Minister Blade Nzimande: 9th Annual International Conference of WITS Centre for Diversity

Director of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, Professor Melissa Steyn
Esteemed Speakers invited to this Conference,
Academics and researchers present,
Students
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
 
Let me start off by thanking the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, under the leadership of Professor Melissa Steny for organising this conference.
 
This is a very important conference focusing broadly on the role that the Humanities and Social Sciences can play in advancing human and social development in contemporary society. Thank you for inviting me to be part of this conversation.
 
The theme of this conference focuses specifically on the politics and practices of ignorance, in other words, how ignorance is often mobilised by powerful interests in society to entrench marginalisation of the weak and therefore, maintain the status quo of unequal power relations.
 
This is the reality of the world we live in today, exemplified by the growing phenomenon of “fake news” which is aimed at misleading millions of people across the world by deliberately feeding them with untruths or half-truths.
 
The aim of these fake news is to sow confusion by blurring the line between what is factual and what is not.
 
The truth in this scenario becomes what people are bombarded with on a regular basis by powerful media houses and groups in society who by virtue of control of resources are able to sustain the publicity of their stories.
 
This world of world of half-truths, in my view, has an ideological basis. It is enabled by the current neo-liberal global order which privileges the dominance of a singular idea. That is, the imposition and superiority claims of liberal economics sponsored by powerful nations, institutions, and interest groups globally.
 
Any idea that seems to go contrary to this neo-liberal thinking is frawned at and confronted with hostility and misrepresentation in the global media.
 
The irony is, the neo-liberal offensive against difference and plurality of ideas and practices happens in the 21st century, a period which is characterised by multiculturalism and the fluidity of physical and cultural borders.
 
Within the post school and training domain, the neo-liberal agenda is exemplified by the increasing pressure on universities and colleges across the world to be run like businesses.
 
This is expressed through the idea of an “entrepreneurial university”, which essentially pushes the universities to be profit driven and treat students as clients.
 
In this context, universities are seen as merely providing services to students in the form of academic programmes, using the principle of demands and supply.
 
This means that programmes that are in high demand in the market, are the ones that are given priority in so far as institutional offering and funding support is concerned.  
 
The conceptualisation of education as a “social good” is given a back-seat within this neo-liberal framing of higher education.
 
Some scholars have characterised the dominance of neo-liberal thinking in higher education as a clear example of ‘market-capture’, and have presented it as a real threat to institutional autonomy and academic freedom.
 
This is because often universities are beholden to donors in terms of the programmes they should offer, and academics are increasingly put under pressure to demonstrate the relevance and market value of their research.
 
The neo-liberal framework in higher education worldwide prioritises the STEM subjects, that is, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
 
The idea is that these subjects have immediate value in the global knowledge economy. That is, they produce skills necessary for economic development and growth. Furthermore, they produce global workforce since the skills they produce are applicable globally and are not bound by national borders.
 
This is in contrast to the Humanities, Social Science and arts which are seen as more local in their application and have less value in the industry.
 
Although the value of the STEM subjects cannot be denied, the techno-economic orientation of the current knowledge economy resultant in the devaluing of Humanities and Social Sciences is deeply problematic.
 
It is very short-sighted, and it fails to comprehend the totality and complementary nature of educational disciplines.
 
Humanity is confronted by many different challenges that cannot be fully addressed without full understanding and appreciation of the role and place of culture and values.  Culture and values are important aspects of the scientific choices and research projects we pursue.
 
They inform our research approaches and the research questions we pose. There is no scientific endeavour that takes place outside human relations and cultural orientations.
 
Before you can introduce or administer a health product to people for instance, you first have to interface with their languages, cultures, and value systems. Without this human connection, no development programme, no matter how well intended, can be expected to succeed.
 
By emphasising the human element, the Humanities and Social Sciences are valuable facilitating cross-cultural understanding and respect. They enable tolerance for diversity and difference which are defining features of contemporary societies.
 
Respect and understanding of others create conditions for peaceful coexistence between nations and communities and are also important ingredients for democratic citizenship.
 
The American philosopher and social theorist, Martha Nussbaum, in her seminal book titled, “Not for Profit” published in 2010, presents a strong critique of what she describes as “education for profit” model.
 
Like many other progressive scholars, she sees education as fundamentally a “social good”, and argues that while economic growth imperatives are important, the primary purpose of education should be to develop critical thinking skills crucial for meaningful engagement and contribution to democratic values in society.
In a country such as South Africa, where our post school education and training institutions are still battling the legacy of apartheid and colonialism, we see the Humanities and Social Sciences as having a critical role to playing the transformation process.
 
These disciplines provide useful critical thinking skills to assist us address the horrendous challenges of our past and imagine the future we want. They are critical in the promotion of inclusive institutional cultures, celebration of diversity as well as offering rich ideas on how a democratic society should look like.
 
This is the potential the Humanities, Social Sciences, and creative arts carry, and we constantly urge and challenges our scholars in these fields to help us thing through these difficult issues.
 
While we acknowledge that education carries higher societal value than the instrumentalist view posits, we also urge our scholars in the arts and social sciences to also begin to think critically about the character and nature of these disciplines in the times we live in.
 
We are deeply embroiled in a technology age. Artificial intelligence is taking over, and there seem to be no way outside it.
 
Without necessarily subjecting the human to the machine, we need to seriously engage with these developments and see how we can use them to the betterment of our human experience.
 
We need to think of things such as the digitalisation of our African languages for instance, in order to make them more visible in the public domain.
 
This is the only way to capture the attention of the young who spend huge amount of their time in the social media space.
 
Government support for the Humanities and Social Science remain strong. This is not only confined to support for programme offerings with universities faculties.
 
Over the past 10 years or so we have established a dedicated Institute to support research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
 
The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, established in 2013 has a special mandate to advance and coordinate scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
 
The Institute works with, and through the universities to support the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa and the Continent more broadly.
 
It does this through a variety of programmes such as Doctoral Schools, catalytic Projects, and African Pathways amongst others. The aim is to contribute towards the sustainability of scholarship and research in these disciplines in South Africa.  
 
By institutionalising support for the Humanities and Social Science, we recognise the important role that these disciplines continue to play in shaping and entrenching democratic values in post-apartheid South Africa.
 
We acknowledge important conversations that continue to take place in these disciplines in our universities around issues of curriculum reform, decoloniality and broader transformation amongst others.
 
These conversations can only enrich our policymaking processes by presenting options for further improvement and reimagining of our post school education and training landscape into the future.
 
In conclusion, I wish you very fruitful deliberations during the course of this conference.
 
Thank you.