Jonathan Jansen is one of the foremost contemporary South African academics. He is now the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Free State. UFS is quite possibly the most conservative, steadfastly Afrikaans educational institution in South Africa. Jansen is a Black South African who from 2000-2007 served as the Dean of the Education College at University of Pretoria (where I am working). He has written a book about his experiences entitled Knowledge in the Blood. The book is not merely a recounting of events during his tenure. Rather, it resonates on a much deeper level, serving as a unique insight into the post-Apartheid landscape.
Being an all-white and all-Afrikaans speaking University until 94-95, there has been tremendous pressure for the university (and all South African institutions really) to transform. However, transformation is not a smooth ride. Jansen came in as one of the few non-white people in any position of power within the University. His experiences are fascinating. Moreover, Jansen (a fantastic writer) supplements and enriches the text by exploring larger issues of historical memory, liberatory education, the psychology of the oppressed, the politics of language, and what it means to be white in the new South Africa. Again, he has a truly remarkable perspective on what he witnessed. This, coupled with the fact that he is a scholar of monumental proportions (the bibliography in exhasutive!) makes this a must-read for anyone interested in South Africa.
Here is the Amazon page for the book.
Here is an interview with him.
Here is a recent article about a new institute for studying Race and Reconciliation opening at UFS.
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