Late-Apartheid Education Reforms and Bantustan Entanglements

Abstract

South Africa's social and educational historiography has rarely singled out specific bantustans for special attention; rather, it has analysed these as part of South Africa's broader segregationist and apartheid strategy. This article shares and builds on this perspective, extending the analysis by looking more closely at four specific bantustans-- Bophuthatswana, Venda, KaNgwane and KwaZulu--and the links between their local and more broadly South African reformist and transnational developmental discourses during the 1980s. It examines how different educational networks formed "discourse coalitions" across these bantustans through the participation of educational reformers and experts in key education commissions and educational projects and initiatives. The article explores the roles of individuals involved in the development of educational reforms and their circulation both across the bantustans and between these bantustans and South Africa. It shows how discourses about...