A Seat at the Table: Exploring the Truth of an Academic of Color in Higher Education

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Twelve
  In Roundtable Session: The Load Is Heavy: Examining the Experiences of Students of Color in Postsecondary Settings (Table 6)

Abstract

Informed by Freire’s (1970) views on oppressive systems, and ultimately its pervasive impact on education, this paper explores, through the eyes of one academic of colour, how truth is formulated to justify discrimination. The paper rests on the articulation of truth embedded within the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which positions truth as a fossilised product of an unjust past, of how it impacts on both the individual and society, and how it fundamentally redefines the view of the future. Combining these ideologies compels a rethinking of how knowledge is created and then of how this knowledge is then utilised to both challenge and communicate what comes to be expected as truth.

Author

• Pearl Subban, Monash University
  Presenting Author