The Decolonization of Knowledge
Radical Ideas and the Shaping of Institutions in South Africa and Beyond

A timely and innovative study on how the decolonization movement is transforming universities, curricula and campuses.

Jonathan D. Jansen (Author), Cyrill A. Walters (Author)

9781316514184, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 2022

272 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.53 kg

'Easy to understand and entertaining, this book informs, theorises, and unpacks some of the knottiest issues in higher education. Its complex arguments about decolonisation and curriculum revision will reach and benefit a wide readership in (South) Africa and beyond, including academics and non-experts. A refreshing achievement!' Chika C. Mba, University of Ghana

In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town used the slogan #RhodesMustFall to demand that a monument of Cecil John Rhodes, the empire builder of British South Africa, be removed from the university campus. Soon students at Oxford University called for the removal of a statue of Rhodes from Oriel College. The radical idea of decolonization at the forefront of these student protests continues to be a key element in South African educational institutions as well as those in Europe and North America. This book explores the uptake of decolonization in the institutional curriculum, given the political demands for decolonization on South African campuses, and the generally positive reception of the idea by university leaders. Based on interviews with more than two hundred academic teachers at ten universities, this is an innovative account of how institutions have engaged with, subverted, and transformed the decolonization movement since #RhodesMustFall.

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: the decolonization of knowledge: radical ideas and the settled curriculum
2. Institutional posturing: the coming of decolonization and the scramble to respond
3. On the institutionalization of knowledge
4. The contending meanings of decolonization –and the implications for radical curriculum change
5. Regulating radical ideas: the role of regulatory agencies
6. The uptake of decolonization: the case of the humanities and social sciences
7. The uptake of decolonization: the case of the sciences and engineering
8. How does a radical curriculum idea travel through institutional life?: new insights into the politics of knowledge
References
Index

Subject Areas: Non-governmental organizations [NGOs JPWH], Pressure groups & lobbying [JPWD], Higher & further education, tertiary education [JNM], National liberation & independence, post-colonialism [HBTR], African history [HBJH]