main researcher and 3 community music experts drawn from the amaXhosa and AmaZulu, who are part of the Nguni nation in the Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. The thematic analysis revealed that the importance of engagement of the community in teaching and learning Nguni music instruments, underlying philosophical knowledge, and the understanding and approach to the construction and playing of IAM instruments. The authors argue for the possibility of breaking down the barriers of marginalization, and discrimination and celebrating human capabilities through the use of local resources and engagement of the community, thus, striking a meaningful and appropriate balance between the approaches that are used in traditional communities and institutions of higher learning.
Keywords: Decolonization, Transmission, Curriculum, Indigenous African Music, and Nguni.
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Kutala Ngoma is a lecturer at Walter Sisulu University who advocates for the teaching and learning of indigenous African music in schools and universities in South Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Music.
Zoliswa Fikelepi-Twani is a Professor of Music and HOD at the University of Zululand. She lectures in historical musicology and ethnomusicology modules: history of Western music; World music and African music with specific reference to South African traditional and Popular music.
Ngoma, Kutala & Zoliswa Fikelepi-Twani. “Decolonizing the Teaching and Learning of Indigenous Nguni Music Instruments in Higher Institutions of Learning in South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.5 (2024): 578-592. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024552
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
