Gatekeeping educational equity: the decolonization of the South African university

• In Event: Inequality, decolonization and cooperation for higher education in Africa

Proposal

Currently in South Africa, university student bodies are rattled, inciting protests under transformation movements such as “Rhodes Must Fall”, “Fees Must Fall”, and “Afrikaans Must Fall.” The South African university is undoubtedly being pushed not only to transform but recontextualize itself to give a more complete and inclusive history of Africa. Our poster will capture some of the existing knowledge that contributes to the recontextualization of the South African university and highlights South African perspectives on the meanings, boundaries, and goals of the decolonization movement. In this process, we argue that racial and ethno-linguistic inequalities originally caused by colonization and systematized under Apartheid, in fact, still exist in large part due to educational gatekeeping, both in terms of content and structure. Through our work, we illustrate how inequality manifests within South African higher education and resultant lessons that will interest practitioners and researchers focusing on themes of inequality, inclusion, exclusion, and post-colonial education systems.

Framework and Methods

Under white domination, Africans have been presented with three options: to assimilate to, amalgamate into, or separate from whites, ignoring identities and voices from an African perspective (Dekker and Yan Schalkwyk, 1990 in Xulu, 2015, p. 156). Today’s South African universities are at their core colonial institutions, modeled after Western ideas and created through the viewpoint of those who have dominated the region since colonial times. Conversely, scholars of decolonization focus on the intellectual emancipation and agency of the Global South (Bhambra, 2014; Grosfoguel, 2011; Grosfoguel, 2007), arguing that critical intellectual agency must shift its “locus of enunciation”, recentering these voices from the periphery, thus dismantling the colonial “matrix of power” and allowing multiple narratives an equal and equitable chance to speak from the center (Grosfoguel, 2007, pp. 213-214; Mignolo, 2009, p. 166; Mignolo, 1995, p. 329).

This research study relies on qualitative methods to glean perspectives of students and university actors in the following four areas: opinions regarding the term decolonization and the movement surrounding it; the structure of schooling and the theory of change; the role of decolonization; and an individual’s experience with the South African education system. Data was collected through twelve participant observations, eight personal communications, two informal semi-structured focus groups, and one formal semi-structured interview. The data collected was coded, analyzed, and used to inform our findings and discussion.

Findings and Significance

In the South African university, we find gatekeeping, by educators and institutions, whether intentional or privileged, to be a fundamental way in which the legacies of colonialism are preserved. We posit that “structural gatekeeping” at universities is occurring through staffing, student retention, language, and privileging practices and policies. Essentially, educators and university officials act as gatekeepers through the voices they praise, the authors and theories they privilege, and the students they silence. Our interviewees assert that reform should introduce perspectives different from the reigning colonial mindset, calling for a generosity of intellectual traditions. A major step towards a decolonized campus is for educators and institutions to be generous in the resources and narratives they privilege, removing barriers to inclusion and equality.

Additionally, we found decolonization was defined by our subjects through either a colonized or decolonized perspective, depending on an individual’s epistemological location. From a colonized perspective, the definition of decolonization is couched in economics, based on simply redistributing resources to achieve decolonization. To this end, it is seen as a zero-sum game of resources, space, and power between a black and white divide. On the other hand, decolonization is also seen through a decolonized lens. In this, there is a call for epistemic change and education to include the voice of the black South African. Through this perspective, decolonization is seen as the decentering of the Western voice, shifting vocabulary from a white to black profile.

As claimed by the student-led decolonization movements in South Africa, education that solely focuses on the needs and narratives of the center runs the risk of being inequitable and exclusive. By understanding the South African context, we hope to encourage researchers and education practitioners to reflect on their own practices and systems, decentering their respective lenses to embrace inclusive narratives while facing the gatekeeping of inequality of which they may be a part of. The periphery in every society must be given the opportunity to develop the vocabulary and tools they feel they need to reclaim their identity, dignity, and voice, recentering education and equality in ways that so far have not been mapped.

References

Bhambra, G. K. (2014). Postcolonial and decolonial dialogues. Postcolonial Studies, 17(2), 115-121.

Grosfoguel, R. (2007). The Epistemic Decolonial Turn: Beyond Political-Economy Paradigms 1. Cultural studies, 21(2-3), 211-223.

Grosfoguel, R. (2011). Decolonizing post-colonial studies and paradigms of political-economy: Transmodernity, decolonial thinking, and global coloniality.: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(1).

Mignolo, W. (1995). On Modernity, Colonization, and the Rise of Occidentalism. The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality and Colonization.

Mignolo, W. D. (2009). Epistemic disobedience, independent thought and decolonial freedom. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(7-8), 159-181.

Xulu, V. S. (2015, July). The place of African renaissance in South African education. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 8(2), 151-248.

Authors

• Sarah Sualehi, New York University

• Pamela Montalbano, New York University