RSE4801
Assignment 1 2025
Unique #:
Due Date: 15 May 2025
Detailed solutions, explanations, workings
and references.
+27 81 278 3372
, 3 ESSAYS PROVIDED
BECOMING AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER: A
REFLECTIVE JOURNEY INSPIRED BY LINDA TUHIWAI SMITH
1. INTRODUCTION
This essay explores the qualities and principles that constitute an exceptional
educational researcher within the context of South Africa, with particular
reference to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonising Methodologies: Research and
Indigenous Peoples (1999). The discussion is framed by five interrelated
concepts central to Smith’s decolonial research paradigm: intervention, curiosity,
courage, justice, and critique. Informed by Smith’s intellectual journey and the
broader African context of inequality and marginalisation, this essay also reflects
on what will inform and shape my own development as a researcher in education.
The essay is structured into two main parts: first, it outlines the characteristics of
an exceptional educational researcher in the South African context; and second, it
offers a personal reflection on how these ideas will shape my own becoming as
an educational researcher.
2. WHAT CONSTITUTES AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
2.1. Contextual Awareness and Decolonial Commitment
In the South African context, shaped by the legacy of apartheid, colonialism, and
ongoing inequality, an exceptional educational researcher must have a profound
understanding of historical and socio-political realities. Linda Tuhiwai Smith
(1999) highlights how research has historically functioned as a tool of
colonisation, contributing to the erasure and marginalisation of indigenous
knowledges. South African researchers must therefore be acutely aware of how
education systems continue to reproduce social inequalities and must actively
work to disrupt these patterns. An exceptional researcher is not neutral but is
instead situated, engaged, and committed to a decolonial future.
Educational researchers in South Africa should be concerned not only with
producing knowledge but also with restoring epistemic agency to historically
Varsity Cube 2024 +27 81 278 3372
Assignment 1 2025
Unique #:
Due Date: 15 May 2025
Detailed solutions, explanations, workings
and references.
+27 81 278 3372
, 3 ESSAYS PROVIDED
BECOMING AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER: A
REFLECTIVE JOURNEY INSPIRED BY LINDA TUHIWAI SMITH
1. INTRODUCTION
This essay explores the qualities and principles that constitute an exceptional
educational researcher within the context of South Africa, with particular
reference to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonising Methodologies: Research and
Indigenous Peoples (1999). The discussion is framed by five interrelated
concepts central to Smith’s decolonial research paradigm: intervention, curiosity,
courage, justice, and critique. Informed by Smith’s intellectual journey and the
broader African context of inequality and marginalisation, this essay also reflects
on what will inform and shape my own development as a researcher in education.
The essay is structured into two main parts: first, it outlines the characteristics of
an exceptional educational researcher in the South African context; and second, it
offers a personal reflection on how these ideas will shape my own becoming as
an educational researcher.
2. WHAT CONSTITUTES AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
2.1. Contextual Awareness and Decolonial Commitment
In the South African context, shaped by the legacy of apartheid, colonialism, and
ongoing inequality, an exceptional educational researcher must have a profound
understanding of historical and socio-political realities. Linda Tuhiwai Smith
(1999) highlights how research has historically functioned as a tool of
colonisation, contributing to the erasure and marginalisation of indigenous
knowledges. South African researchers must therefore be acutely aware of how
education systems continue to reproduce social inequalities and must actively
work to disrupt these patterns. An exceptional researcher is not neutral but is
instead situated, engaged, and committed to a decolonial future.
Educational researchers in South Africa should be concerned not only with
producing knowledge but also with restoring epistemic agency to historically
Varsity Cube 2024 +27 81 278 3372
