In Pursuit of Epistemic Healing in South African Universities: Black Students’ Encounters with the Structural...

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Wanelisa Xaba (University of the Western Cape, South Africa)

In Pursuit of Epistemic Healing in South African Universities

Black Students’ Encounters with the Structural and Spiritual Violence of Coloniality in Higher...

Wanelisa Xaba (University of the Western Cape, South Africa)

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Paperback

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English

Routledge
30 September 2025

Colonialism & imperialism; Ethnic studies; Sociology; Social & cultural anthropology; Higher & further education, tertiary education

Series: Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies and Intersectionality

This book demonstrates the epistemic challenges in the South African education system and asks readers to think critically about the university's role in a decolonial future. Wanelisa Xaba reveals how Western colonial educational models severed indigenous ways of knowing and learning across the Global South and settler colonial contexts.

Presenting narratives capturing ongoing histories of violence, this book shows how Black South African students navigate intersecting identities of race, class, gender, and spirituality within university settings. It shows how racial discrimination from fellow students, academics, and staff, coupled with discriminatory language policies, financial exclusion, and violent colonial curricula, affects Black students' wellbeing on university campuses. Xaba argues that these intersecting colonial violences mirror spiritual violence, hinder their holistic citizenship in South African universities, and result in psycho-spiritual disease.

By centring Black students' voices, this book provides crucial insights for educators, policymakers, activists, healers, and institutions committed to creating affirming academic spaces and epistemic healing. It is an insightful read for scholars researching decoloniality in higher education, as well as students of feminist studies, decolonial theory, educational justice, and critical university studies.

By: Wanelisa Xaba (University of the Western Cape South Africa)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032777443
ISBN 10: 1032777443
Series: Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies and Intersectionality
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction: Iqhayiya nebhongo lam Prelude to Chapter One: Ukuphambana 1. Myths-education and Coloniality Prelude to Chapter Two: A prayer for ease in the bloodline 2. Current challenges in higher education Prelude to Chapter Three: A freedom chant 3. The decolonial difference Prelude to Chapter Four: An academia that breathes 4. A theory that offends and interrupts Prelude to Chapter Five: A Cultural Song 5. Black students’ experiences in basic education Prelude to Chapter Six: Six: Silver faucets 6. Basic Education in South Africa Prelude to Chapter Seven: Black Saints 7. Intersectional Experiences of Black students in Higher Education Prelude to Chapter Eight: White psychology, Black indecipherability and iThongo 8. Examining Spiritual violence and Epistemic Healing in universities Prelude to Chapter Nine: A landscape in mourning for me 9. To Burn or not to burn the colonial university?

Wanelisa Xaba is a queer activist, decolonial feminist researcher and storyteller passionate about decolonial Black futures. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Over the past ten years, Dr. Xaba has combined teaching, research, and social activism to advance education justice, Black feminism, and LGBTIQ+ rights in South Africa. She has lectured in undergraduate and postgraduate studies on LGBTIQ+ rights, queer theories, African feminism, post-colonial theories, decolonial theories, and education. She is a fierce advocate for her ancestors.