This excerpt is from the recently published book, The Black Atlantic’s Triple Burden: Slavery, Colonialism and Reparations (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2024)
The fight for equality is valid but the burning down of our universities is not the revolution or decolonisation any of us should want
This week, the Black People’s National Crisis Committee (BPNCC) said it would intensify protest if activists are not listened to.
It is misleading to use Nelson Mandela’s name to defend the Cecil John Rhodes statue
The youth of today can learn from the youth of 1976, who rose up and rejected the Bantu education system
In South Africa, police brutality and violence affect black, working- class lives in particular. We must dismantle this systemic oppression
Varsities are determined to complete the first semester even if it hinders some students
A fresh look at the Fees Must Fall student movement sadly fails to fulfil its promise
Many universities have embraced transformation as an imperative that seeks to eradicate colonial, apartheid and imperial legacies
Choosing not to vote is a democratic choice, which can send a powerful message to those who harp on about those who died to make it possible
African history is essential to recovering our past and linking it to the continent and the world
The first bid to place Africa at the heart of literary studies took place in Kenya
A report compiled by the UCT curriculum change working group shows that coloniality remains a problem at the university
The future of students and the institutions that teach them can be advanced if they are transformed
Black Academic Caucus responds to the backlash of the white liberal establishment despite the revolutionary changes that took place at UCT.
Understanding how these are used to mobilise people will advance our democratic project
The #RhodesMustFall movement may have began because of a statue but it did so much more
We need to address student failure as a factor in their anger towards universities
In the discipline’s top-down approach the ‘patient’ is the the problem rather than the system
Decolonised education is one that incorporates local information that is relevant to all learners
Mamdani looks at the history and ideologies that have shaped African universities and points to Afrikaans as an example of successful decolonisation
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh’s dual release of a politically charged record and book was influenced by his father.
Shifting perspectives as well as transposing characters and concepts, Nwabisa Plaatjie gives a new spin to an old play
Students agree it can’t happen overnight but they want an exact date from the state
Un/Settled is a documentary and multimedia project that explores “white” identity in South Africa as it is destabilised and questioned.
Dinnertime banter made way for political debate when the Tipgate Oxford Rhodes scholar dined with like-minded supporters this week.
As debates rage about Qwabe’s treatment of a white waitress and the money donated to her thereafter, Sipho Hlongwane asks a question left unanswered.
In this edited extract, As Real as the Smell of Rain on Dry Earth, Richard Pithouse reflects on change at Rhodes, where he teaches politics.
Local writer sets a new agenda and moves the Time of the Writer Festival out of its ivory tower.