Knowledge in the Blood

Jonathan D. Jansen is Honorary Professor of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand and Visiting Fellow at the National Research Foundation, both in South Africa. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University and Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria. His latest co-authored book is Diversity High: Class, Color, Character and Culture in a South African High School.

"This book is a testament of hope and reconciliation. Jansen's microlevel detail and experiential knowledge provide evidence that the apartheid legacy is not insurmountable . . . Jansen offers valuable insights into universal issues of policy versus practice, ideal versus real, and the often-torturous route to enacting deep change in educational institutions. Anyone interested in the complexities of postapartheid South African education and life in general will find this book a must-read." - Diane Brook Napier (Comparative Education Review) "This is a brilliant book, weaving together a description of the integration of the student body and revision of the curriculum at the University of Pretoria, a sophisticated explanation of the transmission of historical knowledge, and a moving personal story. In 2000, Jansen became the first black dean of the faculty of education at the University of Pretoria, following a Fulbright grant to Stanford University and a career at black universities in South Africa. Jansen tells a moving personal story of his efforts—thoughtful and courageous—to open new educational directions for his students, their parents, and his colleagues and explains how family, church, schools, and media shaped an Afrikaans worldview that was transmitted to the next generation even after the end of legal apartheid. He uses philosophical and cognitive theories of historical knowledge to frame the human stories, comparing the South African context with post-Nazi Germany." - Library Journal "Brave, discerning, and deeply affecting, this study of a South African institution in the midst of historic change, gives us profound insight into the challenges faced by the larger society, as it emerges from a bitterly divisive past into a more hopeful future. Bringing realism and rare moral generosity to the most difficult of conflicts, Jonathan Jansen illuminates the struggles faced by the inheritors of violence, as they move from pride and prejudice to a new and larger knowledge. An act of empathy as well as penetrating analysis, Knowledge in the Blood is an inspiring blueprint for thinking about social and personal transformation, and for extending to a problematic Other an understanding which includes both compassion and asense of justice." - Eva Hoffman (author of After Such Knowledge) "Knowledge in the Blood conveys an extraordinary sense of time and place, bringing to life the fundamental questions of identity and humanity that students and faculty face in post-Apartheid South Africa. This compelling work casts light on culture, language, and race in a way that no other book ever has. It will undoubtedly command attention." - Andy Hargreaves (author of Sustainable Leadership and Teaching in the Knowledge Society) "Jonathan Jansen's stunning, deeply rounded story draws you in and never lets go. It is at once an autobiography and a socio-emotional political account of one of the most profound changes facing any nation, the transformation from Apartheid. As the first black Dean in a formerly all-white university, appointed long before the institution was ready for change, Jansen takes us on an incredible journey." - Michael Fullan (author of The Six Secrets of Change and The Moral Imperative of School Leadership)