The South African Higher Education Transformation Journey

Professor Grace Khunou is a sociologist and the acting executive director of the Department of Leadership and Transformation at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her research focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and class, with a strong commitment to decolonizing and transforming higher education. She is an experienced editor, researcher, and thought leader in the field of higher education transformation. As an editor of Transforming Higher Education Scholarship after COVID-19 and in the Context of the 4th Industrial Revolution, she brings a critical perspective on the challenges and possibilities of academic transformation in South Africa. Prof. Khunou is a co-editor of Black Academic Voices: the South African Experience, an award-winning landmark work on the lived experiences of Black scholars in South African universities. Dr. Nompumelelo Zodwa Radebe is a senior lecturer and chair of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of South Africa. Her research focuses on African epistemology, transformation, and decolonisation. She has written extensively on these topics, and her publications include a co-authored book titled Still to be Named: An Exploration of African Epistemologies, which utilizes Simphiwe Dana’s selected works, as well as a co-edited book titled, Azibuye Emasisweni: Reclaiming Our Space and Centring Our Knowledge. She has redeveloped several modules in the discipline of anthropology as part of curriculum transformation. Her research interest is in exploring African epistemology to expand on theories that address global challenges. Drawing on her anthropological expertise, she uses isiZulu to theorize and provide evidence of African ways of knowing and being in the world.