The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

So N21 5 Inch Thumbnail Rgb 2021 03 02

Multi-layered inequalities and a sense of insecurity has long been the hallmark of South African life. Recently, however, the uncertainties of Covid-19 have led to greater shared experiences of vulnerability among South Africans. This volume of State of the Nation offers perspectives that may help us navigate our way through the ‘new normal’ in which we find ourselves. Foremost among the unavoidable political and socioeconomic interventions that will be required are interventions based on an ethics of care. Care as an essential attribute must be inserted into all of the diverse contexts that structure needs, desires and relations of power.

An ethics of care requires us to reconsider relations of domination, oppression, injustice, inequality, or paternalism within the state. In a democratic post-apartheid state that confirms human connectedness, bodies matter and this knowledge must be driven by active citizenship. We are all caught up in webs of power that require of us, as individuals and as communities, the will and understanding to combat and counter poverty and inequality and thus to improve the state of the nation. The effects of poverty and inequality are as insidious as Covid-19 and render the most vulnerable even more powerless in the face of this and similar ravages. Now, more than ever, we need to prioritise an ethics of care.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 240mm x 168mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 416 tbc
ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2596-1
Publish Year : February 2021
Rights : World Rights

1 An ethico-political approach to poverty and inequality: embodying care and corporeal citizenship

Narnia Bohler-Muller, Crain Soudien and Vasu Reddy

2 Reconsidering South Africa’s electoral system: what are the alternatives?

Sithembile Mbete and Vasu Reddy

3 Thinking ethically about women, power and land in South Africa: some observations Narnia Bohler-Muller, Karabo Magagane and Nokuthula Olorunju

4 Presidential leadership and accountability from Mandela to Ramaphosa

Richard Calland and Mabel Nederlof Sithole

5 A normative approach to the minimum core: Minimum requirements for a life of dignity Gary Pienaar, Michael Cosser and Yul Derek Davids

6 Diminishing the power of the x: The electoral effect of corruption perceptions

Benjamin J Roberts, Ngqapheli Mchunu, Steven L Gordon and Jarè Struwig

7 An empirical assessment of the national minimum wage in South Africa: Key considerations and debates

Haroon Bohrat, Ravi Kanbur, Benjamin Stanwix

8 Taxation, inequality and a progressive economy

Imraan Valodia and David Francis

9 South African food politics: Human rights, security and sovereignty

Patrick Bond, Thobekile Zikhali and Thabani Mdlongwa

10 The right to education in South Africa: Policy tensions and the quest for balance Crain Soudien, Andrea Juan and Jaqui Harvey

11 Access to health care: Life Esidimeni and the vulnerability of the mentally ill

Ames Dhai, Jillian Gardner and Safia Mahomed

12 The pursuit of inclusive health services:

Ethics and accountability

Mzikazi Nduna and Sibusiso Mkwananzi

13 Anti-immigrant violence as social group

control vigilantism: Understanding attitudes,

behaviours and solutions

Steven Gordon, Marie Wentzel and Johan

Viljoen

14 Cultures of sexualities and gender in

Afrika’s changing nation

Zethu Matebeni

15 Through the lens of post-apartheid

filmmaking: Chapter 16 spaces of poverty and

social disparity in Yesterday, Jerusalema and

District 9

Subeshini Moodley

16 Diarised precarity and the crisis of informal

settlements

Grace Musila

17 South Africa and the global economy

Fuad Cassim

18 A foreign policy of ubuntu? South African

foreign policy values and priorities

Joleen Steyn-Kotze and Steven Gordon

19 Is pan-Africanism the future?

Francis Kornegay

Narnia Bohler-Muller (BJuris LLB LLM LLD) was Professor of Law at Vista University and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) before joining Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) as director of social sciences in 2011. Currently she is Divisional Executive of the Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research programme at the HSRC, adjunct Professor of the Nelson R Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of Free State. Prof. Bohler Muller has over 100 peer reviewed journal publications and book chapters, and has co edited five books. She is an admitted Advocate of the High Court and served as presiding officer for the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) in Port Elizabeth. She has completed research fellowships at Griffith University's law faculty in Brisbane, Australia; Birkbeck School of Law in London, UK; and the BRICS Policy Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prof Bohler-Muller has represented South Africa in multilateral fora such as BRICS and has represented South Africa in the last two W20 Dialogues in Argentina and Japan. Her research interests include international and constitutional law, human rights, democracy, governance and social justice. In 2016 she was shortlisted as one of 14 candidates for the position of Public Protector.

Professor Crain Soudien is the Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). He holds a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, where he remains an emeritus professor in Education and African Studies. His publications in the areas of social difference, culture, education policy, comparative education, educational change, public history and popular culture include four books, four edited collections and over 200 articles, reviews, reports, and book chapters, including a 2017 publication entitled Nelson Mandela: Comparative Perspectives of his Significance for Education. He is involved in a number of local, national and international social and cultural organisations and is chairperson of the Independent Examinations Board, former chairperson of the District Six Museum Foundation, a former president of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies, and has served as the chair of three Ministerial Committees of Enquiry, including the Ministerial Committee on Transformation in Higher Education and the Ministerial Committee to Evaluate Textbooks for Discrimination. He is a fellow of a number of local and international academies and serves on the boards of a number of cultural, heritage, education and civil society structures.

Vasu Reddy is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria. His research focus is in human and social development, particularly identity marker issues (genders, sexualities, HIV, AIDS, social justice and diversity) as well as humanities questions that address policy dimensions. He taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and worked as a researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council where he later headed the Human and Social Development research programme as Executive Director. He is a member of the editorial board of three journals: Agenda, Feminist Africa and Women’s Studies International Forum. He is also an editor of Transformation: Critical perspectives on Southern Africa. He received a B-3 rating from the National Research Foundation.

Share this

You might also consider these related books

2081  Large

Human Sciences Research Council
Institutional Review 2003

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) is South Africa's statutory reseach agency dedicated to policy-relevant social science. In 2003 the HSRC was evaluated by an independent panel appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology. This publication contains the report presented by the panel.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 148mm x 210mm
Pages : 160
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2057-5
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2057-7
Publish Year : 2003
Price R 120.00
Philanthropy

Philanthropy in South Africa
Horizontality, ubuntu and social justice

2360

Dominant narratives of philanthropy often portray Africans as mere recipients of aid, usually from well-endowed, Western almoners – the West distributing charity to impecunious Africans. The contributors to this volume turn this argument on its head and ask: what about the beneficent spirit of multitudes of Africans whose acts of generosity sustain millions of their compatriots?

This volume is unique in that it illuminates research on philanthropy in Africa by using case studies and ethnographic material to examine a number of themes: cycles of reciprocity among black professionals, social justice philanthropy, community foundations, ubuntu and giving in township and rural settings. Leading thinkers on normative aspects of philanthropy in Africa also critically explore the theories, perspectives and research on philanthropy. This well-researched book will be an invaluable resource to foundations, civil society organisations, researchers, policymakers and students of patterns of giving in South Africa.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 240mm x 168mm
Pages : 224
ISBN 13 : 978-0-7969-2567-1
Publish Year : December 2016
Rights : World Rights
Price R 250.00
2237  Large

Cleaner Energy Cooler Climate
Developing sustainable energy solutions for South Africa

Energy and climate change are issues of critical importance for shaping a sustainable future, both in South Africa and globally. For South Africa, finding a policy approach which balances the increasing demand for energy with the need for sustainability, equity and climate change mitigation is a particular challenge. This book provides an innovative and strategic approach to climate policy, with local development objectives as its starting point.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 168mm x 240mm (Soft Cover)
Pages : 280
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-2230-6
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-2230-4
Publish Year : 2008
Rights : World Rights
Price R 209.00
2048

Socio-Economic Rights in the South African Constitution:
Theory and practice

This publication will assist researchers, students and the public in their understanding of socio-economic rights. The book considers whether the rights listed in the Bill of Rights have been given effect to and gives an understanding of the processes followed by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in monitoring such rights.

Open Access

Product information

Format : 140mm x 205mm
Pages : 169
ISBN 10 : 0-7969-1981-X
ISBN 13 : 978-07969-1981-6
Publish Year : 2001
Price R 170.00