HIV/AIDS, decolonisation and the South African curriculum: explorations on the edges of curriculum learning

Abstract

This contribution reflects on the value of the HIV-AIDS discussion on the decolonisation debate in higher education. It looks at how a critical engagement with the insights generated in the HIV-AIDS curriculum discussion can enhance the decolonisation project, using a four-step progression through the issues. The article begins with a brief discussion of the curriculum and its purposes. It then engages with the discussion on decolonisation and the curriculum. Next, it considers some of the most important learnings that have been gained from the HIV-AIDS curriculum discussion. A final step considers what new insights for the decolonisation and broader curriculum innovation process the discussion on HIV-AIDS offers. The contribution argues that while there are many commonalities and convergences between the HIV-AIDS and decolonisation discussions, the HIV-AIDS discussion brings into much clearer perspective the question of affect and emotion. The argument is made that the decolonisation discussion has usefully brought to the fore the question of black pain, but that it has not conceptually been able to explain what black pain is. The HIV-AIDS discussion, it is suggested, contributes to an understanding of how pain is experienced in non-reductive ways.