Epistemic Justice and the Postcolonial University

This book addresses urgent current debates on decolonisation by offering reimagined teaching and learning interventions for obtaining greater epistemic justice in the contemporary postcolonial university. At a time when debates on decolonisation have gained urgency in academic, civic and public spaces, this interdisciplinary collection by authors based at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, serves as a valuable archive documenting and reflecting on a turbulent period in South African higher education. It is an important resource for academics looking to grasp debates on decoloniality both in South Africa, and in university and teaching spaces further afield. Calling for concerted and collaborative work towards greater epistemic justice across diverse disciplines, the book puts forward a new vision of the postcolonial university as one that enables excellent teaching and learning, undertaken in a spirit of critical consciousness and reciprocity.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Epistemic Justice and the University of Cape Town: Thinking Across Disciplines – Ruchi Chaturvedi, Shari Daya and Amrita Pande Part I: Aesthetics, Politics and Languages Chapter 1 Ukuhamba Ukubona/Travelling to Know: Mobility as Counter-Curriculum Across Africa – Nomusa Makhubu Chapter 2 Publics, Politics, Place and Pedagogy in Urban Studies – Rike Sitas Chapter 3 Imagining Southern Cities: Reflections on an Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Space – Shari Daya and Rike Sitas Chapter 4 Invoking Names: Finding Black Women’s Lost Narratives in the Classroom – Athambile Masola Part II: Justice, Curriculum and the Classroom Chapter 5 Decolonising Psychology in Africa: The Curriculum as Weapon – Shose Kessi and Hal Cooper Chapter 6 The Shards Haven’t Settled: Contesting Hierarchies of (Teaching) History – Koni Benson and Kerusha Govender Chapter 7 Heavy-handed Policing: Teaching Law and Practice to LLB Students in South Africa – Jameelah Omar Part III: Contested Histories and Ethical Spaces Chapter 8 African Studies at UCT: An Interview with Lungisile Ntsebeza – Sepideh Azari Chapter 9 The African Gender Institute: A Journey of Place-making – Kealeboga Mase Ramaru Chapter 10 The Ethic of Reconciliation and a New Curriculum – Ari Sitas Afterword – Amrita Pande, Ruchi Chaturvedi, Shari Daya

About the Author :
Amrita Pande is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Cape Town. Ruchi Chaturvedi is a political and legal anthropologist. She is a senior lecturer in the Sociology Department, University of Cape Town. Shari Daya is a senior lecturer in Human Geography in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town. Amrita Pande is Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Cape Town. Ruchi Chaturvedi is a political and legal anthropologist. She is a senior lecturer in the Sociology Department, University of Cape Town. Shari Daya is a senior lecturer in Human Geography in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town. Sepideh Azari is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cape Town. Koni Benson is a senior lecturer in the Department of History at the University of the Western Cape. Hal Cooper works in the education and development non-profit sector focusing on vocational training for youth and adult education in South Africa. Kerusha Govender is a tutor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. Shose Kessi is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. Nomusa Makhubu is an associate professor of Art History and Visual Culture and Deputy Dean of Transformation, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. Athambile Masola is a lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. Lungisile Ntsebeza is an emeritus professor and the holder of the A.C. Jordan Chair in African Studies at the University of Cape Town. He also holds the National Research Foundation (NRF) Research Chair in Land Reform and Democracy in South Africa. Jameelah Omar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. Kealeboga Ramaru is a feminist organiser based in Cape Town and the Democracy and Social Justice Programme Manager at Heinrich Boëll Foundation, Southern Africa. Ari Sitas is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town. Rike Sitas is an urban researcher and creative practitioner based in the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.