South African struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada believed in non-racialism to his core, even as others around him began to argue for an Africanist approach.
Water’s Edge II (2009) - a print related to the ‘Black Smoke Rising’ series.
from http://bernisearle.com/
Despite the noble goals of the new South Africa and its ideals of racial harmony, racial tensions remain a major problem in the country. Prejudice and bigotry persists even in universities.
Students in South Africa are tired of Western, Eurocentric university curricula.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
More than two decades after apartheid ended, South African universities still tend to offer a view of the country and continent that is rooted in colonial and apartheid thinking.
University “transformation” has a unique meaning in South Africa.
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Universities are so busy trying to make ends meet that there’s no time to listen to their communities’ stories. It’s crucial to develop safe spaces where tough conversations can happen.
Older generation freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela are losing currency among some young people in South Africa.
Yves Herman/Reuters
Student activists are losing faith in the legacies of anti-apartheid heroes like Nelson Mandela. Perhaps all South Africans should do the same. It may just be what the country needs for its future.
Artisans are crucial for any economy.
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The system of apartheid is long gone. But its legacy of poor funding for historically black universities - and of planning that banished black universities to cities’ margins - remains.
“Black hair” has sparked a new racism row at a top South African school.
Yves Herman/Reuters
Yusuf Sayed, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Teachers in South Africa need far more high quality professional development, policy direction and support to take social cohesion from concept to classroom
Decolonising the curriculum is far more nuanced than replacing theorists and authors. Universities first need to define how they approach the development and dissemination of curricula.
South Africans’ right to vote was hard fought and hard won.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
South Africa’s university students have shown that they can have an impact on the political landscape. That’s why it’s so important that they exercise their right to vote.
In South Africa there’s a value judgment attached to students who take part in universities’ English for Academic Purposes programmes. This shouldn’t be the case.
A traditional rainmaker in Kenya. How can indigenous knowledge become part of university curricula?
Department For International Development/International Development Research Centre/Thomas Omondi/Flickr
Decolonisation of the curriculum doesn’t have to mean the destruction of Western knowledge, but it’s decentring. Such knowledge should become one way of knowing rather than the only way.
Johannesburg Civic Centre.
'Up Up: Stories of Johannesburg’s Highrises'
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There is a growing authoritarian impulse in South Africa, including among some student activists.
Mark Wessells/Reuters
Sections of South Africa’s student movements regard transformation as a complete failure. Responding to this perceived failure, some have adopted an anti-democratic stance.
South Africa needs to build a mental infrastructure that will allow people to individually and collectively engage in a bold, courageous and trutfhul dialogue.
Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State
South African Research Chair in Teacher Education; Director of Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) & Professor of International Education and Development Policy (University of Sussex, UK), Cape Peninsula University of Technology