Description
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Within the academy, a hierarchical structure prevails, giving rise to discernible power differentials between students and academic staff. These hierarchical power dynamics permeate interactions between students and academic staff in teaching and learning. Concurrently, language and racial identity emerge as formidable gatekeepers, significantly influencing students’ sense of belonging and their capacity to engage in knowledge production.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Grounded in decolonial feminism, this qualitative study examines one-on-one interviews with students and academic staff affiliated with the African Feminist Studies (AFS) department at the University of Cape Town. To be eligible for participation in this study, participants needed to have played the board game, ‘Clue & A’ during their tutorials, seminars or lectures. Thematic analysis was used to surface participants’ experiences.
Findings: This study demonstrated that inviting gameplay into the classroom reinforces the idea of building academic community, supports collaboration, enables translanguaging, curates a learning environment that invites voice, asserts that learning is not hierarchical, and positions both students and academics as part of the knowledge production process.
Originality/Value: In response to students’ decolonial activism, this research explores the use of gameplay as a decolonial feminist tool for teaching and learning. This practical strategy for curating a decolonial classroom thus positions students as re-positories of knowledge, rather than merely those who need to be taught.
Keywords: decoloniality, gameplaying, pedagogy, knowledge production, translanguaging
