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A critical engagement Sustainable Development Goals and the problem of ‘race’: Living Rights Festival
No full textHow do we conceptualise and develop a global development agenda that is attentive to the needs, requirements andentitlements of all the world’s people? In this contribution I problematise dominant approaches to development and theways in which these approaches, firstly, conceptualise ideas about the ‘universal’ and, secondly, erase, silence andmarginalise particular groups of people. With this backdrop, I focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and particularly their conceptualisation. Of particular interest is how the design of the SDGs deal with the fundamental objective underpinning this global intervention – that of inclusion. The argument I will make is that dominant development discourses, including the SDG project, have struggled to deal with the realities and effects of exclusion and marginalisation as they take expression and are manifested in processes of racialisation, gender discrimination and class formation
About the journal
Get PDFWritingThreeSixty is a bi-annual, interdisciplinary journal for research essays and creative works. First launched in 2014 as an initiative of the English department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), WritingThreeSixty now forms part of the broader community within the Arts Faculty and Humanities at UWC. This journal maintains the standard of peer review and wishes to provide a platform to develop a culture of publishing among postgraduate and emerging student researchers, as well as established creative artists within UWC and South Africa at large.WritingThreeSixty also forms part of co-curricular graduate culture at UWC that affords students the opportunity to develop professional skills through the voluntary leadership and service positions created through the journal. These positions include the management of the journal and its team, editorial outputs, as well as our digital marketing efforts that are presented through social media and our online website
Migration in South Africa: Conflicts and Identities. Eddie M. Rakabe and Chris C. Nshimbi: Review by Alan Hirsch
Get PDFEddie Rakabe and Chris Nshimbi have assembled an interesting collection of chapters dealing with the broadly common theme of the complexity of responding to and managing migration in South Africa today. Some of the chapters are essays, contesting ideas in the context of existing knowledge, while others add to the stock of knowledge itself, presenting on original research.The sudden influx into South Africa of Zimbabwean migrants in 2008 and 2009 and the emergence, in the same period, of virulent anti-migrant rhetoric and violent anti-migrant actions brought the issue of migration policy to the fore. Since then, it has seldom been out of the frame of South African politics
The effects of decolonial praxis on leaders of transformative movements: The case of Masivule in South Africa
Get PDFWhile the effects experienced by the leaders of radical transformative movements at universities in South Africa and other countries have become evident over the last decades, the scholarly discussion and theorisation thereof, especially by those directly involved in these movements, has been scarce. This article addresses this knowledge gap and discusses the consequences suffered by the leaders of a small, albeit no less radically transformative, movement that took place at a middle-size department at a historically white South African university in 2022: #Masivule_i-Antieke_Studies. By exploring an auto-ethnographic method and couching their personal experiences within decolonial theory, the authors – who were among the six Masivule founders and activists – conclude that: contesting (post-/epi-)colonial powers at universities has both negative and positive effects on the architects/leaders of decolonial movements, which are visible in four domains: structural, epistemic, personal, and relational. While structural, epistemic, and relational effects gradually become mostly positive, personal effects remain profoundly (albeit not exclusively) negative. The authors propose that the most promising or effective way to deal with traumatic experiences and render them generative is to embrace decoloniality – not only as a method of transforming a particular department, university, or field, but as a philosophy governing one’s professional career and life
Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Child Trafficking in Wolaita Sodo, Southern Ethiopia: Insights from the Origin Community
Get PDFChild trafficking is a serious violation of children’s rights under international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Research on this issue in Ethiopia is limited, with few studies assessing public awareness and attitudes. This study aims to examine the knowledge and attitudes of residents in Wolaita Sodo town regarding in-country child trafficking using a mixed-methods approach with 448 participants. The research team collected data through structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews. For data analysis, the researchers used SPSS 26.0 software, applied descriptive and inferential statistical analysis wherever applicable, and analyzed qualitative data thematically. The findings revealed that the majority of participants (55%) lacked adequate knowledge about child trafficking, with the qualitative results supporting this finding. In contrast, 55.9% of participants exhibited positive attitudes toward child trafficking.A significant correlation was found between knowledge levels and attitudes, with education and personal experiences playing a critical role. Multivariate analysis revealed that individuals with a first-degree education or higher were 3.25 times (1.21-8.81, p<0.05) more likely to possess a good knowledge of child trafficking compared to those who were less educated. Additionally, individuals with trafficked family members had 3.36 times (1.59-6.81) greater knowledge of child trafficking. In a similar vein, participants who had a first degree or higher educational qualification were 2.31 times (1.29-4.34, p<0.05) less likely to harbor negative attitudes toward victims of child trafficking and anti-trafficking initiatives compared to their less-educated counterparts. Furthermore, individuals with family members who had been trafficked were 0.44 times (0.47-0.27, p<0.05) less likely to display negative attitudes thanthose without such experiences. Despite their positive attitudes, most participants lacked comprehensive knowledge of child trafficking, highlighting the gap between awareness and actionable understanding. This suggests that positive attitudes may not translate into informed action without adequate knowledge. The study recommends targeted educational initiatives to bridge this gap and improve public understanding and engagement
Rowing Against Climate Adversity and Lack of Family Support: The Everyday Lives of Migrants’ Wives in Rural Mozambique
Get PDFThere are numerous studies on the participation in migratory work by men from the Gaza Province, whether to the mines in South Africa or Mozambican cities, in particular the city of Maputo. However, studies that analyze the psychosocial conditions of migrants’ wives about their relationships with their family, friends, neighbors, and their teenage children are still incipient. For this reason, we assert that this study is typical of sub-Saharan Africa and reveals the vulnerability of middle-age and aging women. In all these studies, there are common aspects that characterize the vulnerability of married women, widows, or single women with or without children. They live within a patriarchal context that determines who brings the bread, whom they marry, how many children they should have, their role as caretakers of the family, and the roles of the ones who take care of the farm and the elderly. The dominant patriarchal system in southern Mozambique determines a man’s masculinity based on his ability to perform work that generates income for his family. The literature shows that the generational masculine ideology among men in traditional communities begins from childhood and is perpetuated from generation to generation, with the man marrying as many women as he can afford. The female harem is necessary to guarantee the perpetuation of the name or nickname of that lineage. What we endeavor to demonstrate in this article is that all the women’s statements, whether in the focus group discussions (FGDs) or individually, reflect the burden of patriarchal relations still dominant in rural Gazan society. We also show that the organization of labor during crisis situations results in a cascade of events that include: women lacking food and other necessities; women forced to sever their relationships with their in-laws, grown and undergrown children, peers, and relatives. This results in stress and other health-related issues, as well as diminished confidence in planning for the future. The paper aims to respond to these questions: (1) What help do women receive from their children, family, and friends when they have a migrant husband? What kind of help does a migrant wife or ex-migrant wife provide to others? (2)What help do women receive from their children, family, and friends when they have a non-migrant husband? (3) To what extent does this contribute to women’s well-being? (4) What help do mothers give their children
Cross-Border Solidarity: Migrant-Led Associations as Spaces of Epistemic Resistance and Food Security Innovation in South Africa
Get PDFIn the midst of closure and securitization of border regimes, climate-change displacement, and entrenched inequalities, migrant communities are not just surviving but creating new sites of resistance, creativity, and adaptation to their worlds in crisis. This paper explores how migrant-solidarity organizations function as epistemic spaces of invention and resistance in South Africa among Zimbabwean, Pakistani, and Cameroonian migrant communities in Parow Valley, Summer Greens, and Kensington (Cape Town). Based on 250 household surveys and 12 qualitative in-depth interviews, the paper explores how migrant-led social movements become sites of agency, social resilience, and resistance to marginalization habitually employed by state policy and academic scholarship. These forms of solidarity networks, which are essentially national in scope, maintain food security at a household level, access to livelihood, and socioemotional well-being. Group savings, mutual support, and rotating credit associations enable these networks to build adaptive capacities to deal with uncertain migration status and socio-economic risk. They constitute resilient, informal social safety nets for food, income, and affective resources that go beyond what formal mechanisms can provide. By situating migrant practice and epistemologies, the paper challenges hegemonic discourses that position migrants as passive. Instead, it positions everyday solidarities at the site of politicized invention and resistance. It situates where these practices intersect with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 (zero hunger), SDG 8 (decent work), and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities). It establishes a decolonial, plural migration knowledge positioning migrants as co-producers, policy entrepreneurs, and change agents
Extractive legacies, local struggles, and the pursuit of social justice: Green energy development in South Africa’s semi-arid Northern Cape
No full textSouth Africa’s transition to renewable energy, including green hydrogen development, is positioned as a pathway to sustainability and economic growth. However, this transition is characterised by persistent socio-economic inequalities, infrastructural limitations, and unevenly distributed benefits. This article critically examines the socio-political implications of large-scale renewable energy projects, particularly in historically marginalised regions such as the Northern Cape province. Employing an energy justice framework, the study explores how corporate-led energy transitions risk reinforcing patterns of resource dispossession and exclusion, rather than fostering equitable development. By interrogating the tensions between national energy ambitions and local realities, the paper highlights the need for greater institutional capacity, meaningful community engagement, and policy interventions that prioritise energy justice. The findings stress the importance of moving beyond extractivist paradigms to ensure a just and inclusive energy transition
Lead, don’t demobilise the nation!
No full textNow that the dust has settled after South Africa’s National Dialogue Convention held in Gauteng in August, citizens are asking, what next? ‘where do we go from here?’ The chairperson of the Convention Organising Committee of the National Dialogue, BOICHOKO DITLHAKE, shares an updated roadmap for the work ahead
Silence as a Room #1 of #5 : Q and A with Ari Sitas
Get PDFAn unknown individual drove a grader across a veld in the Karoo outside Richmond and levelled an art installation that had been carved and constructed over three long, hard years into the heat-baked desert soil. Ari Sitas interviewed the artist, CORAL ANNE BIJOUX, who developed the land artwork in the Karoo veld, after months of consultation, research, and development, to emulate a womb in the earth. However, her decision to create it in the open veld instead of on a private farm to allow equal and free access to all resulted in bitter consequences