Reimagining Madiba's Merc and a 'Thank You' Postcard as Objects of Social Cohesion in a South African Higher Education Institution.

This paper examines the late Nelson Mandela's Mercedes (Merc) Benz SClass car and a 'Thank You' postcard from the Sisters of Santa Chiara as not just objects but emblems of selflessness, togetherness, and sacrifice. The car and the card images serve as a foundation for inquiry, representation, and transformation for higher education. As a team of self-reflexive practitioners from various disciplines at one university in South Africa, we seek to add an alternative dimension to the current debates on social cohesion by using image-based research to generate verbal discussion and provide a critical platform from which to examine transformation. The study seeks to answer the question, What can we learn about social cohesion in higher education through object inquiry? Methods used include visual methodologies and collaborative object inquiry through reflexive Ubuntu. The visual methods unveiled different strata of meanings, evoking deep emotions, memories and ideas. Thus, having these polysemic voices helped us to have a broader understanding of fostering social cohesion in both our professional practices and everyday living. The Ubuntuism demonstrated by the owners and workers from the Mercedes Benz plant and the Sisters of Santa Chiara has a lot to teach us on social cohesion and transformation. The lessons we learnt relate to collaboration, self-sacrifice and selflessness, cultural change, and diversity and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]