OLBA Changemakers Interview with Joel Modiri

In this episode, Sfiso Benard Nxumalo, President of the Oxford Law Black Alumni Network, interviews Joel Modiri, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria.

Professor Modiri was an AfOx Law Fellow in 2019. His main research focus areas are Critical Race Theory, African Jurisprudence, Law and Identity, Feminist Political Philosophy, Black Political Thought, Legal Education and Critical Pedagogy as well as Critical Theories of Human Rights and Constitutionalism. The central concern of his teaching and research relates to the development of a critical anti-racist post-conquest jurisprudence through which to contemplate possibilities for liberation, decolonisation and historical justice in South Africa and beyond. This entails drawing on a number of intellectual traditions and opening space for new knowledges that could disclose alternative conceptions of law, constitutionalism, history, justice, subjectivity, power, memory and politics. In addition to deepening his post-doctoral research on the theory and politics of Steve Biko, Modiri’s current research projects include “Azanian jurisprudence”, “Decolonisation and Critical Legal Futures” and “Thinking Race Historically”.

In this thrilling interview, they discuss Joel's journey into academia, his research, epistemicide, institutional racism, his hopes for future Black academics and much more.