#  Jonathan Jansen 

Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University

 

 

 



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Jonathan Jansen is Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and immediate past President of the Academy of Science of South Africa. In the mornings he works as a turnaround specialist (and grade 9 science teacher) at a high school near the family home and the rest of the day as researcher, writer and mentor at his university. He leads the Future Professors Program funded by the South African government to mentor and teach young academics from 26 public universities in the arts of becoming a professor; his co-edited book, on becoming a scholar, is available online.

A curriculum theorist, much of his research over the past decade has been concerned with the problem of knowledge in universities as institutions. A series of recent books indicates his specific intellectual interests in this regard: The decolonization of knowledge (Cambridge); The politics of knowledge in the biomedical sciences (Springer); and On discovery: how knowledge is generated across the disciplines (Cambridge, forthcoming).

He is a columnist for The Times, a public speaker at schools and in communities, a development activist in former white schools concerned about racial equity, and in township schools concerned about academics. His life story is captured in the 2-24 memoir, Breaking Bread (Jonathan Ball Publishers) while other details about his work are available on the site [jonathanjansen.org](https://jonathanjansen.org/).