At a Crossroads: Sex and Death Taboos in Child Development and Implications for Sesotho Education
Madira Thetso 
Issue: Vol.6 No.2 Issue Article 3 pp. 73-79
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025623 | Published online 10th February, 2025
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Taboos are prohibitions that are made to guard individuals and communities against danger and risk. Taboos are structured into two parts: the prohibited action and a consequence associated with non-observance. The prohibition serves as a command, while a consequence is presented with an element of a fib to avoid confronting the deep meaning that is considered taboo. The concept of taboo is universal, but its object is culture-specific. Basotho children learn rules, expectations, norms and taboos from their parents. Death and sex-related matters are taboo to children due to their developing intellect and social status. However, given the increasing instances of rape and deaths affecting children today, children should be protected against danger and risk. This paper is descriptive and follows the constructivist theory’s prospects, to explore the challenges Sesotho teachers encounter in teaching topics related to sex and death, as well as how they can overcome these challenges. The findings indicate that children have access to sex and death-related matters through the media, many children are profoundly affected by death and sex-related matters and teachers lack knowledge of pedagogical practices to educate and support learners in these areas. Techniques such as using learners’ prior knowledge, using folktales and understanding learners’ cultural backgrounds can assist teachers in obliterating the challenges observed in this study. The research contributes to the existing literature about the teaching and promotion of the indigenous African languages.
Keywords – Child Development, Constructivist Theory, Death and Sex Taboos, Pedagogical Practices
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Dr. Madira Thetso is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Languages, Literacies and Literatures at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She holds a PhD in Linguistics with specialisation in Sesotho, which she obtained from the University of South Africa. She completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (HE) from the Witwatersrand University. Madira’s areas of interest include Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Sociolinguistics, and language education. Madira teaches courses in Sesotho home language and African languages teaching methodologies.
Thetso, Madira. “At a Crossroads: Sex and Death Taboos in Child Development and Implications for Sesotho Education,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no.2 (2025): 73-79. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025623
© 2025 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/).
