Storytelling in Motion: Rhetorical Approaches to Autoethnography, Critical Pedagogy, and African Filmmaking

Author

Sethunya MokokoFollow

Date of Award

8-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design

Committee Chair/Advisor

Cynthia Haynes

Committee Member

David Blakesley

Committee Member

Stephen Cooper

Committee Member

Sarah Arroyo

Committee Member

Victor Vitanza

Abstract

This dissertation exposes the marginalization in the education systems of my country Lesotho, South Africa, an injustice that still survives long after the plague of Apartheid. Drawing on the values in African epistemologies of storytelling, I describe and illustrate their principles, then show how storytelling can transform composition pedagogy and thus help eradicate the residue of colonization. The methodology draws from auto-ethnography, narrative, spoken word, traditional oral wisdom, and African filmmaking as counter-story and resistance to the ideologies plaguing the minds of colonized South Africans. The goal is to celebrate oral traditions while improving reading comprehension and writing. With an “Education of Both the Mind and Heart,” the dissertation promotes the education of the heart—teaching love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, mindfulness, tolerance, and peace. This dissertation then outlines the ideal education, from kindergarten to secondary schools and universities, focusing on social, emotional, and ethical learning.

Recommended Citation

Mokoko, Sethunya, "Storytelling in Motion: Rhetorical Approaches to Autoethnography, Critical Pedagogy, and African Filmmaking" (2023). All Dissertations. 3430.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3430