What Does It Mean to Be a Girl? Teachers’ Representations of Gender in Supplementary Reading Materials for South African Schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey M. Dentith ◽  
Misty Sailors ◽  
Mantsose Sethusha
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
International Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
African Feminism ◽  
Critical Content ◽  
Reading Materials

Education reform, including methods to create greater gender equality, is an ongoing process in post-Apartheid South Africa. Using an African feminism theoretical framework and a critical content analysis approach, we examined the representation of female characters in a subset of supplementary reading titles created under an international development project. Through constant comparison of prepositions in the books, our findings indicated that the authors of these books (South African teachers) depicted females in complex, multifaceted, and, at times, contradictory roles. These panoramic roles created by the authors appeared to be situated in the very practical and lived experiences of children in South Africa. This study has implications for curriculum development in international settings.

Violences in the South African Student Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buhle Khanyile
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
African Student ◽  
Qualitative Exploration ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Current Experience

This essay draws attention to the complexities of understanding violence as a phenomenon and experience that almost always involves multiple parties, and contestations about violence itself and its use. It does so as both a theoretical and qualitative exploration of the concept and its lived experiences. The essay begins by puzzling over the intelligibility of violence and its definitional issues. Drawing on disciplinary approaches to violence (e.g., biological, sociological and political) as well as violence as spectacle, symbolic, embodied, systemic or implicit, it shows how violence has been and is mobilized to bring attention to sociopolitical and economic challenges currently and historically. Next it examines student experiences of violence during the recent student movement events in South Africa, and locates this event within the historical context of South Africa’s past and current experience of violence. Ultimately, the essay attempts to offer a way of thinking about violence less as an aberration to our peaceful existence but rather argues that violence might shape our very existence. It concludes by offering “existential violence” as a concept to help think through the relationship between existence and violence in a more nuanced way.

South African higher education reform: what comes after post-colonialism?

1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Cloete ◽  
Johan Muller
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
South African ◽  
Academic Culture ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Higher Education Reform ◽  
National Commission ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

Since the fall of the apartheid regime South African higher education has begun to undergo a process of fundamental transformation. First-world universities, which were beneficiaries (however unwilling) of past racial inequalities, have had to adapt to the urgent needs of what is a post-colonial and, for the majority of its citizens, a third-world society. South Africa, therefore, provides a particularly sharp example of the encounter between a higher education system established within the European tradition, in terms of both its institutional and its academic culture, and a society in the process of radical change. This encounter has been mediated through the work of the National Commission on Higher Education which attempted to produce a compromise that would enable South African higher education to be both ‘Western’ (in terms of academic values and scientific standards) and also ‘African’ (in terms of its contribution to building the capacities of all the people of South Africa). The tension between the university's claims to represent universal knowledge and the counter-claims that ‘local’ knowledge traditions should be accorded greater respect, therefore, is much sharper than in Europe.

scholarly journals Tapping into Leadership in Early Childhood Development Centers: Learning from the Lived Experiences of Principals in South African Townships

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110613
Author(s):  
Sibonelo Blose ◽  
Evelyn Muteweri
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
South African ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Early Childhood Development ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Community Based

Leadership is one of the critical drivers of educational institutions and has been overwhelmingly researched across countries. However, there is little with regards to early childhood development centers in the scholarship of educational leadership. South Africa has an assortment of early childhood development centers (ECD) ranging from fully registered and well-resourced centers in affluent areas to less regulated and poorly resourced community-based centers in townships, informal settlements and rural areas. In these centers, there are individuals performing a pivotal role of leading and managing the institutions. In this paper, we hone in on these individuals, specifically in a township setting, whom we refer to as ECD center principals. By means of narrative inquiry methodology, we solicited and interpreted the lived experiences of selected ECD center principals to garner an understanding of what it means to lead an ECD center in a township setting. The paper makes two broad contributions, namely, ECD center principals’ self-cognitions and their experiences of leading centers in townships.

scholarly journals The emergence of government evaluation systems in Africa: The case of Benin, Uganda and South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Goldman ◽  
Albert Byamugisha ◽  
Abdoulaye Gounou ◽  
Laila R. Smith ◽  
Stanley Ntakumba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
African Development Bank ◽  
Government Capacity

Background: Evaluation is not widespread in Africa, particularly evaluations instigated by governments rather than donors. However since 2007 an important policy experiment is emerging in South Africa, Benin and Uganda, which have all implemented national evaluation systems. These three countries, along with the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) Anglophone Africa and the African Development Bank, are partners in a pioneering African partnership called Twende Mbele, funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Hewlett Foundation, aiming to jointly strengthen monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and work with other countries to develop M&E capacity and share experiences.Objectives: This article documents the experience of these three countries and summarises the progress made in deepening and widening their national evaluation systems and some of the cross-cutting lessons emerging at an early stage of the Twende Mbele partnership.Method: The article draws from reports from each of the countries, as well as work undertaken for the evaluation of the South African national evaluation system.Results and conclusions: Initial lessons include the importance of a central unit to drive the evaluation system, developing a national evaluation policy, prioritising evaluations through an evaluation agenda or plan and taking evaluation to subnational levels. The countries are exploring the role of non-state actors, and there are increasing moves to involve Parliament. Key challenges include difficulty of getting a learning approach in government, capacity issues and ensuring follow-up. These lessons are being used to support other countries seeking to establish national evaluation systems, such as Ghana, Kenya and Niger.

scholarly journals Atypical Black Leader Emergence: South African Self-Perceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Myeza ◽  
Kurt April
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
South African ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Black People ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Survivor Guilt ◽  
Black Professionals ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Black Employees

The research aimed to gain understanding of the self-perceptions of black professionals in relation to business leadership, and how these self-perceptions influenced their behaviors, aspirations and self-perceived abilities in leadership positions. The study was specifically focused on black South African professionals. Black professionals were found to exhibit signs of deep-rooted pain, anger and general emotional fatigue stemming from workplace-, socio-economic- and political triggers that evoked generational trauma and overall negative black lived experiences. The negative lived experiences could have led to racial identity dissonance and, in extreme cases, complete racial identity disassociation. Moreover, black professionals were found to display symptoms of ‘survivor guilt,’ stemming from the shared history of oppression amongst black people in South Africa. The ‘survivor guilt’ contributed toward a profound sense of shared responsibility and purpose to change the circumstances, experiences and overall perceptions about the capabilities of black professionals. Results showed that upbringing, determination, resilience, black support networks, and black leadership representation within organizational structures were important ingredients that positively contributed to the leadership aspirations and success of black professionals. The research discovered that, in some cases, black professionals leveraged white relationships to propel their careers forward, however, this practice reportedly resulted in the black professionals experiencing feelings of self-doubt in their own abilities. Self-doubt, also found to be a result of historical oppression, could have and have been shown to eventually lead to self-deselection, negatively impacting the aspirations and career advancement prospects of black professionals in organizational leadership. Furthermore, the research found that black leaders believed that their blackness, specifically, its unique texture of experiences and history in South Africa, provided them with superior empathetic leadership abilities toward other black employees. Black leaders frequently highlighted the distinctive values of ubuntu as the cornerstone of their leadership approach. In addition, it was found that black professionals also considered their blackness, particularly the shade of their skin, to detract from their leadership opportunities, as it reduced the odds of being authorized as natural leaders, thus fortifying a skewed self-perception of their own leadership capabilities.

Teaching Community Psychology in Postapartheid South Africa

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaronette M. White ◽  
Cheryl A. Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
South African ◽  
Community Psychology ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Teaching Community ◽  
Reading Materials ◽  
Psychology Curriculum ◽  
Psychology Course

Community Psychology can play an important role in the post-apartheid psychology curriculum as South Africa struggles to implement its Reconstruction Development Programme. A Community Psychology course was developed to address some of the pressing issues that face the Black majority in South Africa. The course perspective, course structure, reading materials, and assignments are described. The relevance of psychology during the postapantheid era and the challenges that psychologists face at historically Black South African universities are discussed. The course has been contextualized for South Africa; however, it can be adapted to suit any Community Psychology course taught in societies that struggle with racist, sexist, and economic forms of oppression.

“Born Free”? Youth Reflections on Post-1994 South Africa in Thought We Had Something Going

Imbizo ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doreen Rumbidzai Tivenga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
South African ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Conspicuous Consumption ◽  
Social Experiences ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Media Space ◽  
Personal Reflections

The condition of being young and a “born free” South African is the central issue that young writers featured in the 2015 e-anthology Thought We Had Something Going, edited by Thando Sangqu, contend with as they make their own contributions to South African literary discourses and writings. The writers find their niche in an online media space to make personal reflections and representations on what it means to be youth in post-1994 South Africa. The focus of this article is specifically on the stories and thought pieces “Hashtag #WhiteGirlsInNyanga: An Anecdotal Reflection on Racial Affinity and Racial Identity in a Post-Apartheid South Africa,” “The Youth Is Dark and Full of Bullshit” and “Skhothane Behaviour.” I explore the paradoxes that characterise the writings and are associated with characters’ lived experiences; and drawing on the concepts of space and conspicuous consumption, I examine how remnants and legacies of apartheid continue to shape and define youth spatial, political and social experiences and lifestyles. The main contention in these writings and in this article is that the label “born free” is superficial and far from a true reflection of the conditions of being the youth in post-1994 South Africa.

I’m Not a Fruit which Fell from a Tree: Migrants’ Discourses of Resistance in the Context of Dehumanization and Economic Exploitation in Southern Africa

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
Buhle Mpofu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Forms Of Violence

This discussion highlights how some African foreign migrants living in South Africa articulate resistance to exploitative and corrupt tendencies in what emerges as life affirming and death denying developmental discourses. This article triangulated data collected from a Module PRT112 – an Introduction to Missiology – with data which emerged from a study designed to interrogate the lived experiences of foreign migrants in Johannesburg South Africa. Framed within the postcolonial paradigm, the contribution is premised on the idea that the discourses of African migrants are a viable hermeneutical optic for a theological and developmental agenda which legitimises marginal voices of the poor. At the heart of this critical discussion is a statement; ‘I am not a fruit which fell from a tree,’ which emerged as a response to ward off and rebuke corrupt public officials who often demand bribes from foreign migrants as a way to keep them intimidated and confined to liminal working conditions in the informal South African economic sector. By interrogating the radical response ‘I am not a fruit’ alongside data which reflect hostility towards migrants, the study highlights religious resistance to economic exploitation and life denying practices. These articulations are located within the postcolonial resistance discourses which counter neoliberal and dehumanizing tendencies and the study concludes by drawing on Bosnian and Rwandan examples to caution against dehumanization of migrants as it sets parameters for catastrophic genocide and other forms of violence perpetrated in the past.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document