Page 94 - World Heritage and Tourism Innovation

Sibiya Thandeka Education and Heritage

investigates how the Tourism subject teachers par- learners’ active participation in their education is key
ticularly in rural and township schools can teach the in creating sustainable communities.
subjects to reinforce the view of creating relationships The system of apartheid in South Africa rein-
with local communities, with the aim of preserving forced colonial land dispossession policies, resulting
heritage and creating a sustainable tourism future. in Black communities losing vast tracts of ancestral
The Tourism subject has an important role in lands. These lands were often reallocated to white
South Africa’s education, in endowing schools with ownership and have since been developed into tour-
the ability to construct and preserve sustainable her- ism enterprises that benefit the descendants of apart-
itage sites as well as forging socially cohesive commu- heid-era beneficiaries. For instance, the Natives Land
nities, through the curriculum. Tourism education is Act of 1913 and subsequent legislation confined Black
perceived as “the way tourism destinations prepare the South Africans to only 7–13% of the country’s land,
human resources to be able to work professionally in the facilitating white ownership of the remaining areas
development of the tourism sectors,” (Bellos et al., 2021, . This historical colonial land dispossession has had
p. 1). This implies that tourism development depicts a lasting impacts, with many tourism ventures oper-
better quality of life for the tourists and the local com- ating on land that was historically taken from Black
munity at the destination. Similarly, in the South Af- communities. The concentration of tourism assets in
rican context, education is perceived as a transform- the hands of a few, predominantly white individuals,
ative tool, particularly after the collapse of apartheid. underscores the enduring economic disparities root-
This system used education as a tool to suppress rural ed in apartheid-era policies; Maharaj, (2006) .
and township education in favour of urban education, These historical puzzle pieces; colonialism and
which predominantly promoted white supremacy. apartheid, significantly shape the readers’ understand-
Education was used as a device to oppress, control ing of why the curriculum is at the core focus of this
and divide the South African population along racial study, and why the study examines the Tourism cur-
and cultural divides. riculum’s role in promoting socially cohesive and her-
In this study I share similar sentiments with Rog- itage-sustainable communities. In this context, the
erson and Rogerson (2020), where they argue that the curriculum presents itself as a bridge and springboard
literature review in their study suggests that there is to manage local tourism innovatively, but most signifi-
limited informed historical research that explores the cantly to address the past injustices for rural and town-
racialised dimensions of tourism landscapes, across ship communities. However, with poor implementation
the international academic discourse, hence why in of the curriculum due to various reasons, such as lack
this study I attempt to base my argument within the of knowledge and innovation and creativity from the
scope of the South African history in order to achieve side of the teachers, and or subject advisors, Tourism as
what Saarinen et al. (2017, p. 311) referes to as “the a subject, has not yet reached the level at which it can
extended application of historical perspectives in order elevate local communities, particularly rural areas and
to inform contemporary debates and practices”. Event- townships, to gaining World Heritage status. This view
hough there have been equity and equality measures is based on the belief that knowledge should be based on
put in place by the new government dispensation a bottom-up approach and used to foster partnerships
to address the inqualities of the past, the legacy of with communities; promoting the view that schools are
apartheid continues to be evident in various sectors not isolated institutions but have a transformative role
of the economy and culture, including tourism spac- to play for the wider society. This study draws from dif-
es which are still associated with power imbalances ferent contexts yet similar experiences of implementing
(Witz, at el., 2004). The long-term effects of this sys- the Tourism curriculum worldwide.
tem led to a failure to address democratic principles, One notable situation is discussed by Tribe (1999;
which are based on access, participation, and equity, 2005a; 2005b; 2005c). Tribe notes that the curriculum
argues Msila (2007). Therefore, this paper argues that was cushioned or supplemented by multi-disciplinary

90 | Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference