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Environmental entrepreneurialism and the limits and possibilities of socio-economic transformation in the Karoo
Full text linkIn recent decades, a new and multi-crested wave of investment has washed across the Karoo, much of it focused on aspects of what we are calling environmental entrepreneurialism, especially wildlife farming, conservancies, ecotourism, and renewable energy. ‘Sustainable’ copper mining, green hydrogen, and carbon credits are also promised. While driven by the private sector, this has not replaced the state, and it intersects with national and provincial projects that extend protected areas, facilitate conservancies, and regulate renewable energy infrastructure. The latter, with investment largely by private companies on privately-owned land, is probably the most significant area of investment. Renewable energy infrastructure is not directly aimed at benefitting the Karoo environment but at augmenting and decarbonising provincial and national electricity supplies. Other enterprises are similarly complex. While copper mining may enhance global environmental conservation, it is environmentally destructive locally.
In this article, we explore some of the dynamics of these environmental trends across different sectors. Generally, they are resulting in national environmental gains and enhancing local biodiversity. However, as we discuss briefly in each case, they are making little impact on socio-economic inequality. Landowners are benefitting and land ownership is increasingly concentrated. New networks of expertise have emerged between farm-owners, government agencies, universities, and private consultancies. We focus primarily on private sector environmental entrepreneurialism as a process of increasing significance and a shift away from the state as the key agent in conservation. Evidence suggests that redistributive processes are marginal, with the partial exception of those resulting from renewable energy licences
New Agenda 99: Cosmopolitan Karoo: Where hopes for a sustainable future meet the reality of inequality and poverty
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We Have Trust Issues
Full text linkThis poetic inquiry explores the complex dynamics of trust within the context of higher education, particularly focusing on the collective experiences of marginalised communities. Drawing from the themes of the special issue "Reimagining Trust in Higher Education" in the journal Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL), the poem grapples with the deep-seated mistrust that stems from historical and ongoing injustices, such as colonialism, apartheid, and systemic inequality. Through a powerful and evocative use of the collective voice, the poem highlights the shared struggles and resilience of those fighting for social justice, decolonisation, and equity in academia. It interrogates the hollow promises of trust from institutions that have perpetuated harm and exclusion, while also acknowledging the transformative potential of collective action and self-determination. By weaving together personal and political narratives, the poem invites readers to reflect on the urgent need to cultivate genuine trust, healing, and solidarity within higher education. It challenges us to confront the depths of institutional betrayal and to imagine new possibilities for building a more just and inclusive academic landscape. Situated within the broader discourses of critical pedagogy, decolonial praxis, and social justice education, this poetic inquiry contributes to the ongoing conversations about reimagining trust in higher education. It offers a creative and embodied approach to engaging with the complexities of trust, trauma, and resistance, and calls for a radical transformation of the structures and relationships that shape our educational spaces
The ambiguity of trust in Higher Education
Full text linkA key assumption made in the literature is that trust in education is positive. This assumption underpins the work of notable scholars of education, such as Freire (1970) and hooks (1994), and is reiterated in Magadla’s (2023) remarks in ‘Trust as a condition for radical entanglement’. While I agree with them that it is essential for trust to exist in a healthy and humanising learning environment, I am also mindful of calls for caution, such as those offered by Rice (2006) and Kovač and Kristiansen (2010), which provide reasons to believe that excessive trust can have negative effects on learning and the environments and relationships within which learning takes place. Given calls for and against the promotion of trust in education spaces and drawing on my experiences co-creating and co-facilitating a student-led and student-centred course in ethics, I suggest the need to recognise the ambiguity of trust in higher education
Building trust in open educational resources for multiliteracies in English and Applied Linguistics
Full text linkThe paper examines the issue of trust in adopting open educational resources (OER) to develop multiliteracies in the field of English and Applied Linguistics. The goal is to intentionally integrate best practices in teaching, ultimately transforming educational resources to be more open, inclusive, equitable, and accessible. A mixed-method approach was employed, purposively involving 22 postgraduate English and Applied Linguistics students. Data collection methods included closed-ended questionnaires and open-ended written reflections. Participants wrote reflections that assessed the credibility of OER, contributing to a broader social understanding of their personal experiences with the phenomenon and focusing on the systemic implications that hinder social transformation and trust-building around OER. The data analysis was themed to assess and develop strategies to facilitate a radical paradigm shift in enhancing the trustworthiness of adopting and using OER across diverse learning contexts. The findings reveal that OER provides a wealth of tools that empower students to explore diverse genres, fostering the development of multiliteracies. Integrating OER into multiliteracies can create an engaging and dynamic reading environment, ultimately enhancing students\u27 reading habits. However, users may hesitate to fully embrace OER due to concerns about the quality and reliability of the resources, leading to a lack of confidence. Therefore, trust emerges as a crucial factor of contestation in the collaborative process of OER creation, adaptation, use, and sharing that contributes to knowledge-building processes and practices
Critical considerations for COIL practitioners in Higher Education: A review of literature from South Africa, the Global South and developing spaces.
No full textIn this paper, we conduct a collaborative autoethnography to guide our reading of text on collaborative, international online projects in higher education and in South Africa. Our reading reveals patterns that speak to critical considerations for those planning projects in the context or from similar positions within the Global South or other developing contexts. As COIL practitioners in South Africa, we reflect on the literature from the unique situatedness of our learning and teaching environments and broader social context. The insights we offer will help us to develop a toolbox that speaks to our positionality as academics and the intersectional dynamics of our sociopolitical subjectivities. Researchers and academics from the Global South and other developing spaces may find that the issues raised may resonate with their own collaborative, online international engagements as we try to speak into the bigger structures that we must consider when we engage in this work
Think Piece: Building, repairing and maintaining trust in research relationships: towards an ethics of trust
Full text linkIn this think piece, I ask what it takes for research relationships to be centred on trust. My reflections are divided into three sections in which I share some lessons learnt from various research projects. At the end of each section, I pose a series of interrelated questions about the values, principles and practices that are indispensable to building, repairing and maintaining trust in research relationships. To conclude, I outline how these reflections will be brought together in my keynote address.  
International Day of Peace Open Mic and Dialogue
Full text linkInternational Day of Peace Open Mic and Dialogu
