After nearly three decades of changing, Stellenbosch University continues its process of removing colonial relics. Events such as the changing of names of buildings, or putting up structures that aim to honour an inclusive history, contribute to a greater conversation of transformation in higher education institutions. Visual change speaks to identity in transformation, which resonates with university students of today, sources told MatieMedia.
In June of this year, Stellenbosch University (SU) professors Aslam Fataar and Elmarie Constadius, published a book addressing the issue of transformation at SU through the lens of visual redress.
The book titled “Evoking Transformation: Visual Redress at Stellenbosch University” is a collaborative effort by academics in diverse fields from SU and other institutions, according to Fataar, SU professor in the Faculty of Education and Transformation Office. The book focuses solely on SU’s transformation journey starting from 1994 to the present day, says Fataar.
The book Evoking transformation: Visual redress at Stellenbosch University was co-edited by SU Professors: Aslam Fataar, professor in the Faculty of Education and SU’s Transformation Office, and Elmarie Costandius, coordinator of Arts Education in the Department of Visual Arts. PHOTO: Sourced/ Aslam Fataar
“Transformation has been occurring [at SU] over the last two decades, but during the last two years, more projects were implemented, especially after 2016 with the student protests,” according to Costandius, coordinator of Arts Education in the Department of Visual Arts.
“The book created a space to reflect on the implementations and also learn from the feedback that we will get regarding the projects,” says Consandius.
The nature of change at Stellenbosch University
“In 1994, Stellenbosch University (SU) was a particular kind of animal because of its history, its baggage and visual image…its culture, its buildings,” according to Fataar.
A large part of change is governed by what we see, says Fataar. “But the point is that we have to go beyond such symbolised change, to move toward substantive change in the functioning of the university,” he adds.
However, institutions do not simply transform because of a call to change, according to Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor of education at SU.
“One should expect transformation to be an issue for decades to come,” says Jansen, explaining that it is not in the nature of an institution to change. “Institutions,” he argues, “are value-based entities and built for long-term stability; as institutions, their default reaction is to resist change and transformation.”
That is as true of the church as it is of universities, says Jansen.
In 2015, the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall movements gained urgent public attention in higher education, says Jansen.
However, when the protestors were no longer breathing down the necks of university leaders, pressuring them to make changes, the urgency to change subsided, says Jansen. Jansen and a post-doctoral fellow, Cyrill Agnes Walters, recently completed a study on this topic, which will be published next year under the title, The decolonization of knowledge.
“You would have sworn in 2015 everybody wanted to do decolonisation,” he says. “At [SU] committees were set up, funding allocated, senate commissioned task teams, and scores of meetings were convened on the subject. But the moment students took their foot off the pedal ‒ do people still talk about decolonisation today? No, because the pressure is off.”
Students come, and students go
Students tend to lead the change, says Jansen, but explains that, once they have concluded their studies they leave. Then their transformation footholds disintegrate. And seldom do institutional leaders keep the issue of change on the agenda, he adds.
“In their curriculum, their culture, their composition… institutions tend to stay the same rather than to change, despite the valiant efforts by people who try to change it,” says Jansen.
“Too many in education still think of the hard work in addressing transformation as a bother until it becomes a crisis such as when student protests take place,” according to Ronelle Carolissen, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at SU.
Students are only at SU for a limited time, whereas employees can remain for decades, says Viwe Kobokana, the chairperson of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and former SRC transformation officer.
Kobokana suggests that students establish institutional ties so that their work can be outlived. Students and student leaders should build networks with the various divisions at SU, such as at Facilities Management, Transformation Office and Disability Unit, says Kobokana, explaining that these are the divisions that students can facilitate projects with to bring about change.
“One needs to identify allies amongst the different divisions and work with people who will help ensure that their work does not leave with them,” says Kobokana.
Talking about transformation
Carolissen highlights the importance of transformation discourses from a micro-and macro-level. There has been some progress on the transformation front on a macro-level, which gives marginalised groups access to higher education. However, “today, access and opportunity are still contested because the structural dynamics that hold privilege in place still exist and need to be highlighted and discussed honestly,” says Carolissen.
“Internationally, like in SA, research shows that the groups who benefit most from affirmative action policies are firstly white women, then black men and lastly black women,” explains Carolissen.
According to Carolissen, on a micro-level, when marginalised groups have access to higher education, they experience discrimination and assault of their character.
Carolissen proposes that everyone should educate themselves on the behavioural patterns and comments that might offend different groups.
“We should then try to change what we do and say so that we can be part of the solution to realising transformation in organisations,” says Carolissen.
Transformation beneath the visual surface
By writing the book, there is a hope that faculties across SU campus and other universities reform their visual surroundings by implementing visual redress projects, says Costandius.
And, through the process of visual redress and the “collective learning methodology”, it could influence the institutional culture to change, according to Costandius.
“The Circle” is a bronze sculptural project on the Rooiplein. The project “would bring many of our historical or present/future leaders together […] This idea would be to symbolise the need for humility and to practically sit down and listen to one another,” Prof Elmarie Costandius, coordinator of Arts Education in the Department of Visual Arts at Stellenbosch University, wrote in Evoking transformation: Visual redress at Stellenbosch University. PHOTO: Kyra Rensburg
“[Transformation] for the young people of today, compared to the past, it means being conscious of self-identity and embracing personal values,” according to Dr Zethu Mkhize, head of the transformation office at SU.
According to Kobokana, visual redress might speak to identity on a superficial level. However, if it is not done correctly it is insignificant to students, says Kobokana. Most students do not identify with what is on the walls or the name of the building, she says. Therefore change needs to speak to an inner-identity as well, she adds.
“It is telling a newcomer that who they are matters, and that they are capable of contributing to the world so much so that their name can also one day be on a building,” says Kobokana.
According to Fataar, that is what visual redress aims to achieve; going beyond exterior change.
“Visual redress establishes a welcoming culture for everyone – a culture that when you walk in the buildings you feel that you are visible, you are being seen,” says Fataar. However, “if you don’t change in the practical dimensions of the university then all these visual culture representations – visual redress – will come to nothing. Will be meaningless. Will be experienced as a kind of betrayal,” Fataar adds.
According to Mkhize, individuals can contribute to transformation by “making a resolve to be knowledgeable rather than ignorant, being objective in a decolonial conversation rather than personal and evasive, and by ensuring that opinions are informed by facts and not emotions.”
Following the 2015 student movements, there has been more pressure for the university to maximise change, according to Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor of education at SU. Since the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall movements, the university has implemented more transformation projects such as “The Circle” on the Rooiplein, the removal of the Verwoerd plaque in the Van der Sterr building and renaming the Wilcocks Building, to name a few, says Dr Leslie van Rooi, senior director of social impact and transformation at SU. PHOTOS: Kyra Rensburg