The MPhil consists of five compulsory modules, followed by a full thesis.

Year 1: Taught Modules

1. Afterlife of Violent Histories (15 credits)

This module investigates the transgenerational afterlife of violent histories, large-scale and systematic human rights violations such as genocide, colonialism, apartheid, and slavery. It examines the role of traumatic memory in the complex relation between history and memory. It interrogates the denial of mass atrocities and how the layered effects of violent pasts are perpetuated and transmitted transgenerationally. Grounded in interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences, the module explores various modes of expression of traumatic memory and colonial wounding, including the body as the site of memory, and missing and exhumed bodies as invisible and visible representations of memory and knowledge. The module will engage a well-grounded, systematic approach to decolonial epistemology and look critically at the theoretical and ethical questions raised by shameful narratives and narratives of historical trauma victims and their descendants.

2. Research Methodology and Ethics for Violent Histories (15 credits)

This module introduces decolonial and critical qualitative research methods, focusing on the examination of violent histories and processes of social repair. It challenges students to think critically about research methods and learn how to engage in research through decolonial praxis to engage ethically with complex narratives. The module covers a range of (auto)ethnographic, narrative, and indigenous research methodologies for data collection. Through interactive sessions and experiential learning, we will include other approaches to research, such as walking methodologies, archival research, and foster a research environment in which students will gain hands-on experience in ethically and critically engaging with narratives of trauma and historical injustice. Practical and theoretical learning aims to promote methodologies that enhance the potential for impact and prepare students to design rigorous, responsible research that contributes to knowledge production.

3. Contextual Perspectives on Trauma Testimonies (15 credits)

This module explores the ways in which historical trauma is socially constructed across generations through narratives, symbols, rituals and cultural heritage. Moving beyond legal definitions of witnessing, we will examine testimony and bearing witness as processes by which survivors, perpetrators, and implicated others make their experiences intelligible. The course draws on diverse South African examples, including the TRC archives, site-specific art, and heritage projects, and places them in conversation with global testimonial archives from Rwanda, Latin America, Palestine, and narratives of former enslaved people. We will explore various forms of narratives and their representation including literary narratives, film, and visual and/or performance art, and ask what role they play in the quest for social healing. The module considers how representation and historicisation can both reproduce and transform violence.

4. Historical Trauma and Redress (15 credits)

This interdisciplinary module introduces students to the study of historical trauma and its enduring transgenerational repercussions. We will critically examine global scholarly debates on memory and violence, adopting a decolonial perspective that challenges traditional approaches to studying the relationship between history, trauma, and memory. Students will explore the afterlives and continuing legacies of traumatic histories shaped by colonialism, oppression, and slavery. The module will incorporate seminars and site visits to expose the socio-spatial imprints of the past on the present. We will also explore narratives of mourning and working through the past, including rituals from African contexts. This module provides foundational knowledge for understanding the programme’s broader focus on repair.

Year 2: Research Thesis

5. Research Thesis (120 credits)

Students will be supported in the conceptualisation and development of their thesis topics based on their research interests drawn from the broad range of themes in the programme, and to choose an appropriate method of enquiry. Students must complete the Research Methodology and Ethics for Violent Histories module successfully before commencing with the thesis. Although the research and ethics module is taught in the first semester of the first year, research skills training opportunities are offered over the entire first year to ensure that students complete their proposals with ethics approval before the end of Year 1 of the programme. A more in-depth and individualised support structure will be available to each student through regular monitoring, feedback, and guidance by supervisors assigned to each student. Students are required to complete their theses in Year 2.

Note: Stellenbosch University reserves the right to change the degree structure, modules and their content, lecturers, fees, admission requirements, delivery mode, semesters in which modules are offered and related issues. Admission is subject to selection and the number of students per cohort is limited.