Decolonising Religious Studies through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A South African Perspective

Abstract

The discipline of religious studies is at a critical juncture globally, and particularly in South Africa, where calls for decolonisation in higher education (HE) have gained momentum since the mid-2010s. Despite being shaped by the World Religions Paradigm (WRP), a framework rooted in Western epistemologies, the discipline continues to grapple with the need for a more inclusive and context-sensitive curriculum. This article reports on a pilot study exploring how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can inform the teaching of religious studies in South African HE. This investigation compares two consecutive cohorts of students enrolled in an introductory Religious Studies module during 2021 and 2022, respectively, at a public university in South Africa. The 2021 cohort was taught using the WRP, and the 2022 cohort was taught using a thematic approach. Guided by a constructivist perspective, the research examined how the different pedagogical approaches influenced students' understanding of religion. The findings provided insight into how diverse teaching methodologies might support the decolonisation of religious studies. This study argues that constructivist pedagogy can empower students to actively participate in discussions about religion, drawing on their lived experiences. While the sample size limits generalisability, this pilot offers valuable methodological insights for future larger-scale studies, examining how constructivist pedagogy might support the decolonisation agenda in HE.