4IR in South Africa and some of its educational implications

This article focuses on the construction of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) discourse and some of its educational implications from a South African perspective. Using Foucault’s (1970) notion of enunciative modalities, and drawing empirically on the statements made by the Word Economic Forum, the South African government and some universities, this article shows that it is people in governments, the economy and academia who are positioned as authorities of delimitation who define what the 4IR is and who bring it into visibility. The article then shows that inevitability, STEM matter, instrumentalism and benevolence are the discursive coordinates around which the 4IR discourse currently revolves. The article also  shows that it is crucial for human agency in the development of the 4IR to ensure that it is us, as human beings, who will determine how the 4IR will unfold, rather than have this future determined for us by machines

Book review: It can happen here: white power and the rising threat of genocide in the US by Alexander Laban Hinton

In It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US, Alexander Laban Hinton challenges the myth of exceptionalism that has led many to believe that genocide cannot happen in America, exploring contemporary white power extremism in the US. This nuanced and noble account encourages readers to carefully and critically attend to the longer histories and structures within which racism, hate and white supremacy are embedded, writes Sabah Carrim. It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US. Alexander Laban Hinton. NYU Press. 2021

Human rights and the construction of identities in South African education

Student Number : 7905085 - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of HumanitiesThis thesis is based on an exploration of human rights (in) South African education. In order to do so, however, it has been necessary to explore the origins of the notion of human rights in both its philosophical and legal senses. It covers the ways in which the claim of an equality of all human beings has developed historically and the ways in which they are articulated in the Universal Declaration of human rights and in the “new” South African Constitution. However, the argument in this thesis is that human rights tend to be generalised and universalised, and as such do not adequately address the ways in which human rights are experienced in specific social formations and in the contexts of particular people’s lives. In order to make human rights more specific and personal, I apply a sociology of human rights using Stuart Hall’s “theory of articulation” and demonstrate what this sociological analysis means in the context of South Africa under apartheid. In addition, to prevent reifying social categories and privileging particular types of human identity, I explore human rights under apartheid in relation to ‘race’, gender and sexual orientation. Throughout, I point to ways in which these identities and social categories interconnect with each and balance micro and macro approaches to an analysis of apartheid. Methodologically this thesis uses Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot’s approach of “portraiture” in order to capture personal lives within a macro context and I provide accounts in this respect of Nelson Mandela and Simon Nkoli. I have also used a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches in my investigation of experiences of human rights in South African education. Teachers’ and learners’ questionnaires were conducted in schools in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in South Africa between 1996 and 1998. In addition, individual interviews with Grade 9 teachers were conducted and group interviews with Grade 9 learners in these schools were also done. Classroom observations in three schools, one in each of the provinces, were also conducted, and individual interviews with two gay learners also form part of the empirical data of this study. A national survey of what human rights programmes were used by educational institutions and organisations was also conducted. The thesis also contextualises the sampled schools experiences within the post-apartheid dispensation in South Africa, providing an account of how human rights are framed in South Africa generally and in the South African educational system in particular. Approaches to human rights (in) education are also covered, as are the principles of a human rights education. The conclusions that I arrive at in this thesis are that there are interventions in regard to human rights in South African education which tend to be located within legalistic and integrated approaches. In addition, experiences of racism in the sampled schools are prevalent within an assimilationist mode. In regard to sexual orientation, sex, gender and sexuality are conflated but the provision of human rights in terms of sexual orientation has had a positive impact on the sampled gay learners in this study. Finally, I argue that the sociological approach to human rights is useful and generative and has enabled this study to access an understanding of human rights in generalised macro terms and in specific contexts of people’s experiences

Critical agency in the post-apartheid education system

AbstractThis paper looks at critical agency in the South African education system. There has been aconsistent linking of critical thinking with critical agency under apartheid, and that this wasconstructed by a ‘critical struggle’ (Touraine, 1985) against apartheid domination.However, this changed significantly in the post-apartheid moment, where compliance withthe newly elected government is emphasised, and could be viewed in terms of ‘positivestruggles’ (Touraine, 1986). These, however, limit critical agency in the post-apartheidformation. There is, nonetheless, evidence of critical agency being enacted in thepost-apartheid education system. The importance of highlighting those forms of criticalagency is crucial in order to enhance social justice in the post-apartheid educational systemand society. This paper also links critical agency in the post-apartheid situation with thepostcolonial and postmodern conditions because such conditions affect the possibilities ofcritical agency not only in South Africa but more generally

Attitudes toward sexuality and spiritual well-being among Nazarene pastors in the English-speaking Caribbean

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1581/thumbnail.jp

Education lecturers’ perceptions of organising systematic online teaching and learning during COVID-19 pandemic conditions in 2020 at two selected universities in South Africa

This article focuses on epistemological access and teaching and learning online during COVID-19 pandemic conditions.  A Survey Monkey questionnaire was used with two universities in South Africa who moved their teaching and learning online, to survey whether lecturers think the extent of epistemological access was affected when teaching and learning went online. Our findings indicate lecturers feel that the emergency teaching and learning has compromised their teaching, and while most used existing face-to-face materials online, formats of assessments used were changed. We argue that these, although understandable given pandemic conditions, do not necessarily constitute the kind of carefully designed, paced, and sequenced, and assessed online teaching and learning that also enhances epistemological access. We note if one is to accept that the “new normal” in education is one that will largely be online, then the quality assurance of online teaching and learning will be unavoidable

Using ICTs (educationally) for development in an African context: Possibilities and limitations

This article examines the possibilities and limitations of using ICTs for development in an African context from an education perspective. Although we provide an account of the Pan-African Agenda on integrating ICTs, which covers many countries on the African continent, our focus is specifically on using ICTs for development in a South African context. In addition, this article focuses more on using ICTs within the educational system in (South) Africa, and specifically on the possibilities and limitations of using ICTs for improving both educational achievements and teaching and learning experiences in South Africa. In the first section of this article, we provide an account of the importance of engaging with the increasing global ascendency of ICTs as a significant characteristic of the current, global information age and networked society. Drawing particularly on the theory of Castells (2001), we argue that access to ICTs is not only becoming unavoidable, but may also provide African countries with the possibilities to increase and enhance development. In this regard, we also briefly outline what we view as some of the critical features of development in an African context. In the second section, we provide an account of the Pan-African Agenda on ICTs integration in Africa. This account reveals that, while pedagogic integration of ICTs in education is still in its nascent stage, its relevance is an urgent imperative. In the third section of this article, we specifically examine the South African educational situation and show that, while the importance of using ICTs is recognized and attempts to increase access to ICTs is increasing rapidly, critical questions as to whether or not ICTs can, in fact, improve teaching and learning experiences and outcomes tend to be assumed rather than engaged with critically. We conclude this article by noting that, while ICTs may provide valuable opportunities for development, the recognition of possibilities and limitations of what ICTs can achieve within the African context need to be taken into account