Decolonising our Institutions - A Conversation with Prof. Jonathan Jansen

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?

A selection of his most recent books:

Decolonisation in Universities: The Politics of Knowledge (2019) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Decolonisation_in_Universities/efWADwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 

The Decolonization of Knowledge: Radical Ideas and the Shaping of Institutions in South Africa and Beyond [with Cyrill A. Walters] (2022) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Decolonization_of_Knowledge/KNduEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 

Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities (2023) - https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Corrupted/saeUEAAAQBAJ

Social Links

X: @JJ_Stellies - https://twitter.com/JJ_Stellies⁠

LinkedIn: @jonathan-jansen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-jansen-543123b1/