Jonathan Jansen

Distinguished Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University

Jonathan Jansen is Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University. In 2016–17 he
was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
He is currently President of the South African Institute of Race Relations and President of the Aca-
demy of Science of South Africa. 

He started his career as a biology teacher in the Cape after receiving his science degree from the Uni-
versity of the Western Cape. He obtained an MS degree from Cornell University and a PhD from Stan-
ford University. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Vermont,
and Cleveland State University.

In 2013 he was awarded the Education Africa Lifetime Achievement Award in New York, the Spendlove
Prize from the University of California for his contributions to tolerance, democracy, and human rights,
and he also won the biggest book award from the British Academy for his book Knowledge in the Blood
(published by Stanford University Press). 

His recent books include Leading for Change (Routledge, 2016); As by Fire: The End of the South African
University (Tafelberg, 2017); Interracial Intimacies on Campuses (Bookstorm, 2017); and Song for Sarah
(Bookstorm, 2017). His 2018 books include Inequality in South African Schools (with Nic Spaull, Springer);
The Politics of Curriculum (Wits University Press); and Now That I Know, a book on South African families
who were separated by the racial laws of the 1950s.

This information is accurate as of the academic year 2018-19.