Decolonising our Institutions - A Conversation with Prof. Jonathan Jansen
Mar 10, 2024
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Exploring decolonization in education with Prof. Jonathan Jansen, tackling power structures and biases. Discussing the challenges of radical ideas in institutions, language barriers, and financial obstacles for students. Highlighting the complexities of decolonizing curriculum and promoting diverse national identities.
Decolonizing institutions involves challenging colonial legacies in education structures and content.
Language plays a pivotal role in decolonization efforts, balancing cultural identity and practicality.
Sustaining radical ideas within bureaucratic university structures presents significant hurdles to transformative change.
Economic disparities intersect with decolonization, highlighting privilege in engaging with curriculum discussions.
Deep dives
Challenges of Maintaining Radical Ideas within Institutions
Institutions, with their deep-rooted traditions, pose challenges in keeping radical ideas aligned. The historical tempering of radical notions within educational establishments highlights the difficulty. Significant questions arise around the content and structure of education, reflecting on what is taught, how it is taught, and where learning occurs.
Decolonization in Education: Origins and Catalysts
The decolonization discourse in education finds roots in movements like the Rhodes Must Fall and Fisma's Fall. These protests, originating around 2015 in South Africa, centered on dismantling symbols of colonialism and demanding decolonized education. Students demanded changes encompassing curriculum, faculty appointments, and institutional culture.
Complexities of Decolonizing Universities
Decolonizing universities involves navigating layers of colonial legacy entrenched in institutional structures. The challenge extends beyond content revision to addressing epistemological underpinnings. The structural import and export of colonial norms within universities highlight the intricate nature of decolonization efforts.
Struggles with Sustaining Radical Ideas
Sustaining radical ideas amidst institutional bureaucracy poses significant challenges. The bureaucratic processes inherent in universities have a tendency to normalize ideas, diluting their radical essence. The dilemma lies in maintaining the vitality of these ideas while navigating bureaucratic structures and preserving their transformative potential.
Role of Language in Decolonization Efforts
Language plays a crucial role in decolonizing efforts, reflecting both cultural identity and power dynamics. While promoting linguistic diversity is ideal, the pragmatic reality often favors English as a lingua franca due to global academic and economic interactions. The tension between linguistic preservation and practicality underscores complex decisions in decolonization.
Economic Realities and Decolonization Challenges
The intersection of economic disparities and decolonization efforts underscores privilege in engaging with decolonizing curriculum discussions. While decolonization debates predominantly occur in well-established universities, other protests prioritize access to education. The economic aspect of education entry and affordability parallels the intellectual and emotional challenges of decolonization.
Emotional Dimensions in Decolonizing Education
A critical but often overlooked aspect of decolonization is the emotional and human dimension intertwined with the intellectual pursuit. Emotional responses to injustice and cultural oppression influence decolonization movements. Acknowledging the emotional impact on students and academics illuminates the deeply personal engagement with the decolonization discourse.
How are the knowledge and skills that we choose to teach or not teach implicated in the power structures and political histories of the places in which we live?
Professor Jonathan Jansen (https://www.jonathanjansen.org/ ) is Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He is currently President of the South African Academy of Science and the Knight-Hennessey Fellow at Stanford University (2020).
In his work, Professor Jansen explores how we keep radical ideas alive in bureaucratic structures. Is there a destination we arrive at called a decolonised curriculum or is it an ongoing process of meeting power structures and institutionalised biases? What's the role of language in the decolonising process if we can't even communicate with each other? What is the role of education in constructing national identities in ways that are inclusive of the diversity of people in most communities?
