Gazing at South African higher education transformation through the potential role of the Wesleyan quadrilateral: A theological approach

Mlamuli N Hlatshwayo,Thabile A Zondi

doi:10.4102/hts.v76i1.5782

Abstract

The 2015–2016 South African higher education student movements evoked critical conversations regarding the extent to which institutions of higher learning have transformed into democratic and inclusive spaces. One of the key gaps in this field is the paucity of research that explores the potential role of theology in steering the direction of transformation in South African higher education system. Through a Wesleyan approach, the paper argues that the four quadrilaterals of the Wesleyn approach, scripture, tradition, reason and experience will be used as a theological tool to weight beliefs in the levels of dogma and doctrine, opinion and so as not to confuse critical reflection with negativity and judgmentalism in critically reflecting on the South African higher education struggles for transformation and decolonization. In our attempt to contribute meaningfully to the broader debates, started by scholars such as Nadar and Reddy ( 2015 ) and more recently, Phiri and Nadar ( 2018 ), who locate their work in theology to think through gender, curriculum and African feminism differently, counter-hegemonically. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this emerging body of work by arguing that theology has a critical role to play in helping us to imagine what a transformed, inclusive and socially just higher education could look like.

Highlights

South African higher education is currently facing a crisis
Booi, Vincent and Liccardo (2017) report on the employment of ‘safe bets’ in South African higher education as a cultural reproduction phenomena, where universities are preoccupied with employing the ‘right kind of black’ whose experiences align with the normative cultural practices of the university and have normalised the practices of the dominant groups: Our findings suggest that senior white academics possess the means of cultural reproduction within the university structure because of their power to approve the ‘right type’ of black lecturers into academia who share the characteristics, values and normalised practices of the dominant group
We argue that the theological lens offers rich analytical insights into thinking seriously about the social justice nature of contested South African higher education struggles for transformation

Summary

Introduction

South African higher education is currently facing a crisis (see, e.g., Habib 2019; Heleta 2016; Mbembe 2015). We see this in South African higher education in which the intersectionality between space and oppression plays a significant role in alienating both black students and back academics who continue to feel isolated and pushed out through the often unseen institutional cultural practices, departmental meetings, coffee sessions and other events that serve as implicit and hidden social and cultural reproduction platforms that decide who can be an insider in the department or university, and who does not belong Commenting on this dialectical ‘outsider-within’ status, Khunou et al (2019) narrate their challenges of being academics who are seen as ‘quota candidates’, not taken seriously as researchers and the existential crisis of seeming like, and at times, being treated like an imposter, like one does not belong to what Spivak (2012) refers to as the ‘teaching machine’ of higher education. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. (Eph 4:28)

Conclusion and recommendations

Data availability statement