scholarly journals Education and Intra-Alliance Conflict: Contrasting and Comparing Popular Struggles in Apartheid South Africa and Palestine

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Fouad Barakat
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
South African ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Multiple Fault ◽  
Educational Discourse ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Education And Conflict

Much recent research has been directed at illuminating the role of education in major conflicts between ethnic groups. It is increasingly well understood that education does not necessarily have a positive, peace-supporting influence, but that the wrong kind of education can serve to reinforce divisions. However, in many conflicts there are multiple fault lines. Even if one central antagonism between two broad groupings can be identified, numerous tensions and divergent interests may exist within each of these groupings. This study examines the hypothesis that the notion of the ‘two faces of education’ extends to such ‘conflicts within the conflict’. In other words, with regard to tensions within groups on the ‘same side’, education and schooling may also serve either as a unifying force or as a cause of violent disagreement – or both at the same time. This article presents the results of extracting both kind of themes – education as divisive or unifying – from a thorough review of the literature on two case studies: South African education during the anti-apartheid struggle, and the development of Palestinian education in exile and under occupation. While significant differences exist, there are also some common patterns, such as the use of educational privileges to co-opt part of the opposition, the continuation of educational class differentials within broad alliances during and after conflict, and the role of ambiguity in educational discourse in opposition. Both cases support the conclusion that education and schooling can play an ambivalent role at all levels of complex conflicts, and that research on ‘education and conflict’ cannot afford to ignore this complexity.

scholarly journals Practice of Ritual Sacrifice and the Role of Religion in Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cas Wepener
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Ritual Sacrifice ◽  
African Context ◽  
Role Of Religion

The practice of ritual sacrifice within the South African context is explored in the light of the emerging global discussion regarding religion and development. Firstly, some aspects of the theory of René Girard on sacrifice is discussed, as well as African theories pertaining to sacrifice and modern ways in which sacrifice/offering enters language. The following section presents three case studies pertaining to sacrifice from South Africa: one from fiction, one from fieldwork done in an African Independent church and a description of a recent sacrifice conducted on a beach in Cape Town. In a succeeding section, the data presented in the empirical part is interpreted in the light of the preceding theories. In the concluding section a thesis is advanced regarding the possible meaning and significance of sacrifice for an African understanding of development.

scholarly journals The role of the school in inculcating citizenship values in South Africa: Theoretical and international comparative perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. S1-S11
Author(s):  
Charl Wolhuter ◽  
Jan Germen Janmaat ◽  
Johannes (Hannes) L van der Walt ◽  
Ferdinand J Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Role Players ◽  
South African Education ◽  
International Comparative

In view of the serious moral decay in South African society, this article reports on our research regarding the role of the school in the inculcation of citizenship values (as part of the brief of South African education). We regard a set of citizenship values consonant with a democratic dispensation to be a core component of a moral order essential for South Africa. Using a combination of interpretive-constructivist and comparative approaches, we examine and evaluate the experiences of other post-conflict societies in using education to inculcate citizenship values. We conclude that schools can be successful with respect to the inculcation of citizenship values, provided that the curriculum itself does not discriminate against any group or category of people. Desegregation can only be beneficial in the absence of negative depiction (including criminalisation) or the unequal treatment of any particular societal grouping. Our research suggests that active citizenship education is needed in schools. For this reason, we contend that teacher education has to form an integral part of a moral revival project. Lastly, we highlight the importance of finding democratically agreed-upon ways to continually engage with parents, legal caregivers and other stakeholders and role-players before and during the execution of any such project.

Case Studies

2020 ◽  
pp. 202-238
Author(s):  
James Leigland
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public Private Partnerships ◽  
Power Sector ◽  
Project Costs ◽  
Sub Saharan

This chapter presents case studies of three recent renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) tender programs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in Uganda, Zambia, and South Africa. Using competitive tenders to select IPP projects is rare in Africa, but is viewed as an effective way of lowering project costs. And with the rapid reductions in the costs associated with wind and solar projects, renewable energy IPP projects may represent the power sector public–private partnerships (PPPs) of the future. These case studies detail the role of development partners in designing and implementing the first two of these programs and compare their performance with that of the South African program, a program designed and managed almost exclusively by South African officials and their advisers. What are the lessons that can be learned from these two distinct approaches? What impact do these kinds of programs have on the “IPP policy dilemma” described in Chapter 8?

scholarly journals A discourse analytical view of two South African case studies on the effects on HIV/AIDS in marriage

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 692-708
Author(s):  
J A Van den Berg ◽  
J Van den Berg ◽  
R Nichol ◽  
B De Klerk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hiv Aids

South Africa is the country with the highest incidence of HIV / AIDS in the world. In order to understand the complex phenomenon experienced by people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, the diverse cultural landscape, amongst other factors, needs to be explored. In a qualitative study, the authors explore the impact of this phenomenon on marriage. Using psychiatric texts and by employing the method of Discourse  Analysis on two case studies, different ways of dealing with HIV/AIDS in marriage and the way it dramatically influences marriage are analysed. The impact of these previously untold stories of HIV/AIDS in marriage is seen especially in the lives of spouses who respond differently when managing this problem. In coping with the trauma of HIV/AIDS, spirituality plays a role. Using the biopsychosocial/spiritual-model within a post-modern view of therapy, the role of spirituality is described.  The research, viewed through a culture-sensitive lens, acknowledges the different ethical dilemmas involved. Certain limitations in the research methodology are discussed and the need for further research is highlighted.

ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Mugwisi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
The University

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet have to a large extent influenced the way information is made available, published and accessed. More information is being produced too frequently and information users now require certain skills to sift through this multitude in order to identify what is appropriate for their purposes. Computer and information skills have become a necessity for all academic programmes. As libraries subscribe to databases and other peer-reviewed content (print and electronic), it is important that users are also made aware of such sources and their importance. The purpose of this study was to examine the teaching of information literacy (IL) in universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the role played by librarians in creating information literate graduates. This was done by examining whether such IL programmes were prioritised, their content and how frequently they were reviewed. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 12 university libraries in Zimbabwe and 21 in South Africa. A total of 25 questionnaires were returned. The findings revealed that IL was being taught in universities library and non-library staff, was compulsory and contributed to the term mark in some institutions. The study also revealed that 44 per cent of the total respondents indicated that the libraries were collaborating with departments and faculty in implementing IL programmes in universities. The study recommends that IL should be an integral part of the university programmes in order to promote the use of databases and to guide students on ethical issues of information use.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

scholarly journals Teaching Mathematics during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Context of Historical Disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Brantina Chirinda ◽  
Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu ◽  
Erica Spangenberg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Education Community ◽  
South African Education

The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.

Ethnicity and Voting Patterns in South Africa

1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Lever
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Categorical Data ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Party Choice ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Electoral Behaviour ◽  
Log Linear ◽  
Published Research

There is some controversy concerning the role of ethnicity in South African electoral behaviour. Since the society is segmented on ethnic lines it is to be expected that ethnicity would play a crucial role in affecting political choices. Some writers have gone so far as to suggest that ethnicity is the only significant factor affecting voting preferences. The controversy arose at a time when Goodman's method of log-linear analysis for hierarchical models had not yet been developed. This method provides the most powerful tool available for the multivariate analysis of categorical data. A re-analysis of previously published research using Goodman's method shows that ethnicity is not the only significant factor having a bearing on voting preferences. The first four-way table of voting preferences in South Africa is presented. The order of importance of the variables affecting party choice is: (1) ethnicity (2) socio-economic status (3) age of the voter. The recursive model suggested by the analysis explains approximately 98 per cent of the data.

Is Decentralisation a Suitable Response to Improve South African Rural Education?

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 211-224
Author(s):  
Kevin Teise ◽  
Emma Barnett
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Education ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
South African ◽  
School Level ◽  
High Quality ◽  
African Education ◽  
Departments Of Education ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency

South Africa (SA) has a decentralised education system. It is generally assumed that decentralisation improves the effectiveness and efficiency of education by responding to the needs, values, and expectations of both local and rural communities. A large part of SA could be described as rural and a large number of learners attend rural schools. This makes rural education a significant part of the South African education context. With education being decentralised, and with decentralisation being heralded as the panacea to the problems faced by rural communities as well as rural education, the assumption is that rural education should be of a high quality. This desk-top paper assesses the potential of decentralisation to improve the quality and effectiveness of South African rural education. This it does by locating decentralisation within neoliberalism which this paper argues is the impetus behind the decentralisation of South African education, and the reason for the decline in the quality and effectiveness of rural education. The paper also highlights certain tensions between the various decentralised spheres of governance, namely the central and provincial Departments of Education and school-level governance structures. The paper further indicates how these tensions potentially hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of rural education. The paper concludes with some recommendations aimed at improving rural education.

Conserving inequality: How private conservation and property developers ‘fix’ spatial injustice in South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110663
Author(s):  
Lerato Thakholi ◽  
Bram Büscher
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Conservation Property ◽  
Private Profit ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Housing Estates ◽  
Property Developers

In 2016, South Africa launched its National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. This strategy aims to facilitate the development of a ‘wildlife economy’ as a solution to unemployment, loss of biodiversity and rural development. Central to the strategy is the role of private conservation actors, who keenly posit their commercial model as the best way to achieve these objectives. This stands in sharp contrast to recent critiques that suggest that private conservation reinforces structural inequality by denying access to land and perpetuating unjust labour conditions. Using ethnographic data from the South African Lowveld region that includes the Kruger National Park, the paper takes these points further by arguing that a rapidly growing alliance between private conservation and property developers actively conserve inequality by maintaining and even extending spatial injustice in the region. Two popular recent manifestations of this alliance in particular, share block systems that distribute ownership of access to real estate in private reserves and wildlife housing estates, have established new conservation-property linkages that entrench capitalist socioecological fixes. Not only do these initiatives lead to further engrained spatial injustice, we conclude that this conservation-property alliance at the centre of the ‘wildlife economy’ also willingly sacrifices environmental sustainability on the altar of white conservation imaginations and private profit.

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