«Professors of the Street»: Cognitive Justice in Times of ‘Crisis’

Abstract

Arundati Roy (2020) states that historically pandemics have forced humans to  break with the past and imagine their world anew. This chapter, set in the COVID-19 pandemic, centres the importance of cognitive justice which is an essential part of the struggles for justice against domination. Cognitive justice is used as a lens to explore the case story of Cape Town Together (CTT), which was a response to COVID-19. The social movement was built, bottom up, challenging the deep racial and class divides that are a signature of Cape Town. The concept of ‘professors of the street’ emerged as part of CTT. This concept is explored by locating it within the context of the pandemic and within CTT’s learning/teaching/organising practices. It is argued that ‘professors of the street’ are a provocation to challenge the dominant knowledge hierarchies that prevail – it is a metaphor for the critical importance of grassroots, local knowledge in times of ‘crisis’. The teaching/learning /organising ethos within CTT provided fertile soil for «professors of the street» to emerge as an example of the enactment of cognitive justice within a crisis. The case story offers insights for organising for social-ecological justice in various ‘crisis’ situations.