The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers
Activists and academics have clamoured for the decolonisation of knowledge, including law. But, unfortunately hardly anyone has put forth strategies for how faculties should decolonise the law. A number of jurists have underscored the necessity to draw on customary laws and traditional values. Still...
Guardado en:
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | AF EN NL |
| Publicado: |
AOSIS
2021
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/79bce268a0a9490d9cf4bacf052c880a |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| id |
oai:doaj.org-article:79bce268a0a9490d9cf4bacf052c880a |
|---|---|
| record_format |
dspace |
| spelling |
oai:doaj.org-article:79bce268a0a9490d9cf4bacf052c880a2021-11-24T07:40:40ZThe stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers0259-94222072-805010.4102/hts.v77i2.6828https://doaj.org/article/79bce268a0a9490d9cf4bacf052c880a2021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6828https://doaj.org/toc/0259-9422https://doaj.org/toc/2072-8050Activists and academics have clamoured for the decolonisation of knowledge, including law. But, unfortunately hardly anyone has put forth strategies for how faculties should decolonise the law. A number of jurists have underscored the necessity to draw on customary laws and traditional values. Still, the #RhodesMustFall movement has, for the most part, been loud on the outcomes, but quiet on the methodologies. Joining the conversation on the decolonisation of epistemologies, this article contributes to the ongoing efforts to sanitise the law by proposing to revive African oral storytelling cultures as a way to analyse the questions of law facing society. To live up to this task, this article adopts decolonial theory and, through stylised examples, illustrates how lawyers and social scientists in Africa can utilise storytelling to contextualise, (de)construct, and comprehend those questions. This article assumes that lawyers can use African storytelling alongside the prevailing doctrinal method. That method, relaying the coloniality of law and captured by the acronym IRAC (issue(s), rules, application, and conclusion), trains students to approach conflict in society through a highly abstract and decontextualised problem-solving model. Lately, some (Western) social scientists have (re)discovered the practicality of storytelling in presenting analysis and research. However, in African oral traditions, stories worked differently from the manner in which those scientists employ them. African storytelling played a leading role, not only in conveying collective wisdom and social memory from one generation to the next, but also as a medium through which communities transmit the values that hold them together. Contribution: This article adds to the scholarship on storytelling and narratology by showing how educators can utilise stories to analyse legal questions. That rich scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences has so far not taken seriously the possibility of using stories to analyse research problems. Instead, scholars focus on storytelling mainly as a way of presenting science, not as an analytical tool. This article bridges that gap and demonstrates the analytical value of storytelling.Dunia P. ZongweAOSISarticledecolonisation of knowledgedecolonial theorystorytellingafricaanalysisepistemologylegal educationoral traditionThe BibleBS1-2970Practical TheologyBV1-5099AFENNLHTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies , Vol 77, Iss 2, Pp e1-e8 (2021) |
| institution |
DOAJ |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
AF EN NL |
| topic |
decolonisation of knowledge decolonial theory storytelling africa analysis epistemology legal education oral tradition The Bible BS1-2970 Practical Theology BV1-5099 |
| spellingShingle |
decolonisation of knowledge decolonial theory storytelling africa analysis epistemology legal education oral tradition The Bible BS1-2970 Practical Theology BV1-5099 Dunia P. Zongwe The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| description |
Activists and academics have clamoured for the decolonisation of knowledge, including law. But, unfortunately hardly anyone has put forth strategies for how faculties should decolonise the law. A number of jurists have underscored the necessity to draw on customary laws and traditional values. Still, the #RhodesMustFall movement has, for the most part, been loud on the outcomes, but quiet on the methodologies. Joining the conversation on the decolonisation of epistemologies, this article contributes to the ongoing efforts to sanitise the law by proposing to revive African oral storytelling cultures as a way to analyse the questions of law facing society. To live up to this task, this article adopts decolonial theory and, through stylised examples, illustrates how lawyers and social scientists in Africa can utilise storytelling to contextualise, (de)construct, and comprehend those questions. This article assumes that lawyers can use African storytelling alongside the prevailing doctrinal method. That method, relaying the coloniality of law and captured by the acronym IRAC (issue(s), rules, application, and conclusion), trains students to approach conflict in society through a highly abstract and decontextualised problem-solving model. Lately, some (Western) social scientists have (re)discovered the practicality of storytelling in presenting analysis and research. However, in African oral traditions, stories worked differently from the manner in which those scientists employ them. African storytelling played a leading role, not only in conveying collective wisdom and social memory from one generation to the next, but also as a medium through which communities transmit the values that hold them together.
Contribution: This article adds to the scholarship on storytelling and narratology by showing how educators can utilise stories to analyse legal questions. That rich scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences has so far not taken seriously the possibility of using stories to analyse research problems. Instead, scholars focus on storytelling mainly as a way of presenting science, not as an analytical tool. This article bridges that gap and demonstrates the analytical value of storytelling. |
| format |
article |
| author |
Dunia P. Zongwe |
| author_facet |
Dunia P. Zongwe |
| author_sort |
Dunia P. Zongwe |
| title |
The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| title_short |
The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| title_full |
The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| title_fullStr |
The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The stories African lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: Lessons for social sciences teachers |
| title_sort |
stories african lawyers could tell when analysing legal issues: lessons for social sciences teachers |
| publisher |
AOSIS |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
https://doaj.org/article/79bce268a0a9490d9cf4bacf052c880a |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT duniapzongwe thestoriesafricanlawyerscouldtellwhenanalysinglegalissueslessonsforsocialsciencesteachers AT duniapzongwe storiesafricanlawyerscouldtellwhenanalysinglegalissueslessonsforsocialsciencesteachers |
| _version_ |
1718415920085336064 |