EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

History Education greetings,

Welcome to the December 2024 edition of Yesterday & Today. This will be the final edition using the current t editorial policy. The July 2025 edition must adhere to the new editorial policy pioneered by Scielo and ASSAF, which went through numerous scholarly engagements. The editorial board of Yesterday & Today itself discussed the suggested editorial policy on various platforms and is embracing it, especially in aspects related to the submission regarding the use of AI and good governance. The editorial board of Yesterday & Today would like to thank Scielo and ASSAF for their work.

A different debate that raged within certain South African universities was on "what makes a journal an international journal". This debate was framed, in my view, by neoliberal ideas related to targets, impact, and so forth. Consequently, South African-based journals were, in a reductionist manner, seen as "not being international" and not considered an ideal outlet for scholarly work. The reality is that such thinking is colonial in nature and often based on ignorance. Yesterday & Today, as an independent journal belonging to SASHT, has an Afrocentric focus as it relates to History Education and is affiliated with two international bodies-Scielo and AJOL. Additionally, our journal is a fully open-access publication. Hopefully, this will quell any such future debates.

In terms of contributions, the December 2024 edition of Yesterday & Today carries eight articles.

• In his article, Martin Gustafsson engages with issues related to the school history curriculum and pressing inter-related social issues such as poverty and rising inequalities against a backdrop of democracy. This is framed by using statistics and the need to reduce poverty and confront climate change.

• Hellemann and Heshu, in a creative and vibrant contribution, engage with historical revisitation. More specifically, they go beyond reenactment when exploring the Battle at Egazini with grade 10 history learners using applied theatre.

• In their article, Mashayamombee and van den Berg contribute to the continuing debate about the Zimbabwean History curriculum by focusing on implementing Curriculum Reforms in Heritage Studies and History in Mutare District Secondary Schools.

• The contribution of Bharath and Human centres around bringing two forms of official history, textbooks and artefacts, into conversation. In so doing, they argue for the Re-Writing His-Story.

• Lance and Byron Bunt bring the world of Game-Based Learning in History Education to life by unpacking the educational possibilities of using Dogs of War to teach and learn the subject.

• In my view, the articles by Chimunde and Moreeng and Sithole and Fru should be read together. These authors, in a timely manner, consider the PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HISTORY AS A COMPULSORY SUBJECT (GR 4-12) which took place on 19 November 2024, engaged intellectually with the idea of making the subject compulsory. The first two authors took a big-picture view, and the latter drilled down deeply into a single district.

• The final contribution is by Jongikhaya Mvenene, who brings a true Afrocentric perspective to the December edition by focusing on Iingoma (Traditional Songs) and Izibongo (Traditional Poems) and the implications for History teaching and learning in South African schools.

The December edition has, as per usual, a vibrant book review section in which five different publications are reviewed. Getting reviewers is not always easy. Therefore, I want to thank our review editor, Bafana Mpanza, for his work and all the reviewers who contributed to this essential aspect of our journal.

In the "hands-on" section, Gordon Brookbanks and Lethukukhanya Mbambo engaged with the idea of how to strengthen the history curriculum by reimagining what we teach in the classroom and how this can be scaffolded through using the work of historians from a decolonised perspective.

Finally, a big thank you to Dominque Wnuczek-Lobaczewski and her team, who have expertly put the December 2024 edition together in good time.

Happy reading.

Johan Wassermann

Editor-in-Chief