A Scholar as Wanderer and Wonderer

At many South African universities, there is a pervasive thought among several academics that once the professoriate has been reached, there seems to be no need to further advance scholarship. In this contribution, we argue against such a parochial understanding of what it means to be a scholar on three grounds: first, a scholar, anywhere and everywhere, ought to remain concerned with the pursuit of freedom of reason that does not recognize the pursuit of knowledge towards some predetermined end. Instead, the pursuit of knowledge should invariably be linked to the pursuit of something new and unimaginable. Second, a scholar should be a wanderer whose concern should always be towards what is reasonable, just, and unfinished. Third, a scholar devotes herself to doing good to herself and others in the world in relation to actions that are continuous and wandering. In these ways, the flourishing of a (South African) scholar ought to be linked to the cultivation of a wandering being whereby she acts with resolve to subvert societal dystopias in the world today.