The University of Pretoria (UP) recently hosted the launch of the book Institutional Curiosity, which was edited by Mary Crewe, former Advisor on Special Projects to the UP Executive. The book is a collection of essays and reflections by UP academics across various faculties.  The authors reimagine the University’s ability to ”self-reflect”, looking at the layers of history and how it might look in the future.

“In this collection we are creating narratives of transformation,” Crewe said at the launch. “The distinction here is that they are narratives of transformation rather than for transformation. The pressures of work, teaching, exams, marking, and all that goes with this tends to take the edge and the shine off being curious, refusing to accept the taken-for-granted, the dominant explanations of the society and the world. We hope we have started to put back some of that shine – some of that edge.”

The idea for this publication came after the Senate conference of 2021, which was themed ‘Re-Imagining UP: Frontlines, Intersections and Opportunities’. In a subsequent discussion between Crewe and the late Professor Christof Heyns, former Director of UP’s Centre for Human Rights, the idea was born to expand the scope and theme of ‘re-imagination’ through the participation of academics and scholars who may not have been at the Senate conference, who were not Deans or HODs, or members of any of the many and influential University committees.

UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe told the audience that curiosity is the bedrock of knowledge and academic work. “When we lose our intellectual curiosity, we cease to be effective in fostering debate and challenging our colleagues and students. Intellectual curiosity is what drives our research, our quest to break barriers, to create new narratives and ideas, and to engage in new theories and possibilities. Essentially it is about interrogating the past and present, being curious about what we may be able to do in the future, and how we may shape our interactions with our colleagues, alumni, and students.”

Before the publication of these essays, calls were made from across all faculties to write about their ideas around possible futures for the institution.

Dr Nisa Paleker, Senior Lecturer in UP’s Department of Historical and Heritage Studies, re-imagined UP as an activist academy, where the academy itself is considered a site of activism where ideas are challenged, where transformation occurs, and where students learn tools, strategies and tactics geared towards social and epistemic change.

“In the academy, we are all activists by how we strive to teach our students to think critically about the world as Kathy Hytten argues, and in the process change students’ ideas about issues of injustice, privilege, power and entitlement. We ask them to question assumptions, critique, read against the grain, consider alternative viewpoints, interpret meaningfully, and consider context. In this sense then, the academy itself is an activist space where ideas are challenged, where transformations occur and where we and our students learn tools, strategies and tactics geared towards social and epistemic change,” she said. 

Crewe said calls will be made for new submissions and new ideas, coming from a different time and new context as the academic year progresses. People who wished to be part of this publication but for whatever reason were unable to complete their contributions will have another opportunity to write. “The critical reflections of students should be included in the next volumes. Students across years and disciplines can offer fascinating insights to how they imagine a university of the future to be shaped,” she said.

To download the book for free, click here.