Crain Soudien

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Crain Soudien
ASSAf, FAAAS, IAE
CitizenshipSouth African
EducationUniversity of Cape Town; State University of New York at Buffalo
OccupationAcademic
Employer(s) University of Cape Town, Human Sciences Research Council
Known forResearch on race, identity, and education in South Africa
TitleEmeritus Professor

Crain Soudien is a South African academic and educationist who served as chief executive officer of the Human Sciences Research Council from 2015 to 2021. He is emeritus Professor and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town, where he held senior roles related to academic planning, social responsiveness, and institutional transformation. From 2007 to 2011, he served as President of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies and is a fellow of several national and international scholarly academies.

Contents

Early life and education

Soudien completed his undergraduate and honours degrees at the University of Cape Town, earning a BA and a BA (Hons) in Comparative African Government and Law. [1] He went on to complete a master's degree and a Higher Diploma in Education at the same institution. He later obtained an Ed.M and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. [2]

Career

Academic career

Soudien joined the University of Cape Town in 1988 as a faculty member in the School of Education. He later served as Director of the school and held various institutional leadership roles, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic planning and institutional transformation. [3] His academic work has focused on the sociology of education, race, identity, and youth development, with a strong emphasis on the South African post-apartheid context. He has published extensively on these themes and has been involved in curriculum reform and higher education policy. [4]

Leadership roles and public service

Soudien served as vice-president of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies from 1998 to 2003 and as president from 2007 to 2011. [5] He chaired South Africa's Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion in Higher Education, appointed in 2008, and led reviews on discrimination in textbooks and governance in public schooling. At the University of Cape Town, he held the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic planning and transformation. [3] In 2015, he was appointed chief executive officer of the Human Sciences Research Council, serving until 2021. [6] He is a fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the International Academy of Education. [7]

Research and publications

Soudien's research focuses on race, identity, education policy, and social difference, with particular emphasis on post-apartheid South Africa. His scholarship examines how historical inequalities continue to shape educational experiences and youth identity. He has written extensively on curriculum reform, transformation in higher education, and the sociology of schooling. [8]

His publication record includes the authoring and co-authoring of over 180 articles, reviews, reports, and book chapters. [4] His published works include Youth Identity in Contemporary South Africa: Race, Culture and Schooling (2007), [9] Realising the Dream: Unlearning the Logic of Race in the South African School (2012), [10] and Cape Radicals: Intellectual and Political Thought of the New Era Fellowship, 1930s–1960s (2019). [11] His writing is widely cited in studies of education, social justice, and transformation in the global South. [12]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ "Former DVC urges alumni to reflect on protests". www.news.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  2. ↑ "Prof Crain Soudien - Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy". canrad.mandela.ac.za. Archived from the original on 2025-07-13. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  3. 1 2 "Transformation a collective responsibility - Soudien". www.news.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  4. 1 2 "New Accents on the Social". The Centre for Humanities Research. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  5. ↑ https://www.worldcces.org/_files/ugd/a95ba5_73a0bdd697ed43619885ebf8899c1940.pdf?index=true
  6. ↑ "Report on transformation at SA universities: It is about more than numbers - HSRC". HSRC - Human Sciences Research Council. 2023-10-04. Archived from the original on 2025-04-25. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  7. ↑ "Crain Soudien | American Academy of Arts and Sciences". www.amacad.org. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  8. ↑ "Learning and equitable access in the Western Cape, South Africa". doi:10.1080/03050060902920989.
  9. 1 2 "Youth identity in contemporary South Africa : race, culture and schooling - Book — xvi, 135 p. ; 25 cm". searchworks.stanford.edu. ISBN   9781869286118 . Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  10. 1 2 Carrim, Nazir. "Book Review - Realising the dream: unlearning the logic of race in the South African school".
  11. ↑ Sandwith, Corinne (2021). "Crain Soudien (2019) the Cape radicals : intellectual and political thought of the new era fellowship. Johannesburg : Wits UP". UPSpace Repository. ISSN   0258-7696.
  12. ↑ "crain soudien". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  13. ↑ "The Cape Radicals – Crain Soudien". www.polity.org.za. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
  14. ↑ Soudien, Crain (2019). Cape Radicals: Intellectual and Political Thought of the New Era Fellowship, 1930s–1960s. Wits University Press. ISBN   978-1-77614-317-7.
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