Re-imagining a decolonial university? exploring the voices of Black academics in the struggle for transformation in a South African higher education institution.

Abstract

The study reported in this dissertation was about re-imagining a decolonial university by exploring the voices of Black academics in the struggle for transformation in a South African higher education institution. This qualitative study, located in the critical paradigm, employed a single case study research methodology. 16 Black academics were purposively recruited to share their voices around their struggles for transformation in the university. To generate data, the study made use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The analysis of the data that emerged from this study occurred through inductive thematic analysis. The theoretical analysis of the data was informed by Nancy Frasers tripartite social justice framework which involved the economic, cultural, political and the later added on dimension, the epistemic dimension. The focus of the study was on Black academics who are seen as strange intruders, outsiders and pariahs of the academy due to a number of factors such as their race, identity, values, norms and cultural beliefs. The three Key Performance Areas (KPA’s) of an academic; teaching and learning, research and community engagement were the decolonial analytical frameworks that informed the study. The study was guided by two objectives: to explore the voices of Black academics in the struggles for transformation in a South African higher education institution and to understand the voices of Black academics’ in the struggles for transformation in a South African higher education institution. Major struggles for transformation raised by Black academics were the challenges of colonising languages of instruction, a highly Eurocentric curriculum, persistent colonial cultures of community engagement, research trajectories, publishing standards and criteria that draw from a European educational system. Similar to much of the literature, the Black academics raised that much African scholarship such as African indigenous epistemic traditions remained largely marginal, underused and undervalued in the South African higher education system. The findings of this study had broader implications for a future impactful university on the KPA’s of an academic. Informed by these findings; conclusions and recommendations on teaching, research and community engagement for re-imagining a decolonial university were made through a prosed social justice framework model.