Curiosity as ubuntu justice in higher education

ABSTRACT

Students, through teaching and learning, must reflect on what they do not know. It is only when they recognise what they know, and what they do not, that they will awaken to their own curiosity. The more they can open themselves to others and their epistemologies, the deeper their own self-reflection in relation to others. In this way, engendering curiosity opens students to the possibilities of other kinds of identities, thoughts, and actions, and hence, the value of all forms of knowledge. This article considers, firstly, the importance of deliberative encounters as opening opportunities for engendering curiosity in others’ traditions; secondly, for co-creating new knowledge in the interests of invoking transformative learning and action towards issues of common concern. And thirdly, by bringing into conversation democratisation and decolonisation, an argument is made for the cultivation of an ubuntu justice, which is not only concerned with recognising the Other, but is intent upon forgiveness and reconciliation.

KEYWORDS:

• Curiosity
• ubuntu justice
• democratic justice
• decolonisation
• democratisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Luister is a documentary about the lives of students of colour who attend Stellenbosch University, a South African institution of higher learning. In a series of interviews, students recount instances of racial prejudice that they continue to experience in the town of Stellenbosch, and the enormous challenges that they face due to the use of Afrikaans as a language of teaching at the university.