scholarly journals Critical theory and praxis in post-apartheid South Africa: the case for a critical criminology

2121 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Critical Criminology

Exploring the Integration of Indigenous Knowledge Into Public Library Services With an Inclusive Intent Using a Critical Theory Lens

2020 ◽  
pp. 266-285
Author(s):  
Maned Mhlongo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Multiple Case

Despite legislative and regulatory frameworks that have paved the way for transformation and inclusivity of public libraries in South Africa, there seems to be little or no integration of indigenous knowledge (IK). The exclusion of IK from public library services has potential to counteract efforts towards the provision of inclusive services. This chapter demonstrates how critical theory was used as a lens in a multiple case study that explored the integration of indigenous knowledge (IK) into services of public libraries in South Africa. Looking at the articulation of IK, services that are provided to ensure inclusivity, and issues that impact on IK integration in public libraries, semi-structured interviews were conducted from purposefully selected heads of provincial library services in South Africa. Thematic analysis was used. Using critical theory to frame the analysis, findings indicate understanding of aspects of IK including its oral nature. A paucity of engagement with IK as an aspect of inclusive service provision was noted.

scholarly journals Perspectives traditionnelles et perspectives critiques en criminologie

Criminologie ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Andrée Bertrand
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Critical Criminology ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Potential Interest ◽  
Political Orientations

Is critical criminology “passée”? Have its fathers, the British and American sociologists who wrote Critical Criminology in the mid seventies exhaust its potential interest and flavour? It would be too bad because critical criminology never really took place. There never was a serious and rigorous attempt at unfolding the historical, epistemological, socio-political roots of the discipline, a critical look at it that took nothing for granted. Reminding the readers of the very serious and highly publicised debate around Traditional and Critical Theory in the late thirties launched by the sociologists and philosophers of the Frankfurt School, the author shows that, far from being outdated, critical theory is of the utmost practicality in criminology, even more so because its founding fathers have taken, since, a less partisan and doctrinaire view of it. The applications of their intellectual and socio-political orientations to criminology are numerous, calling for a serious socio-historical analysis of the discipline and of its academic origins that should throw light on where it is going and its impotence at developing a paradigm.

Re-Appropriating Appropriation

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-45
Author(s):  
Matthew Wright
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Critical Social

The paper assesses the role of our hermeneutical orientations in the task of exegesis by focusing specifically on the Tri-Polar exegetical framework developed by Jonathan Draper. In conjunction with the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and other Marxist-influenced theory, the paper then tries to articulate more coherently what the stage of appropriation constitutes and what impact this potentially has socially. In light of the volatile political climate existing presently in South Africa, as well as rising globalisation and consumerism, the paper poses the question of whether the bible can contribute substantially to the formation of a critical social fabric within society.

The endurance of critique

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Fassin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Critical Sociology ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Critique in the humanities and the social sciences has recently been under attack and even declared lifeless. Considering the report of its death to be an exaggeration but acknowledging that one should never let a good crisis go to waste, I propose a reflection on the challenges faced by the practice of critical thinking in anthropology based on my own research on AIDS in South Africa, trauma among Palestinians, and policing and punishment in France, while resituating the questions it raises in a broader history of the discipline. More specifically, I discuss two major strands, genealogical critique and critical theory, suggesting how they may be combined, and two opposed views, critical sociology and the sociology of critique, showing that ethnography can surmount their supposed irreconcilability. Affirming that critique, under its multiple forms, is inherent to the anthropological project, I contend that it is more than ever needed in times laden with worrying spectres.

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