
Many educational systems around the world, including South Africa, were influenced by colonial powers. The dominant knowledge systems and curricular often reflected the Eurocentric perspectives and marginalized the indigenous knowledge people and culture. By challenging the notion that the western knowledge is superior, a seminar on interrogating whether the knowledge of the powerful is always powerful knowledge can contribute to the practical transformation of education and promote a more inclusive and diverse understanding of knowledge.
Sol Plaatje University’s (SPU’s) School of Education invites you to a hybrid seminar entitled: “Reimagining Higher Education: Is the Knowledge of the Powerful always Powerful Knowledge?” by Guest Speaker Professor E.M Mgqwashu. The seminar is aimed at addressing epistemic injustices by promoting space for alternative perspectives of knowledge systems to be recognized, valued, and incorporated into educational practices. Furthermore, the seminar is aimed at encouraging critical thinking and intellectual engagements.
Date: 12 June 2023
Time: 09:00 – 12:00PM (South African time)
Venue: Auditorium A, School of Education-Central Campus or join online here: https://bit.ly/3WTFH9J
Guest Speaker: Professor E. Mgqwashu-Director, CHE and Professional Development, North-West University (NWU).
Speaker Bio:
Professor Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu is a Full Professor in Higher Education studies, as well as an NRF rated researcher. He has served in various leadership and management roles across several universities. Prof Mgqwashu was the leading researcher in the project named “The influence of rurality on student trajectories through higher education: a view from the South. Prof Mgqwashu investigated how students negotiate the transition from school and home in rural communities to “university learning”. In addition to two doctoral students who graduated from the project, as well as six academic articles in local and international peer reviewed subsidy generating journals, a book entitled Rural Transitions to Higher Education in South Africa: Decolonial Perspectives was published in 2021 by Routledge.