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Educate and Skill Africa
Get PDFThe African Union continues to be seized with the task to build the Africa we want as outlined in the African Agenda 2063. This agenda should lead to a stronger, more peaceful and more prosperous Africa.
It should lead to strong and effective institutions. It should produce more responsible leadership and accountable governments across the continent. It is expected that the road to 2063 must see inclusive economic growth and development marked by the participation of small and medium size enterprises and informal entrepreneurs that Africa has in abundance.
Community Partners in Evaluation and Change: Reflections on a Quarter-Century Evaluation of an Intervention Project Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Outcomes
Get PDFOver the past quarter-century, The Magnolia Project has served a section of “the Northwest Corridor” of Jacksonville, FL, providing reproductive and well-woman care and intensive case management to reduce infant mortality in the African American community. During this time, the primary focus for Magnolia has been to provide clinic-based well woman care, prenatal care, support groups and case management through a store-front site in the heart of the target area. As new opportunities for funding became available, Magnolia moved from its “traditional” focus of women who come to, or are referred to, the clinic site to a broad-based Community-wide focus in order to address the underlying symptoms affecting the community’s health and the disparities this community faces. The Authors have been involved in the discussion, design, and implementation of Magnolia throughout the past 25 years, literally “sitting around the table” working on the original program proposal. In this paper we reflect on our role as evaluation partner for the Magnolia Project, and discuss how Program Representatives and staff, Evaluation Partners, and Community Partners joined forces over the past 25 years to implement the Magnolia project, and how they made a difference in their community. The lessons learned from this process are informative to other programs seeking to expand their community impact through partnering with university-based researchers
The Development of Clinical Sociology in Malaysia
Get PDFThis article discusses the significant contributions made by Wan Halim Othman in the advancement of clinical sociology in Malaysia. Wan Halim, introduced as the progenitor of Clinical Sociology in Malaysia, has played a pivotal role in social issue management and his unique approaches have had a lasting social impact in the country. This article starts with the backdrop of the country and the main figure - Wan Halim Othman, and then discusses the various innovative and impactful initiatives that he has spearheaded using the clinical sociology approach. Programmes such as PINTAS and the social clinic exemplify the profound capacity of clinical sociology to address intricate societal issues. Wan Halim has effectively empowered marginalized communities and promoted social cohesion by implementing new strategies, like community mediation and support groups specifically designed for single moms. Though clinical sociology is gaining traction in Malaysia, much needed to be done to further recognize and institutionalize this discipline. Among the proposed next steps include the formalization of clinical sociology by implementing comprehensive curricula, hands-on training, and professional certification. The author emphasizes the significance of fostering collaboration among academia, government, and civil society in order to establish clinical sociology as an institutionalized field and effectively tackle urgent societal issues
The Marital Sexual Experiences of South African Muslim Wives of Indian Descent: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Get PDFThis article explores South African Muslim Indian wives’ sexuality in monogamous marriages, analyzing the effect of religious teachings and cultural norms on sexual experiences using hermeneutic phenomenology. Twelve participants were selected, employing purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online and in-person using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology. Results highlight emotional and psychological challenges faced by Muslim women during marital sexual initiation due to religious teachings and limited sex education. The study underscores perpetuated traditional gender norms and patriarchal structures through cultural conditioning. Muslim wives experience sexual desire discrepancy, negatively impacting their mental health and self-esteem. Despite challenges, transformative potential in marital relationships is indicated through understanding, communication, and mutual sexual satisfaction
Training and research: Art Therapy for social justice. A keynote address
No full textThis presentation is about decoloniality and reflective practice in relation to arts therapy training, research, and social justice. I assert that practising our profession is a great responsibility and attempt to align that practice with the broader conversations happening within the Global South. A few more assertions are made from this initial one: firstly, that reflexivity ensures that we learn from ourselves, our past, and then move forward with an openness to being critical. Secondly, I acknowledge that social justice may not necessarily be achieved on a grand scale with reflexivity alone, therefore, a more systemic approach may be necessary. Lastly, by acknowledging that social justice in South Africa is a continuation of the fight against apartheid and its legacies of violence, educators and students are invited to contribute to decolonising the ways they engage with training and practice materials in the classroom. The presentation concludes with a suggestion made in collaboration with other applied arts practitioners that education should move toward a critical contemplative pedagogy that encourages the transformation of destructive emotions for skilful action
Training Art Therapists for Social Justice UJ conference overview opening address
No full textThis paper presents an overview of the "Training Art Therapists for Social Justice" conference held by the University of Johannesburg. Drawing upon insights from the conference\u27s opening address and discussions, the paper explores the concept of social justice within the context of art therapy training. Key themes include the role of privilege, intersectionality, and trauma-informed practices in promoting equity and inclusivity within the field. The paper also examines the challenges and opportunities in addressing societal inequalities through art therapy education. Through critical analysis and reflection, the paper aims to contribute to ongoing dialogues on social justice within art therapy pedagogy and practice
Summary report – Training art therapist for social justice: A University of Johannesburg art therapy conference
Get PDFThis article offers a post-conference summary of the two-day event hosted by the University of Johannesburg, titled "Training Art Therapists for Social Justice”. The article provides an outline of the panels that presented at the conference, including the panelist involved which featured international guests. Additionally, a summary of the post-conference feedback from attendees is presented, indicating a mostly positive experience of the conference and the presentations
Rethinking Moses Òkè on the Recolonisation Project
Get PDFThe study engages Òkè’s submission that a people that continually looks back to its past that failed then, and could not sustainthem for present salvation, must change their perception and attitude to that past or hold themselves ready for eventual recolonisation. It presents concise discussions on Òkè’s recolonisation project (RP) – both for and against. It argues that Òkè and the commentators alike, i.e. the defenders and the critics, have failed to pay attention to the fact that Òkè’s RP does not presuppose a complete mockery of decolonisation campaign. Nevertheless, Òkè can be seen in the light of his consistency in maintaining the samefundamental principles that made him to reject decolonisation, and propose recolonisation as the alternative. This made Òkè to concede that recolonisation is possible. The study employs the methods of conceptual analysis and philosophical argumentation
Obscuring Our Sense of Morality: Barry Hallen’s Yoruba Moral Epistemology and the Problem of Character Indeterminacy
Get PDFBarry Hallen’s critical engagements with the African (Yoruba) philosophical scholarship have earned him a place among Africanintellectual giants of the 20th century. Among his diverse contributions to African philosophical discourse is his Yoruba moral epistemology thesis. Built on his canonical distinction between knowledge (ìmọ) and belief (ìgbàgbọ) within the Yoruba linguistic framework, the Yoruba moral epistemology thesis suggests that knowledge of human character could be modelled alongsidea similar pathway with knowledge of other propositional items where knowledge claims are made based on evidence obtained via first-hand information. Using Yoruba ethnological/linguistic resources as a methodological standpoint, our critique of Hallen’s Yoruba moral epistemology is primarily motivated by three fundamental observations: a. that the acclaimed distinction between ìmọ and ìgbàgbọ on which the thesis is based, is faulty; b. that the thesis does not agree to a certain conception of personhood within theYoruba metaphysical worldview; and c. that the behaviourist implications engendered by Hallen’s Yoruba moral epistemology do not adequately represent the deeply spiritual essence of human conducts in Yoruba ethical system. We conclude that, although it is flawed, Hallen’s Yoruba moral epistemology thesis is an important contribution to African philosophy as it stimulates fruitful discussions around the subject matters of epistemology and ethics, and the connection between them within a traditional intellectualdiscourse of the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria
The Politics of Knowledge Production and Decolonisation: An Appraisal of Mahmood Mamdani’s Contributions
Get PDFOne of the fundamental challenges facing higher education is the much-needed confrontation of the legacies of colonialismwhich are hidden behind the claims of universality, neutrality and objectivity in knowledge production. From the vantage point of the present, Mahmood Mamdani, is one of the scholars who have given an account of colonial rule, its main characteristics and consequences of colonial conquests in a telling manner that renders transparent how the universalising structure of political modernity produced the colonised as subjects of difference. In his writings, Mamdani has connected the diverse experiences of the post-colonial world and flagged modernity as very pivotal in understanding the politics of knowledge production because it wascrafted by the colonial project which centred on producing colonial subjects of difference within the hegemonic European thought. Mamdani’s main contribution is his use of historical analysis from the vantage point of the present to offer a productive frame of thought on knowledge production that exposes the anatomy and operation of colonialism and its universalising structures thathave been inadvertently normalised as the model in knowledge production. In this article, I attempt to piece together the fundamentals of Mamdani’s exposition of how colonialism was a particular variation of the discourse of difference that shapedforms of existence and knowing. Primarily using a decolonial inspired theoretical framework, the paper makes a nuanced reading of Mamdani’s writings to show how his contributions makes visible the impact of colonialism as a project that is not confined to history and its pervasiveness in shaping the production of the objects of knowledge and its subjects