Shattering the silence : dialogic engagement about education protest actions in South African university classrooms

Abstract

This study explores how academics create safe spaces in university classrooms to engage in dialogue about education protest actions in South Africa. Utilising the research methodology of narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Pedagogy of Compassion, this paper explores how academics reflect on their responses to change and protest actions and how they co-construct knowledge with students in light of this change. Data capture included a mix of focus group interviews, participant reflections, field notes and a researcher journal and was analysed by means of the content analysis method. Findings reveal that lecturers had to navigate through the institutional quagmire and were confronted by polarised thinking of students. Furthermore, it seemed that student protest actions had a negative effect on lecturers. However, despite the tide of negativity and resistance, lecturers became transformative intellectuals and created safe spaces for students to engage in dialogue and to shatter the ‘normative’ silence.