Knowledge in the Blood: Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past

Jonathan D. Jansen

Published by Stanford University Press 2009

Knowledge in the Blood

Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past

Jonathan D. Jansen

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804771160

Overview
Contents

About this book

Knowledge in the Blood offers a firsthand account, from the first black Dean of a historically white university, of how white South African students learn and confront the Apartheid past, and how this knowledge transforms students and teacher alike.

Author / Editor information

Jonathan D. Jansen is Honorary Professor of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand and Visiting Fellow at the National Research Foundation, both in South Africa. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University and Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria. His latest co-authored book is Diversity High: Class, Color, Character and Culture in a South African High School.

Reviews

Michael Fullan:
"Jonathan Jansen's stunning, deeply rounded story draws you in and never lets go. It is at once an autobiography and a socio-emotional political account of one of the most profound changes facing any nation, the transformation from Apartheid. As the first black Dean in a formerly all-white university, appointed long before the institution was ready for change, Jansen takes us on an incredible journey."

Diane Brook Napier:
"This book is a testament of hope and reconciliation. Jansen's microlevel detail and experiential knowledge provide evidence that the apartheid legacy is not insurmountable . . . Jansen offers valuable insights into universal issues of policy versus practice, ideal versus real, and the often-torturous route to enacting deep change in educational institutions. Anyone interested in the complexities of postapartheid South African education and life in general will find this book a must-read."

Library Journal:
"This is a brilliant book, weaving together a description of the integration of the student body and revision of the curriculum at the University of Pretoria, a sophisticated explanation of the transmission of historical knowledge, and a moving personal story. In 2000, Jansen became the first black dean of the faculty of education at the University of Pretoria, following a Fulbright grant to Stanford University and a career at black universities in South Africa. Jansen tells a moving personal story of his efforts—thoughtful and courageous—to open new educational directions for his students, their parents, and his colleagues and explains how family, church, schools, and media shaped an Afrikaans worldview that was transmitted to the next generation even after the end of legal apartheid. He uses philosophical and cognitive theories of historical knowledge to frame the human stories, comparing the South African context with post-Nazi Germany."

Eva Hoffman:
"Brave, discerning, and deeply affecting, this study of a South African institution in the midst of historic change, gives us profound insight into the challenges faced by the larger society, as it emerges from a bitterly divisive past into a more hopeful future. Bringing realism and rare moral generosity to the most difficult of conflicts, Jonathan Jansen illuminates the struggles faced by the inheritors of violence, as they move from pride and prejudice to a new and larger knowledge. An act of empathy as well as penetrating analysis, Knowledge in the Blood is an inspiring blueprint for thinking about social and personal transformation, and for extending to a problematic Other an understanding which includes both compassion and asense of justice."

Andy Hargreaves:
"Knowledge in the Blood conveys an extraordinary sense of time and place, bringing to life the fundamental questions of identity and humanity that students and faculty face in post-Apartheid South Africa. This compelling work casts light on culture, language, and race in a way that no other book ever has. It will undoubtedly command attention."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Glossary of Afrikaans Words, Names, and Phrases Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Prologue: Bearing Witness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Loss and Change Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
2. Indirect Knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
3. Sure Foundations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
4. Bitter Knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
5. Kollegas! (Colleagues!) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
6. Knowledge in the Blood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
7. Mending Broken Lines Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
8. Meet the Parents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
9. Teaching to Disrupt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 360

eBook

Published: April 7, 2009
ISBN: 9780804771160