Page 28 - University of Pretoria RESEARCH REVIEW 2018

Towards a jurisprudence of liberation Joel Modiri, Department of Jurisprudence
The failure of South Africa’s legal and political order
to dismantle the material and symbolic vestiges of colonialism and apartheid brings to light the deep disjuncture between the constitutional ideals of equality and freedom, and the lived reality of the Black majority.
Constitutionalism and Democratic Contestations’. Two decades since
the enactment of South Africa’s present constitution, the durability and endurance of ‘past’ inequalities and injustices illustrate that the ‘new South Africa’ – lauded as a miracle nation with the best constitution in the world – can no longer be regarded as an unqualified success. The legal and constitutional foundations of post-1994 South Africa are in a process of renegotiation that invites new and alternative perspectives and approaches.
Modiri’s paper published in the special issue, ‘Conquest and Constitutionalism: First Thoughts on an Alternative Jurisprudence’ offers a critique and
an interpretation of post-1994 con- stitutionalism from the perspective
of its relationship to the longue
durée of colonial conquest, settler- colonialism and white supremacy.
In the paper, he draws on critical theoretical perspectives that challenge optimistic and triumphalist accounts of the constitution, and exposes the fragility of its emancipatory horizon. Modiri describes these accounts
as ‘constitutional worship’ and argues instead for an alternative jurisprudence – a ‘jurisprudence from below’ or a ‘jurisprudence of liberation’.
The research of Dr Joel Modiri in the Department of Jurisprudence draws on the Pan-Africanist philo- sophical and political archive, settler- colonial studies and associated theoretical approaches to interrogate and rework concepts of justice, power, constitutionalism, memory, transition, and freedom. Working from the disciplinary position of
law and jurisprudence, his focus is
on the experiences and struggles
of indigenous and oppressed communities.
A key assumption of his research is that a jurisprudence or legal philosophy emanating from the imaginations and experiences of historically colonised communities would pose very different questions and enact a different orientation towards South African law, society and politics than is presently the case in the legal academy. The ultimate aim of the research is the development of an alternative critical jurisprudence which challenges eurocentrism and envisions a post- conquest world.
Modiri is specifically interested in tracing how colonial conquest remains an ongoing material and symbolic dynamic in the making and unfolding history of South Africa.
In March 2018, Modiri delivered the keynote lecture at the University of South Africa’s flagship Africa Talks series; and in November, he presented his research at the Institute of Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, New York.
He was the editor of a special issue of the South African Journal on Human Rights in 2018, entitled ‘Conquest,
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In 2018, Joel Modiri was selected as an Inaugural Leadership Fellow in the Atlantic Fellowship for Race Equity, a programme housed at Columbia University, New York.