This paper draws on the compelling example of a political movement in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s to explore both how epistemic justice conditions of possibility and of failure play out in practice. It provides a springboard to understand how and why failures of epistemic justice matter tremendously for democratic and inclusive lives and…

This paper considers ways to theorise aspirations in terms of capabilities and agency to function as human beings, as well as our resources to act and participate in this world using a South African case of women students' aspirations. In this analysis higher education should foster women's freedom as critical agents to make genuine choices about…

There is a gap in research on access to universities in South Africa. The research that exists focuses on quantitative methodologies, although some qualitative studies are now emerging. These research methodologies, although necessary and substantial for the development of equity measures and policies, might be less successful in their impact on…

This paper sketches an innovative conceptualisation of disadvantaged youth, shaped dialogically by the interactions of theorising and data from a case study at Orange Farm informal settlement in South Africa in 2013. The study focused on the challenges for the young people in this area in accessing higher education. Drawing on Sen's and Nussbaum's…

The article explores the continuing effects of race-based inequalities in South Africa, with a particular focus on university education; it seeks to understand what lies beneath the persistence of race-based thinking. A conceptual framework which aligns everyday racism as a daily practice and the normative yardstick of human capabilities is…

This paper proposes a human capabilities approach for evaluating student learning and the social and pedagogical arrangements that support equality in capabilities for all students. It outlines the focus on valuable beings and doings in the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum's capabilities focus on human flourishing.…