Over the last century, girls in Africa, long ignored as sources of knowledge, have, nevertheless,... more Over the last century, girls in Africa, long ignored as sources of knowledge, have, nevertheless, engaged vocally and publicly in activism and artistic endeavors to express their visions and aspirations for a future society inclusive of their needs. Only recently have scholars begun to examine the complicated nature of girlhood in relation to capacity, competence, and knowledge layered with vulnerability and inexperience. In the last decade, the flourishing of girls’ inventive acts of agency and their use of their own incisive voices have given impetus to the growing scholarship on girls’ vibrant historical and current political, economic, creative, and cultural pursuits.
From text: Globally, the digital is encroaching, reformulating, and recreating spaces in contempo... more From text: Globally, the digital is encroaching, reformulating, and recreating spaces in contemporary society (Kalantzis-Cope & Gherab-Martin, 2010). This is so in South Africa with the various applications of the digital having their roots in different places and spaces. Historically, we can look back to the development of portable video technology in the late 1960s in Canada. Organised through the National Film Board of Canada, a group of filmmakers initiated a new approach to documentary film production, engaging communities themselves in the process of filmmaking (Rusted, 2010)
IntroductionAn evolution is necessary, one that dismantles our legacy of knowledge and brings our... more IntroductionAn evolution is necessary, one that dismantles our legacy of knowledge and brings our society into alignment with the values of our Constitution. This reordering in the domains of knowledge development would reconnect South Africa with changes afoot in other post-colonial societies. (Leonard Martin, 2012, para. 2)International scholarship on the politics of knowledge, its production, and dissemination is abundant (see for example, Apple, 2000; Brown, 2011; Fiske, 1989; Muller, 2000; Weiler, 2011; and others). Similarly, informed largely by the research we produce, a plethora of interventions have been developed and implemented in communities and institutions identified as needing development. With these initiatives, both local and international donors and governments have spent huge amounts of financial and other resources. In spite of this, the development challenges South Africa faces seem to be continuing, with little sign of improvement.As Weiler (2009) pointed out, ...
The article focuses on the meanings of the curry in two contemporary cookbooks, Durban Curry (201... more The article focuses on the meanings of the curry in two contemporary cookbooks, Durban Curry (2014) and Durban Curry: Up2Date (2019). These texts are read partly in conjunction with Indian Delights (originally published in 1961), a pioneering volume focusing on Indian food, which serves as an intertext to the books analysed in this article. The article offers a textual and symptomatic gendered reading that describes some representational and discursive aspects of curry-making as shown in the foodways and foodscapes presented in the two cookbooks. The article motivates that the meaning of curry is not in its singularity, but is instead in the plurality of its shifts, changes, appropriations and mobility over time.
Historically, rurality and rural education have been marginalised bodies of knowledge in South Af... more Historically, rurality and rural education have been marginalised bodies of knowledge in South Africa. The post-1994 era has seen an emerging government concern to address the continuing interplay between poverty, HIV/AIDS, underdevelopment, and underachievement in schools categorised as rural. To address these concerns, scholars in South African institutions of higher learning have conducted research on various issues on rurality and rural education. However, little is known of the focus of the various studies and the state of rural education and rural education research. Drawing on the Project for Postgraduate Education Research (PPER) from 1995– 2004, the purpose of this article is to critically analyse the discourses underpinning rural education and rural education research in South Africa. The article focuses on three enabling assumptions. The first is that there is little research which takes as its primary focus rurality as lived experience worthy of scholarly reflection rega...
This article is about the national project to gather together information about postgraduate educ... more This article is about the national project to gather together information about postgraduate education research (PPER) in South Africa conducted over a ten-year period, namely 1995-2004, being the first decade in the democratic era for South Africa. The ideas informing the PPER Project are provided and the complex process of developing the PPER database is discussed. Although it is too early to yield firm findings about the trends, the article offers a tentative first level of description about postgraduate education research.
As visual researchers in the field of education we have initiated and completed numerous particip... more As visual researchers in the field of education we have initiated and completed numerous participatory projects using qualitative visual methods such as drawing, collage, photovoice, and participatory video, along with organising screenings and creating exhibitions, action briefs, and policy posters. Locating this work within a critical paradigm, we have used these methods with participants to explore issues relating to HIV and AIDS and to gender-based violence in rural contexts. With technology, social media, and digital communication network connections becoming more accessible, the possibilities of using visual participatory methods in educational research have been extended. However, the value of visual participatory research in contributing to social change is often unrecognised. While the power of numbers and words in persuasive and informative change is well accepted within the community of educational researchers, the power of the visual itself is often overlooked. In this v...
Derek Conrad Murray: Welcome to the Roundtable. This is a project that the new editorial board is... more Derek Conrad Murray: Welcome to the Roundtable. This is a project that the new editorial board is really excited about. We solicited responses from a diverse, exciting group of scholars across disciplines and methods, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Multiple disciplines and methodologies are represented internationally. We’re really thrilled about this special issue, but we also wanted to convene a group of some of the participants to have a live discussion about the future of visual studies (Figure 1).
The abduction and sexual violation of adolescents, especially in township contexts, has increasin... more The abduction and sexual violation of adolescents, especially in township contexts, has increasingly made headlines in South Africa. These incidents are evocative of jackrolling, a phenomenon that plagued townships during the apartheid upheavals in the late 1980s. The abduction of adolescents on their school journeys has been reported in several South African townships. In this paper, we report on a study in which we used participatory visual methods (i.e., cellphilms: short videos made with cellphones) to explore how 19 adolescent girls and boys living in the Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu (INK) township precinct, outside Durban reflected on their vulnerability to sexual violence. Although the question was broad, our analysis of the visual data suggests that adolescents believed that their vulnerability to abduction and rape was almost inevitable. As such, in their cellphilms, they chose to portray their risk and vulnerability to abduction, rape, and even murder on their daily journeys to and from school. We found that through this methodology, adolescents were able to illustrate and/or articulate their fear of sexual violence. For them, violence was an inescapable reality that created fear and helplessness. This underscores the need for interventions, including the provision of safe scholar transport and visible policing in the community.
Over the last century, girls in Africa, long ignored as sources of knowledge, have, nevertheless,... more Over the last century, girls in Africa, long ignored as sources of knowledge, have, nevertheless, engaged vocally and publicly in activism and artistic endeavors to express their visions and aspirations for a future society inclusive of their needs. Only recently have scholars begun to examine the complicated nature of girlhood in relation to capacity, competence, and knowledge layered with vulnerability and inexperience. In the last decade, the flourishing of girls’ inventive acts of agency and their use of their own incisive voices have given impetus to the growing scholarship on girls’ vibrant historical and current political, economic, creative, and cultural pursuits.
From text: Globally, the digital is encroaching, reformulating, and recreating spaces in contempo... more From text: Globally, the digital is encroaching, reformulating, and recreating spaces in contemporary society (Kalantzis-Cope & Gherab-Martin, 2010). This is so in South Africa with the various applications of the digital having their roots in different places and spaces. Historically, we can look back to the development of portable video technology in the late 1960s in Canada. Organised through the National Film Board of Canada, a group of filmmakers initiated a new approach to documentary film production, engaging communities themselves in the process of filmmaking (Rusted, 2010)
IntroductionAn evolution is necessary, one that dismantles our legacy of knowledge and brings our... more IntroductionAn evolution is necessary, one that dismantles our legacy of knowledge and brings our society into alignment with the values of our Constitution. This reordering in the domains of knowledge development would reconnect South Africa with changes afoot in other post-colonial societies. (Leonard Martin, 2012, para. 2)International scholarship on the politics of knowledge, its production, and dissemination is abundant (see for example, Apple, 2000; Brown, 2011; Fiske, 1989; Muller, 2000; Weiler, 2011; and others). Similarly, informed largely by the research we produce, a plethora of interventions have been developed and implemented in communities and institutions identified as needing development. With these initiatives, both local and international donors and governments have spent huge amounts of financial and other resources. In spite of this, the development challenges South Africa faces seem to be continuing, with little sign of improvement.As Weiler (2009) pointed out, ...
The article focuses on the meanings of the curry in two contemporary cookbooks, Durban Curry (201... more The article focuses on the meanings of the curry in two contemporary cookbooks, Durban Curry (2014) and Durban Curry: Up2Date (2019). These texts are read partly in conjunction with Indian Delights (originally published in 1961), a pioneering volume focusing on Indian food, which serves as an intertext to the books analysed in this article. The article offers a textual and symptomatic gendered reading that describes some representational and discursive aspects of curry-making as shown in the foodways and foodscapes presented in the two cookbooks. The article motivates that the meaning of curry is not in its singularity, but is instead in the plurality of its shifts, changes, appropriations and mobility over time.
Historically, rurality and rural education have been marginalised bodies of knowledge in South Af... more Historically, rurality and rural education have been marginalised bodies of knowledge in South Africa. The post-1994 era has seen an emerging government concern to address the continuing interplay between poverty, HIV/AIDS, underdevelopment, and underachievement in schools categorised as rural. To address these concerns, scholars in South African institutions of higher learning have conducted research on various issues on rurality and rural education. However, little is known of the focus of the various studies and the state of rural education and rural education research. Drawing on the Project for Postgraduate Education Research (PPER) from 1995– 2004, the purpose of this article is to critically analyse the discourses underpinning rural education and rural education research in South Africa. The article focuses on three enabling assumptions. The first is that there is little research which takes as its primary focus rurality as lived experience worthy of scholarly reflection rega...
This article is about the national project to gather together information about postgraduate educ... more This article is about the national project to gather together information about postgraduate education research (PPER) in South Africa conducted over a ten-year period, namely 1995-2004, being the first decade in the democratic era for South Africa. The ideas informing the PPER Project are provided and the complex process of developing the PPER database is discussed. Although it is too early to yield firm findings about the trends, the article offers a tentative first level of description about postgraduate education research.
As visual researchers in the field of education we have initiated and completed numerous particip... more As visual researchers in the field of education we have initiated and completed numerous participatory projects using qualitative visual methods such as drawing, collage, photovoice, and participatory video, along with organising screenings and creating exhibitions, action briefs, and policy posters. Locating this work within a critical paradigm, we have used these methods with participants to explore issues relating to HIV and AIDS and to gender-based violence in rural contexts. With technology, social media, and digital communication network connections becoming more accessible, the possibilities of using visual participatory methods in educational research have been extended. However, the value of visual participatory research in contributing to social change is often unrecognised. While the power of numbers and words in persuasive and informative change is well accepted within the community of educational researchers, the power of the visual itself is often overlooked. In this v...
Derek Conrad Murray: Welcome to the Roundtable. This is a project that the new editorial board is... more Derek Conrad Murray: Welcome to the Roundtable. This is a project that the new editorial board is really excited about. We solicited responses from a diverse, exciting group of scholars across disciplines and methods, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Multiple disciplines and methodologies are represented internationally. We’re really thrilled about this special issue, but we also wanted to convene a group of some of the participants to have a live discussion about the future of visual studies (Figure 1).
The abduction and sexual violation of adolescents, especially in township contexts, has increasin... more The abduction and sexual violation of adolescents, especially in township contexts, has increasingly made headlines in South Africa. These incidents are evocative of jackrolling, a phenomenon that plagued townships during the apartheid upheavals in the late 1980s. The abduction of adolescents on their school journeys has been reported in several South African townships. In this paper, we report on a study in which we used participatory visual methods (i.e., cellphilms: short videos made with cellphones) to explore how 19 adolescent girls and boys living in the Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu (INK) township precinct, outside Durban reflected on their vulnerability to sexual violence. Although the question was broad, our analysis of the visual data suggests that adolescents believed that their vulnerability to abduction and rape was almost inevitable. As such, in their cellphilms, they chose to portray their risk and vulnerability to abduction, rape, and even murder on their daily journeys to and from school. We found that through this methodology, adolescents were able to illustrate and/or articulate their fear of sexual violence. For them, violence was an inescapable reality that created fear and helplessness. This underscores the need for interventions, including the provision of safe scholar transport and visible policing in the community.
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Papers by Relebohile Moletsane