Aasif Bulbulia (picture: provided)
Reflecting on the Race and Transformation in Higher Education Conference, 15-17 November, Stellenbosch University
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From 15 to 17 November 2022, I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the Race and Transformation in Higher Education Conference that was hosted by Stellenbosch University. My intention for writing this op-ed is to reflect deeply on what the experience signified and what we learned from both the morning sessions and our site visits to spaces in and around Stellenbosch.
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From 15 to 17 November 2022, I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the Race and Transformation in Higher Education Conference that was hosted by Stellenbosch University. My intention for writing this op-ed is to reflect deeply on what the experience signified and what we learned from both the morning sessions and our site visits to spaces in and around Stellenbosch.
I approached the conference as someone who will, God-willing, be completing a Master’s in Education Policy Studies through Stellies over the next couple of years. It is this part of me that wanted to develop a deeper understanding of the context of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc in Stellenbosch, and the extent to which this context enables or forecloses the realisation of more just, dignified and equitable futures. It was with this core intention that I registered for the conference, in the hope that it would shed some light on these questions.
My entering into Stellenbosch as an outsider to the town felt jarring. As I walked down Van Riebeeck Street to get to the conference venue, I couldn’t help but wonder as to what historical narratives of Jan van Riebeeck are taught in this town that would continue to warrant streets being named after him, 28 years into a seemingly post-apartheid dispensation. Whose narratives are consequently left out, silenced or conveniently ignored? What role have these narratives (or the violent erasure thereof) played in shaping the foundations on which this town was built? And how might decolonisation as a reclamation and recentring of marginalised historical narratives function to challenge these foundations and enable new ways of being – that aren’t premised on white supremacy and anti-blackness – to be embodied? Such questions are not limited to street names, but are intrinsically tied to the theme of visual redress at the university, which the conference explored.
The conference required us to reflect deeply on the meanings of transformation in the context of a university that has a long, complex history which is intrinsically connected to the development of Afrikaner nationalist ideologies and theologies, the institutionalisation of apartheid, and the formalisation of ideas that continue to shape and inform racialised relationships and configurations of power within and beyond the town. Building on the critical interventions of the Fallist movements, it challenged us to hold the institution of Stellenbosch University accountable to its purported values and commitments, given the roles that it continues to play – through its structures, policies and institutional cultures – in maintaining patterns of exclusion and marginalisation.
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Whose narratives are consequently left out, silenced or conveniently ignored? What role have these narratives (or the violent erasure thereof) played in shaping the foundations on which this town was built?
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It is these roles that Justice Sisi Khampepe sought to investigate through the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Racism at Stellenbosch University. The immediate context of the conference was the recent release of the commission’s report, which confirmed (albeit not in these words) what many black students at the university have been saying for years: that the cumulative effect of exclusionary language policies, unwillingness to uproot cultures of white supremacy that are embedded in the university’s foundations, and failure to deal decisively with racists who are hell-bent on obstructing any efforts towards transformation, is the reproduction of an institutional culture that is not just unwelcoming, but deeply dehumanising. In so doing, the report highlights that racism needs to be dealt with not in terms of isolated incidents, but on deeper systemic, institutional and cultural levels, of which such incidents are a reflection. The report was the focus of a panel discussion, and panellists built consensus around the need for the university to adopt and act on its practical recommendations.
Despite the inherent limitations of attempting to engage transformation work through a university – which is constrained by colonial logics and epistemologies – the conference did, at the very least, create opportunities for new shifts and insights to emerge. From what I was able to observe, the conference allowed us to crystallise our intentions; to build community with people who are sincerely committed to effecting change within their respective spheres of influence; and to see ourselves in relation to the systems and communities of which we are a part, including the university as it shapes and relates to the broader context of Stellenbosch.
In addition to creating a space for conceptual insights about race and institutional transformation to be presented, our being in places such as Lynedoch, Cloetesville, Kayamandi, the Moederkerk, etc – all of which continue to be shaped and conditioned by colonial relations of power – illustrated the ethical urgency of taking this work seriously. Moreover, these visits forced us to reckon with the more problematic aspects of the university’s relationship with neighbouring communities, including the tendency towards deeply extractive patterns of research, the reproduction of racist tropes in how people from communities are represented (as argued by Professor Jonathan Jansen in his keynote address), and the relative lack of attention paid to structural barriers that prevent black school students from accessing the university in the first place.
On a more personal level, these site visits gave us an opportunity to reflect on how race conditions and shows up in our own lives, especially as some participants came from the very communities that we visited. It was particularly moving to witness just how deeply the discourse that collectively emerged from the conference resonated with people – be it in terms of those who, in their own lives, have had to overcome significant structural barriers to be where they are today, or those who demonstrated a willingness to listen and connect to the pain that their own ancestors wrought as architects of the very systems that we are now trying to change. The conference played a significant role in opening up space for these conversations.
While there are those who choose to live in denial about the prevalence of systemic and institutional racism, the fact of the matter is that all of us have a vested interest in being free of these systems – systems which have, for so long, conditioned us to view ourselves and each other through the lens of white supremacy. These systems have entrenched harmful and oppressive ways of being, which don’t dehumanise just those on the receiving end of oppression, but also those who seemingly benefit from these systems (to paraphrase Paulo Freire). These systems have done little to facilitate the sort of deep healing and reparation (in material, psychosocial and relational terms) that our society so desperately needs. Until and unless we commit to acknowledging, understanding and repairing the harm that these systems have caused, and until we recognise that transformation in its deepest sense must bring about a change in the condition of our hearts – in conjunction with political will, tangible action and a commitment to the systematic overhaul of society’s oppressive structures – we will continue to obstruct the realisation of more dignified, loving and just futures.
Also read:
Internasionale konferensie: Slow intimacy (Langsame intimiteit)
Universiteitseminaar: Jan Heunis SC beskou die Khampepe-verslag
Konstitusionele Hof, Gelyke Kanse en Universiteit Stellenbosch
Gelyke Kanse-inisiatief bou momentum: Breyten Breytenbach rig ope brief aan US-rektor
Stellenbosch language debate: Speech by David Jantjies at the DAK meeting with the SAHRC
DAK Netwerk language submission: A petition to the Minister of Higher Education
Afrikaans oorleef by US solank dit "redelikerwys doenlik" is
US-taalbeleid: Breyten Breytenbach reageer op Anton van Niekerk se brief
Baqonde-meertaligheidsprojek: "Laat hulle verstaan" (en laat die tegnologie help)
BAQONDE and multilingual education in South Africa: An interview with Lorna Carson
A response to Marlene van Niekerk’s contribution to the Stellenbosch University language debate
Persverklaring: Universiteit Stellenbosch is verbind tot meertaligheid
Persverklaring: StudentePlein oorweeg appèlopsies ná hofuitspraak in US-taalsaak
Reaksie op Andrew Nash: "Kan die Akademie uitnemendheid oorleef?"
BAQONDE, boosting the use of African language in education: an interview with Bassey Antia
Kommentaar
Van Riebeeck is deel van wit Suid-Afrikaners se agtergrond, of Bulbulla nou daarvan hou of nie en hulle het net soveel reg om iets na hom te vernoem as enige ander groep die reg het om hul eie kulturele/geskiedkundige erfenis op daardie manier te eer.
In 'n betoog wat ooglopend toon dat hy geen kulturele ruimte aan wittes gun nie, skryf hy onder andere: “ I couldn’t help but wonder as to what historical narratives of Jan van Riebeeck are taught in this town that would continue to warrant streets being named after him, 28 years into a seemingly post-apartheid dispensation. Whose narratives are consequently left out, silenced or conveniently ignored?”
So asof daar geen ander strate of geboue is wat na ander persone vernoem kan word nie.
Maar Leon; antwoord die vraag - watter narratiewe van Van Riebeeck word in die dorp aangebied? Is dit die storie van oorwinning oor die mense wat in hierdie streek was voordat hy in die Kaap aangekom het of is dit die storie van die uitwissing van hierdie mense? Word lg. se storie enigsins vertel en is dit nie die rol van skole en universteite om multimensioneel om te gaan met ons geskiedenis nie? Ek dink dit is wat die skrywer vra. Hoe ons hom antwoord is baie belangrik vir ons pad vorentoe, maw nie net een narratief nie.
Anton, ek sal uiters verbaas wees as vR as held uitgebeeld word in enige narratief behalwe dié van ver regse kringe. Afgesien van enige ander oorwegings, gesien die heersende klimaat in meeste/byna alle universiteite, sal dit loopbaan selfmoord beteken om die teendeel te beweer. Maak nie saak wat mens van hom dink nie, hy was ‘n betekenisvolle figuur in die geskiedenis van ‘n deel van SA se bevolking
Ek is al dekades bewus van wat aan die destydse inwoners van die Kaap gedoen is (en ek is nie eers ‘n historikus nie), so dis nie asof dit doelbewus verswyg word nie.
As mense dus ‘n straat na vR wil vernoem, laat hulle so maak. En as mense ‘n gebou na Shaka wil vernoem, go for it! Vir meeste samelewings is sommige figure dit werd (al was hulle goed EN sleg) om standbeelde/vernoemings te kry. Dalk kan mens die streep trek by Verwoerd.
Jy vra: “ is dit nie die rol van skole en universteite om multimensioneel om te gaan met ons geskiedenis nie?”
Natuurlik is dit, en ek het nie die teendeel beweer nie. Om die waarheid te sê ek het daardie onderwerp nie eers aangeraak nie. Die feit is egter (ongelukkig) dat geskiedenis (en baie ander vakke) deesdae, ten minste in Noord-Amerikaanse en Britse universiteite) nie so aangebied word nie. Moontlik sal jy onderstaande skakel interessant vind.
Groete en dankie vir jou respons.
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