Some outcomes of the Drum Magazine Project: • A co-authored article is currently under review with the International Journal of Fashion Studies. • The student-designed Drum magazine covers will be exhibited on 24 May 2023 at the SARCHi Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture. Benefits and Lessons of the Drum Magazine Project In their article about the decolonial fashion discourse, Slade and Jansen (2020:813) state that reconstructing our understanding of fashion should involve constantly revising “our understandings and our histories one piece at a time”. On the other hand, Grosfoguel (2013: 89) proposes the need to “bring epistemic diversity to the canon of thought to create a pluri-verse of meanings and concepts”. Teaching fashion theory and history in the context of South African fashion education has predominantly relied on European examples, as if fashion in Africa was non-existent. Using European and American fashion examples means focussing on a history of fashion and clothing that the majority of the students we teach are unfamiliar with. The local landscape is begging for the inclusion of locally relevant tools and resources, and Drum magazine offers this possibility. The Drum Magazine Project is a fashion education example that responds to the countrywide call to decolonise South African education. The teaching and research project allows students to experience curricula they can identify with. Figure 4: A Drum July 1968 photograph of Viccie Mhlongo (later known as Busi Mhlongo). Figure 5: Student Viccie Mhlongo-informed magazine cover exploring the theme of traditional versus modernity in visual expressions. Students involved: Teresa Maistry and Mia Wagner. Way Forward We are currently researching the 1970s, and the outcomes of the research process will be presented to the 2023 student cohorts in the second semester of the 2023 academic year. We plan to have a major exhibition showing students coverage of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s fashion in South Africa through Drum archives. Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2022 43
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