Call for Papers (2026) - Epistemic Justice and Social Transformation: Reflections on the Neoliberal University Project
Themed Section 1 (Volume 30 2026)
Epistemic Justice and Social Transformation: Reflections on the Neoliberal University Project
Rationale and Focus
Education as Change has long positioned itself as a platform for scholarship that challenges injustice, disrupts dominant power relations, and advances education as a site of social change. In this spirit, this Special Issue calls for contributions that critically interrogate epistemic injustice in education spaces and explore possibilities for socially just knowledge futures in the global neoliberal university.
Universities in postcolonial contexts continue to grapple with enduring colonial epistemologies, racialised knowledge hierarchies, and neoliberal regimes that commodify learning while marginalising historically excluded voices. These conditions resonate beyond Africa, echoing struggles in contexts such as the global neoliberal university—places marked by histories of racial oppression, economic exclusion, and educational inequity. Against this backdrop, epistemic justice emerges as both a moral imperative and a political project: one that demands the reconstitution of what counts as knowledge, who is recognised as a knower, and how education serves the pursuit of social change.
This Special Issue advances a normative commitment to education as a practice of freedom. We invite contributions that move beyond descriptive critiques towards transformative scholarship—submissions that confront epistemic domination and that articulate emancipatory alternatives rooted in local histories, Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), community struggles, and critical pedagogical traditions.
Scope and Guiding QuestionsWe welcome conceptual, empirical, and praxis-oriented contributions that engage with (but are not limited to) the following questions:
- How does epistemic injustice manifest in curricula, pedagogy, research, and governance within the global neoliberal university?
- In what ways do coloniality, racism, patriarchy, and neoliberal globalisation intersect to shape knowledge production and circulation?
- How can indigenous, subaltern, and community-based knowledges be reclaimed and legitimised within the academy without co-option or dilution?
- What pedagogical practices cultivate epistemic agency, critical consciousness, and social responsibility among students and academics?
- How might global higher education institutions align knowledge creation/production with struggles for dignity, equity, and social justice within marginalised communities?
We encourage contributions that draw connections between Global North and Global South experiences and other sites of structural inequality.
Audience and ContributionThis Special Issue speaks to scholars, educators, teacher-educators, scholar-activists, and policy actors committed to education as a catalyst for social transformation. Submissions should engage critically with theory while remaining attentive to practice, context, and possibility. We welcome work that foregrounds voices and perspectives historically excluded from dominant academic discourse. While Education as Change does not discourage quantitative studies, our preference is qualitative work.
Key Dates and Submission InformationAll submissions are to be made online. Authors need to register as an “Author” on the journal’s website and follow the instructions provided:
https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/EAC/index
- Submission of full manuscripts – Before or on the 28th of April 2026.
- Reviewing process – Ongoing until the 31st of July 2026.
- Corrections by contributors – Ongoing until the1st of September 2026.
- Publication – Ongoing until 1st of December 2026.
Editorial Team
Dr. Na-iem Dollie, Editor-in-Chief of Education as Change.
Email: eac1@unisapressjournals.co.za
Prof. Doniwen Pietersen, University of South Africa, Department of Educational Foundations.
Email: epietecd1@unisa.ac.za
Prof. Amasa Ndofirepi, Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies, University of Johannesburg, and Sol Plaatje University.
Email: amasa.ndofirepi@spu.ac.za
