Sustainability of Indigenous Visual Arts in Selected South African Classrooms

Resumen

Despite the increasing marginalisation of local heritage within formal curricula, which often prioritises Western-centric pedagogical models, this study explores the sustainability of Indigenous visual arts through a collaborative, practice-based intervention. Adopting a qualitative collaborative action research design, the research purposefully selected three Creative Arts teachers, three Indigenous Knowledge experts, and one academic researcher who engaged with learners in rural school settings to develop strategies for sustainable Indigenous visual arts instruction. The study generated robust data through participant observation, field notes, photographs, audio and visual recordings, and teacher reflective journals, which were subsequently analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings are organised around three interrelated themes. First, a shift from abstract, theory-driven instruction to embodied, artefact-based learning highlights the fundamental importance of observation, imitation, and repetition in Indigenous pedagogies, methods often overlooked in traditional formal assessment. Second, the study demonstrates the critical repositioning of Indigenous Knowledge experts as legitimate pedagogical authorities. This shift challenges dominant, Eurocentric notions of qualification by foregrounding mastery of practice and lived experience as essential instructional assets. Third, the research highlights the necessity of school–community collaboration in enabling the authentic and sustainable integration of Indigenous Knowledge, ensuring that art education remains culturally resonant. The discussion is framed through the lenses of Cultural Interface and Communicative Action Theory, illustrating how classrooms function as dialogic spaces where disparate knowledge systems are negotiated and co-constructed. Based on these insights, the study argues that long-term sustainability depends on a holistic approach that integrates transformative pedagogy, institutional recognition of Indigenous expertise, and active community partnerships. It concludes that such indigenisation not only enhances cultural relevance but also fosters the development of globally competent, culturally grounded learners, providing a transferable framework for educational decolonisation in postcolonial contexts.