UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Education
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
Activist Educational Research in Times of Crisis
Responding to Epistemicide, Ontocide, Lin-
guisticide, Culturcide and Scholasticide
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
RSE4801
Module Code:
Activist Educational Research in Times of
Essay Topic:
Crisis
1
Assignment Number:
15 May 2026
Due Date:
[Marks]
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Education — UNISA 2025
, UNISA | EDU — Activist Educational Research Responding to Crisis in Education
1. Introduction
Becoming a researcher in education is not only about learning methods or gathering data; it
is a deeply personal and ethical journey that reshapes how a person understands the world
and their place within it. Research in education is bound up with questions of power, inequal-
ity, and social transformation. In this context, the idea of an activist researcher takes on real
weight. Such a researcher refuses to stay on the sidelines. Instead, she or he engages criti-
cally with educational realities to challenge injustice and push for something better.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies (1999/2012) makes the uncomfortable
point clear: research has long operated as a tool of domination, particularly against indige-
nous communities (Smith, 2012). This raises questions that cannot be brushed aside. Whose
knowledge gets valued? Whose voices get silenced? In a world contending with multiple over-
lapping crises such as epistemicide, ontocide, linguisticide, culturcide, and scholasticide, re-
search cannot pretend to be value-neutral. It never was.
This essay discusses what constitutes an activist researcher of education and the role such
a researcher can play in times of crisis. The argument is that educational research should
not only produce knowledge but actively intervene in unjust systems and work towards more
humane and inclusive forms of education.
Page 2 of 13
College of Education
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
Activist Educational Research in Times of Crisis
Responding to Epistemicide, Ontocide, Lin-
guisticide, Culturcide and Scholasticide
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
RSE4801
Module Code:
Activist Educational Research in Times of
Essay Topic:
Crisis
1
Assignment Number:
15 May 2026
Due Date:
[Marks]
Total Marks:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Education — UNISA 2025
, UNISA | EDU — Activist Educational Research Responding to Crisis in Education
1. Introduction
Becoming a researcher in education is not only about learning methods or gathering data; it
is a deeply personal and ethical journey that reshapes how a person understands the world
and their place within it. Research in education is bound up with questions of power, inequal-
ity, and social transformation. In this context, the idea of an activist researcher takes on real
weight. Such a researcher refuses to stay on the sidelines. Instead, she or he engages criti-
cally with educational realities to challenge injustice and push for something better.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies (1999/2012) makes the uncomfortable
point clear: research has long operated as a tool of domination, particularly against indige-
nous communities (Smith, 2012). This raises questions that cannot be brushed aside. Whose
knowledge gets valued? Whose voices get silenced? In a world contending with multiple over-
lapping crises such as epistemicide, ontocide, linguisticide, culturcide, and scholasticide, re-
search cannot pretend to be value-neutral. It never was.
This essay discusses what constitutes an activist researcher of education and the role such
a researcher can play in times of crisis. The argument is that educational research should
not only produce knowledge but actively intervene in unjust systems and work towards more
humane and inclusive forms of education.
Page 2 of 13
