$6
Tenkir Bonger
ISBN: 0850-2633
CODESRIA 1996
The ‘counter-revolution’ in Development Economics in the 1980s fundamentally altered the way the state ‘thinks’, which is evident in the state’s retrenchment and reconstitution of the state’s relationship to its citizens. The combination of deflationary macroeconomic policies and a residual approach to social policy, broadly, and social provisioning, more specifically, fundamentally altered the post-colonial trajectory of public policy in Africa. Despite the neoliberal ascendance that nurtured the more residual direction of social policy, the contention for an alternative vision of social policy remained and advanced with vigour. Specific contributions range from the deployment of social policy in framing the nation-building project, endogenous mutual support institutions, land and agrarian reform as a social policy instrument, the gender dynamics of social policy, and the mechanism enabling the spread of cash transfer schemes on the continent.
African Land Questions, Agrarian Transition and the State, Contradictions of Neo-liberal Land Reforms (Printed)
This empirically grounded study provides a critical reflection on the land question in Africa, research on which tends to be tangential, conceptually loose and generally inadequate. It argues that the most pressing research concern must be to understand the precise nature of the African land question, its land reforms and their effects on development. To unravel the roots of land conflicts in Africa requires thorough understanding of the complex social and political contradictions which have ensued from colonial and post-colonial land policies, as well as from Africa’s ‘development’ and capital accumulation trajectories, especially with regard to the land rights of the continent’s poor. The study thus questions the capacity of emerging neo-liberal economic and political regimes in Africa to deliver land reforms which address growing inequality and poverty. It equally questions the understanding of the nature of popular demands for land reforms by African states, and their ability to address these demands under the current global political and economic structures dictated by neo-liberalism and its narrow regime of ownership. The study invites scholars and policy makers to creatively draw on the specific historical trajectories and contemporary expression of the land and agrarian questions in Africa, to enrich both theory and practice on land in Africa.
The Study of Africa, Volume 1: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters (Printed)
This is the first of a two-volume work which takes stock of the study of Africa in the twenty-first century: its status, research agenda and approaches, and place. It is divided into two parts, the first on the academic disciplines and African Studies, the second on interdisciplinary studies.
Topics addressed in part one include: anthropology, race, ethnography and sociology in relation to area studies; African historiography, and the research and teaching of history in Africa in an era of institutional crisis and ‘global history’; and the need to rethink Africanist political sciences.
“This is a major intellectual intervention since the neo-liberalisation of our universities which has had devastating effect on intellectual freedom, critical thought and creativity. It is my hope that the essays in this book will rekindle the debate on the University as a public space and reignite the struggle to reclaim education as the commons and not a commodity for sale.”
Issa Shivji, Professor Emeritus, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
“The essays composing this book are an excellent illustration of how, through an exercise of interdisciplinarity, it is possible to combine theory and practice in the analysis of the context of knowledge production on the continent, addressing themes that are fundamental to African academics. The questions raised become more important in the context of an uncertain future generated by the threats
from COVID-19, which force us to rethink our institutions and their role, but also to permanently find alternatives to produce scientific knowledge from within.”
Professor Teresa Cruz e Silva, Centro de Estudos Africanos,
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique
The ‘counter-revolution’ in Development Economics in the 1980s fundamentally altered the way the state ‘thinks’, which is evident in the state’s retrenchment and reconstitution of the state’s relationship to its citizens. The combination of deflationary macroeconomic policies and a residual approach to social policy, broadly, and social provisioning, more specifically, fundamentally altered the post-colonial trajectory of public policy in Africa. Despite the neoliberal ascendance that nurtured the more residual direction of social policy, the contention for an alternative vision of social policy remained and advanced with vigour. Specific contributions range from the deployment of social policy in framing the nation-building project, endogenous mutual support institutions, land and agrarian reform as a social policy instrument, the gender dynamics of social policy, and the mechanism enabling the spread of cash transfer schemes on the continent.
CHASING FREEDOM Histories, Analyses and Voices of Student Activism in South Africa
Zukiswa Mqolomba is a former SRC President of the University of Cape Town, former Provincial Executive Committee member of SASCO and alumnus student leader. She is a Mandela Rhodes Scholar and Chevening scholar. She has two master’s degrees and also holds an executive leadership training certificate. Mqolomba now works for the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
Suntosh R. Pillay is a clinical psychologist and researcher in the public sector in Durban, South Africa, with roots in student journalism, community mobilizing and mental health advocacy. He completed his Masters in Social Sciences degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and is affiliated to UKZN’s Department of Clinical Medicine. He is committed to developing critical psychopolitical theory and practices in South Africa.
Kenya: The Struggle for Democracy (Printed)
« Riveting, compelling, engaging and inspiring… Not only is Kenya : The Struggle for Democracy a book of first-rate scholarship, it is an informative and readable treatise on the everyday expressions of Kenyan citizens’ intense passion for openness, justice and responsible governance ». Lisa Aubrey, Ohio University « A very refreshing, rigorous, informative and multidisciplinary analysis of Kenya’s transition to democratic governance, Kenya : The Struggle for Democracy not only identifies the reasons behind Kenya’s failure to institutionalise democracy, but it also provides possible solutions ». John Mukum Mbaku, Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow, Weber State University « A moving and comprehensive analysis of institutions and actors that have shaped Kenya’s future… For Africanists, this is compulsory reading which requires a response ». Winnie Mitullah, University of Nairobi.
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