THE DECOLONIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE, radical ideas and the shaping of institutions in South Africa and beyond

267pp., paperback, Cambridge, 2022

Jonathan Jansen and Cyrill Walters on how institutions have engaged with, subverted, and transformed the decolonization movement since #RhodesMustFall student protests in 2015. Based on interviews with more than two hundred academic teachers at ten universities.

"The movement to ‘decolonize’ South African universities has produced far more heat than light. In this sober, brave, deeply empathetic book, Jansen and Walters look beyond the slogans and posturing to illuminate not only the failings but also the achievements and possibilities of the struggle for radical educational change." James T. Campbell, Stanford University

"This theoretically contextualized investigation situates the problem of doing radical curriculum transformation within the dynamics of institutional intransigence, biographies of academic innovators, and the struggle for epistemic justice. It has profound intellectual and practical significance for academics and activists in South Africa and beyond." Joyce King, Georgia State University

Jonathan Jansen is Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and President of the Academy of Science of South Africa. His recent publications include Fault Lines: A primer on race, science and society; Learning under Lockdown: Voices of South Africa's children and Learning Lessons.

Cyrill Walters is a Research Fellow in Higher Education at Stellenbosch University, and teaches on the MBA programme at Stellenbosch University Business School.