A tale of two apartheids: Settler colonialism and subjugation in South African and Israeli higher education
- Savo Heleta, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa
- Naiefa Rashied, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
- Maya Wind , University of California, Riverside
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How, and to what extent, do apartheid regimes, ideologies, policies, and practices impact higher education? In this webinar, we will discuss the role of universities in apartheid, settler colonialism and racial supremacy. We will focus on higher education in apartheid South Africa and Israel, unpacking the role of higher education systems, institutions and scholars in othering and subjugating Black and Palestinian people, respectively, and enabling, facilitating, justifying and/or participating in crimes against humanity. Finally, we will address the importance of international academic solidarity with the oppressed and discuss the strategic role of academic boycotts and the global movement to decolonise higher education.
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Savo Heleta is a Bosnian researcher with more than ten years’ experience in South African higher education. His research focuses on decolonisation of knowledge, higher education internationalisation, international research collaboration, foreign aid flows to higher education, and rebuilding higher education after violent conflict. He has worked on post-war peacebuilding and youth leadership development projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1998-2002) and post-war capacity building and leadership development in South Sudan (2009-2013). Survivor of the Bosnian war, he is the author of Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (Amacom Books, 2008). Savo is a research associate with Nelson Mandela University’s Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET) in South Africa.
Naiefa Rashied is a senior lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research focuses on decoloniality, reimagining economic frameworks, and advocating for pluralistic economic thought. She has actively challenged mainstream economic narratives as the current chair of the College of Business and Economics Decolonisation Committee. Deeply rooted in the principles of decoloniality, Naiefa’s work seeks to reimagine economic frameworks that are more inclusive and just by providing theoretical and practical insights into challenging oppressive structures and fostering liberatory pedagogical practices within higher education institutions.
Maya Wind is a President’s and Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Black Study and Media & Cultural Studies at the University of California, Riverside, United States. Her work investigates the reproduction of settler societies and global systems of militarism and policing. Her first book, Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom (Verso, 2024), won the outstanding book award from the American Educational Researcher Association Division of Curriculum Studies and is forthcoming in Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. Maya is a fellow at and a fellow at the Freedom and Justice Institute of Scholars for Social Justice, and researches, writes, and teaches in collaboration with coalitions organising for abolition, demilitarisation, and decolonisation.