Date of Award
8-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
Committee Chair/Advisor
Cynthia Haynes
Committee Member
David Blakesley
Committee Member
Stephen Cooper
Committee Member
Sarah Arroyo
Committee Member
Victor Vitanza
Abstract
This dissertation exposes the marginalization in the education systems of my country Lesotho, South Africa, an injustice that still survives long after the plague of Apartheid. Drawing on the values in African epistemologies of storytelling, I describe and illustrate their principles, then show how storytelling can transform composition pedagogy and thus help eradicate the residue of colonization. The methodology draws from auto-ethnography, narrative, spoken word, traditional oral wisdom, and African filmmaking as counter-story and resistance to the ideologies plaguing the minds of colonized South Africans. The goal is to celebrate oral traditions while improving reading comprehension and writing. With an “Education of Both the Mind and Heart,” the dissertation promotes the education of the heart—teaching love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, mindfulness, tolerance, and peace. This dissertation then outlines the ideal education, from kindergarten to secondary schools and universities, focusing on social, emotional, and ethical learning.
Recommended Citation
Mokoko, Sethunya, "Storytelling in Motion: Rhetorical Approaches to Autoethnography, Critical Pedagogy, and African Filmmaking" (2023). All Dissertations. 3430.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3430
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, Creative Writing Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Philosophy Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons