Out of the 2015/16 nationwide student protest action has come the long-overdue challenge for academia to assess and reconsider critically the role academics play in maintaining and perpetuating exclusive social structures and discourse in schools and faculties in the higher education landscape in South Africa. Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education in South Africa proposes possible starting points on the subject, and the roles, challenges and questions that legal academia face in the quest to decolonise and Africanise legal education in South Africa. It explores the potential role of the Constitution in decolonising and Africanising legal education. Furthermore, the book discusses important contextual factors in relation to decolonising clinical legal education.

Decolonisation and Africanisation form a much more nuanced project in the continuous process of development and reflection to be undertaken by all law academics together with their relevant institutions and students. The book ultimately highlights the importance of decolonising the law itself.

This timely and important work lays a foundation that will hopefully inspire many more publications and debates aimed at transforming our legal education.

• Chapter 1: Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education in South Africa: Background and Introduction – Letlhokwa George Mpedi, Aifheli Enos Tshivhase and Managay Reddi
• Chapter 2: Principles and Ideas for the Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education in South Africa – Aifheli Enos Tshivhase
  • Explaining decolonisation
  • Why decolonise and Africanise (indigenise): The constitutional context
  • Principles and ideas for the decolonisation and Africanisation of legal education 
• Chapter 3: Transformative Constitutionalism and Transformative Legal Education with Reference to the Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education – Radley Henrico
  • The role played by transformative constitutionalism 
  • The role of transformative legal education and Ubuntu 
  • Transformative constitutionalism and transformative legal education in giving effect to decolonisation and Africanisation of legal education 
• Chapter 4: Decolonising Clinical Legal Education – Jonathan Campbell
  • The law clinic context 
  • Decolonisation of higher education: Responsiveness to context 
  • Legal education 
  • The LLB curriculum 
  • Human agency 
  • The role of law teachers
  • Law students
  • Language 
  • The role of clinical legal education
  • Context and relevance
  • The human factor in clinical legal education 
  • Language issues in the law clinic 
  • Counselling and preventative lawyering 
• Chapter 5: Residuary Sections, Stare Decisis, Customary Law and the Development of Common Law – How do these Concepts affect Decolonisation? – Dawie de Villiers
  • Historical background 
  • Past influence of English law of evidence on South Africa 
  • Residuary sections 
  • Departing from the English law of evidence (decolonising) 
  • The doctrine of precedent (stare decisis) 
  • Customary law 
  • The Constitution and the development of common law 
  • Decolonisation on other levels 
• Chapter 6: Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education in South Africa: Concluding Observations – Aifheli Enos Tshivhase, Letlhokwa George Mpedi and Managay Reddi

• Academics
• Legal practitioners
• Policymakers
• Students