The representation of Nelson Mandela in selected grade 12 history textbooks.
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Date
2013
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Abstract
Nelson Mandela is South Africa’s most well- known and celebrated historical figure.
He is represented ubiquitously throughout South Africa. This study has analysed the
representation of Nelson Mandela in selected Grade 12 history textbooks.
This study is situated in the interpretivist paradigm. I employed content analysis as
my methodology in order to understand how Mandela is represented in the textbook
sample.
There were various representations that emerged from the analysis. All
representations constructed a wholly positive image of Mandela. He was
represented as a prisoner, a celebrity, a martyr, a leader, an intellectual, an activist,
a sage, a negotiator, a peacemaker, a saviour, and a reconciler. He was also
represented as having a strong personal attributes such as being principled, firm,
determined, unselfish, uncompromising, compassionate and forgiving. He was
closely associated with the concept of freedom and the idea of a prototypical South
African. Finally, this study showed that all these representations can be gathered into
one overarching representation that being Mandela as a messiah.
Mandela’s representation as a messiah fulfils the social need of uniting a postconflict
society which is still in the process of constructing a new national identity.
The goal of nation building is embedded in the curriculum which informs the content
of the textbook. In pursuit of this goal, textbooks are a powerful medium in achieving
such ends. Textbook producers are keen to please the authorities and thus regard
Mandela as sacrosanct. In addition, by representing Mandela as a messiah, the
textbook producers are giving South Africa what the public wants, a myth that will
make South Africans feel good about themselves. In this study I concluded that the
representation of Mandela in the textbook sample is an extension of the powerful
mythology that surrounds him. Whilst post-1994 South African textbooks do not
contain the old apartheid myths, new myths have since come to the fore.
Description
M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.
Keywords
Mandela, Nelson, -- 1918-2013., History -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa., South Africa -- History -- Textbooks., Theses -- Education.