Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper draws on the experiences of eight academic staff members who have taken actions that contributed to the transformation of university structures, relations, and practices at one university in South Africa. It adopts a hermeneutic, phenomenological lens to understand the lived experiences of participants’ in having agency and taking action towards transformation. This lens enables an understanding of their experience as grounded within specific contexts. Findings from the analysis of the in-depth interviews with participants revealed that the underlying catalyst which drives an individual to involve her/himself in actions that effects change within her/his immediate context is “a coming to consciousness.” Becoming “conscious,” lays the requisite foundation for being able to identify the discourses, practices, and ways of being that allow for the marginalisation of the “other” within an individual agent’s context. Recognising the embeddedness of such discourses, norms, and ways of being, hence, enables an agent to find ways of rejecting and changing such oppressive discourses. This paper, hence, demonstrates how the various “coming to consciousness” narratives of eight academic staff members facilitated their decision to embark on transformative actions. These findings not only contribute to the discourse on transformation and social justice, but also provides a novel way of conceptualising the transformation trajectory, and a reference framework for societies and spaces seeking to transform.