Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school

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dc.contributor.advisorSpiegel, Andrewen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMajoros, Elizabeth Men_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-30T13:45:35Z
dc.date.available2014-10-30T13:45:35Z
dc.date.issued2009en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 160-166).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractWaldorf schools were first established in Germany in 1919 under the guidance of Rudolf Steiner, with the intention of educating children for the renewal of society. Since the spread of Waldorf schools to South Africa in the 1950's, South African Waldorf teachers have been faced with the challenge of localizing the pedagogy to meet the needs of modern South African children. One arena for this challenge is in planning the school festivals. Through data derived from ethnographic observation of festival planning and enactment at Michael Oak Waldorf School in Cape Town, South Africa, I show that Michael Oak teachers consider the celebration of school festivals to be intrinsic to the education of the children, and that in adapting the festivals to their own context they are confronted with conflicting opinions and ideas about how to juxtapose the Christian and seasonal festivals, how to negotiate religious differences, and to what extent to adapt the festivals to reflect specific aspects of South African culture. Using data obtained from participant observation, predominantly semi-structured, unstructured, and informal interviews with more than seventy people (including Michael Oak teachers, former pupils, and past and present parents), along with background reading and study, I show how the these teachers, recreating each festival anew every year instead of relying solely on established traditions, took a dialogical approach to conceptualizing and planning their festivals - one that, though time-consuming and sometimes complicated, was itself a ritual meaningful to the teachers. This dialogical approach was outwardly manifest in the festival's ritual symbols, particularly the use of time and space, and the objects and performance filling them. It was also observed in the planning meetings and was described by the Michael Oak teachers in interviews. Through this dialogical approach, the teachers experienced what Victor Turner calls communitas, a liminal, threshold state of creativity, changed relationships, and potentiality. I demonstrate through teachers' statements that by remaining on the threshold of these often conflicting ideas, the teachers found in themselves a creative energy that extended to the children as the teachers included them in festival preparation and enactment.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMajoros, E. M. (2009). <i>Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8942en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMajoros, Elizabeth M. <i>"Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8942en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMajoros, E. 2009. Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Majoros, Elizabeth M AB - Waldorf schools were first established in Germany in 1919 under the guidance of Rudolf Steiner, with the intention of educating children for the renewal of society. Since the spread of Waldorf schools to South Africa in the 1950's, South African Waldorf teachers have been faced with the challenge of localizing the pedagogy to meet the needs of modern South African children. One arena for this challenge is in planning the school festivals. Through data derived from ethnographic observation of festival planning and enactment at Michael Oak Waldorf School in Cape Town, South Africa, I show that Michael Oak teachers consider the celebration of school festivals to be intrinsic to the education of the children, and that in adapting the festivals to their own context they are confronted with conflicting opinions and ideas about how to juxtapose the Christian and seasonal festivals, how to negotiate religious differences, and to what extent to adapt the festivals to reflect specific aspects of South African culture. Using data obtained from participant observation, predominantly semi-structured, unstructured, and informal interviews with more than seventy people (including Michael Oak teachers, former pupils, and past and present parents), along with background reading and study, I show how the these teachers, recreating each festival anew every year instead of relying solely on established traditions, took a dialogical approach to conceptualizing and planning their festivals - one that, though time-consuming and sometimes complicated, was itself a ritual meaningful to the teachers. This dialogical approach was outwardly manifest in the festival's ritual symbols, particularly the use of time and space, and the objects and performance filling them. It was also observed in the planning meetings and was described by the Michael Oak teachers in interviews. Through this dialogical approach, the teachers experienced what Victor Turner calls communitas, a liminal, threshold state of creativity, changed relationships, and potentiality. I demonstrate through teachers' statements that by remaining on the threshold of these often conflicting ideas, the teachers found in themselves a creative energy that extended to the children as the teachers included them in festival preparation and enactment. DA - 2009 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2009 T1 - Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school TI - Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8942 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8942
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMajoros EM. Co-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf school. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2009 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8942en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.titleCo-creating at the threshold : a dialogical approach to festival planning at a Cape Town Waldorf schoolen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSocScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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