Leading South African Academic to Speak About Race at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Jonathan Jansen, a South African scholar and political activist whose life has been dedicated to advocating on issues of social justice and political change,  will give a lecture, titled “Talking Across Race,” on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:15 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk is sponsored by the Teacher Education Program and the Office of Multicultural Education.

The talk is based on his latest book, Knowledge in the Blood (Stanford University Press), which is due out in April. The book examines fundamental questions that students and educators face in post-Apartheid South Africa.

Jansen, born in Mantagu, Western Cape, South Africa, has recently been appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State in South Africa. Prior to this role, he served as an honorary professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and as a visiting fellow at the National Research Foundation, both in South Africa. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D. in political science, and he also served as dean of education at the University of Pretoria. In addition to his Ph.D., Jansen also holds an MSc from Cornell University in curriculum and instruction in science education.

As a leading academic in South Africa, Jansen holds positions on a number of boards and fulfills many leadership roles. Some of his recent memberships include the Board of Global Development for Peace and Leadership, Cape Town; the Advisory Board for the Centre for the Study of the Internationalization of Curriculum Studies, University of British Columbia; and the International Commission on the Child, Washington D.C.

Jansen has a long and distinguished publishing record, and has served as editor for important publications such as Educational Administration Quarterly and the International Journal of Educational Research.