Teaching Aids: Struggling with/through student resistances in psychology curricula in South African universities

African universities have been called to respond to the social issues of trauma, adversity, injustice and inequality that trouble their embedding communities, their staff and their students. The need for South African universities to respond to HIV/Aids (in particular) includes the opening up of new knowledge about and ways of managing the impacts of the epidemic; and shaping a young generation of socio-politically literate subjects and citizens, who would be equipped to respond appropriately and creatively to social problems and issues. This article reflects on my own feminist poststructuralist pedagogical practice in incorporating issues related to HIV/Aids into two developmental psychology courses – Childhood & Adversity and Youth Risk – I have taught at two ‘historically white’ South African universities. These courses drew on traditional (western) psychological theories of human development, and located critique by engaging these theories from South African social scientific research on lived realities in various at-risk communities in a time of HIV/Aids epidemic. Inclusion of HIV/Aids harnessed various categories of disempowerment and exclusion, particularly in the intersections between race, class, gender, locality and health-status. The article explicitly explores students’ resistances to this curriculum, by way of course evaluations, which were used to unpack discriminatory discourse in the classroom without simply seeing resistances as obstacles to learning. These racialized resistances included resistances to HIV/Aids in a ‘psychology’ course; resistances to the risk categories of the epidemic; and resistance to my authority as a white, feminist, woman professor.     

Reconciliation as a Frame for Rethinking Racism in Australia

This paper begins with a brief reading of Australia's ‘signature racism’ and ponders the question of what we might do about it. As a novel way to this problematic, the paper considers the national reconciliation process, exemplified by the work as of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR), as a ‘good movement’ in Derrida's terms and as a site for investigating antiracist work in Australia. The CAR provides conceptual resources for considering the pedagogical challenge for a cultural politics of antiracism. Importantly the challenge is understood in terms of a terrain of affect in which in which anger is simultaneously silenced, repressed and denied. The paper concludes by contemplating the possibility of a post-indignation pedagogy.     

Ongoing contestations: the use of racial signifiers in post-apartheid South Africa

Despite hopes for the development of a non-racial citizenry in South Africa, race remains a salient factor in identity claims. Much of the recent literature has focused on issues of black and white identities or on discussions of the reification or erasure of racial identities. This paper addresses questions of coloured identity in South Africa to explore the ways in which these identities are formed through iterative processes and continually in flux. Through a series of vignettes I argue that identity claims are frequently incomplete, uncertain and reworked in different and changing contexts. I highlight the shortcomings of ideas of erasure and reification when analysing identity claims and argue for a more nuanced approach that provides for consideration of post-apartheid racial identities as complex, dynamic and contested.     

Attitudes to immigrants in South Africa: personality and vulnerability

While many countries across the world face increasing numbers of immigrants, the literature on attitudes to foreigners and immigrants focuses on Western countries. This article tests broad insights from Western countries in a specific non-Western context – South Africa, a country marked by sporadic violence against some immigrant groups. This provides an important validity check. Data from the 2013 South African Social Attitudes Survey and the 2013 World Value Survey are used to model attitudes to immigrants. In line with research on Western countries, individual personality is associated with differences in attitudes; people in vulnerable positions and those who lack a personal support mechanism are more likely to oppose immigrants. When implemented to reflect the specific context, research on attitudes to immigrants appears to generalise to non-Western contexts.     

Understanding the magnitude and extent of crime in post-apartheid South Africa

The crime of apartheid (1951–1994) was predicated upon the spatial segregation of the country's diverse population according to certain state-defined racial groups. This socio-spatial redesign not only racialised South African cities but led to the concentrated disadvantage of the majority black population in certain segregated geographical areas. Despite democracy, apartheid's urban spatiality has not automatically dissolved but rather continues to shape and define the urban landscape. This article argues that these macro-social patterns of racial and spatial inequalities, borne out of repressively enforced apartheid-era segregationist policies, can be used to explain the magnitude and extent of crime in post-apartheid South Africa. Policing and developmental policy implications of this argument are outlined and discussed, and strategic recommendations are made for the future.     

Risky business and geographies of refugee capitalism in the Somali migrant economy of Gauteng,South Africa

Research on migrant livelihoods in South Africa reveals links between social exclusion and migrant ‘cosmopolitan tactics’, including multi-sited socialities, diverse spatial business strategies and orientations precluding integration into a ‘xenophobic’ host society. Drawing on 10 months of ethnographic research, this study explores how Somali migrants’ business practices and tactics of mobility within and beyond Gauteng Province, South Africa (which encompasses Johannesburg and Pretoria) articulate with both broader transnational flows and investments in the local economy. Since the end of apartheid, Somalis and other migrants from the Horn of Africa have carved out an economic niche in peri-urban townships where high risk and frequent movement characterise workers’ lives. The Somali enclave in the neighbourhood of Mayfair, Johannesburg, links local and national circulations of people, goods and money to international circuits of the Somali ethnic economy—an economy that also involves non-Somali groups, mainly from Kenya and Ethiopia. These diverse dynamics of human mobility and financial circulation complicate bounded conceptualisations of transnationalism and also illustrate how tactical cosmopolitanisms may be grounded in spatial and social arrangements. The convergence of migrant mobility and financial flows produces distinctive patterns of livelihood embedded in a multi-scalar geography of movement, remittance, investment, risk and opportunity.     

The Quebec student protest movement in the age of neoliberal terror

Reflecting on the 2011–2012 youth-led resistance movements in North America, this essay contextualizes and evaluates the Quebec student movement against the increasing influence of neoliberalism on North American and global society as a whole, comparing its strategies and impacts with those of the Occupy movement in particular. The Quebec movement launched a series of protests that awakened society to the prospect of what struggling for a radical democracy might mean, and how crucial free, accessible higher education must be to such a struggle. The key challenge for these social movements will be to continue to develop and circulate their views in the public sphere through forms of political organization that are as coordinated as they are flexible and open to new ideas. Both the Occupy movement and the Quebec student resistance have ignited a new generation of young people who now face the ongoing challenge of developing a language and a politics that integrate a meaningful consideration of public values and imagine the possibilities of a democracy not wedded to the dictates of global capitalism. This emerging public culture should make pedagogy central to its understanding of politics and work diligently to provide alternative subjects, narratives and power relations that contribute to sustainable educational institutions and enlarged public spaces in which matters of knowledge, identity and social responsibility become central to creating a democratic formative culture – here understood as the very precondition for the modes of agency, public values and engaged citizenship required to support any just and inclusive society.     

Adapting to change in the higher education system: international student mobility as a migration industry

ABSTRACT

Of late there has been considerable interest in understanding international student mobility, and this has tended to focus on the perspective of the students who take part in this mobility. However, international students are part of a considerable migration industry comprised of international student recruitment teams, international education agents and other institutions selling an education overseas (such as the British Council in a UK context) and as yet there is little research which analyses these relationships. This paper investigates a series of interviews with international office staff to examine the methods they use to recruit international students, and in particular the relationship that they have with international education agents who work with them on a commission basis. It focuses on recent changes to the UK visa system which have led to a decline in the numbers of Indian students choosing to study towards a UK higher education. However, it also reveals that some universities have managed to avoid this trend. This paper investigates why this is the case, demonstrating that there is a need to think about the intersections between migration industries, visa regulations and international student mobility.     

The Janus-faced court of naturalisation: marriage and kinship in naturalisation litigation in South Korea

Migration scholars have noted the growing role of the courts in expanding migrants’ rights. Drawing from naturalisation litigation in South Korea for case studies, this article investigates the role of the court in determining national membership. Three main findings are presented based upon an analysis of 105 marriage-based and 36 kinship-based litigations filed against the Ministry of Justice in the Seoul Administrative Court. First, the Court adopts a more liberal interpretation of ‘true intention to marry’ than the Ministry, granting citizenship to those who convincingly perform their roles as dutiful wives. Second, the Court plays a more active role in kinship-based than marriage-based naturalisation, challenging the Ministry's too-narrow interpretation of the requirements. Overall, however, the Court shows strong judicial deference to the Ministry and plays a passive role in advocating for the rights of migrants. The Korean case highlights the need to revisit the tendency to view immigration and citizenship as special classes of public laws, over which administrative and legislative bodies of a government can exercise a significant degree of discretion. As citizenship is becoming an important dimension of social stratification, the judicial branch should serve as a check on the executive branch in issuing visas and granting citizenship.     

Post-agreement societies and inter-ethnic competition: A comparative study of the Protestant community of Londonderry and the white population of Pretoria

The arrival of thousands of international students from Asia and the Pacific after the Second World War has reshaped the social and political texture of Australian life by helping undermine long-held suspicions of inferiority, racial pollution and political disruption. This article examines the transnational experience of sponsored and private overseas scholars in relation to the growing body of transnational theory and suggests why scholarly discourse and Australian museums have largely omitted non-permanent migrants, such as student sojourners. It also suggests how museums might avoid the pitfalls of the multicultural or pluralist imperatives that guide migrant heritage collection and exhibition practices.     

Racial segregation and the limits of international undergraduate student diversity

This study challenges the assertion that the influx of Asian international undergraduate students in universities across the United States creates richer educational and social environments. Drawing on qualitative research at a public university with a large number of Asian international students, this article examines how Asian American student leaders and their organization took on the difficult institutional task of actualizing the diversity of these new students in a racially segregated campus. We found that instead of viewing racial segregation practices as possibly tied to racial discrimination and privileges of normative whiteness, students expressed both support and resistance to Asian international students in race-neutral language of comfort and organizational differences that reflects the dominant ideology of colorblindness. We argue that any claims to the benefits of international student diversity must take serious account of colorblind racism and the experiences of racial marginalization and racial segregation among domestic minority and international students.     

South Tyrol: the importance of boundaries for immigrant integration

ABSTRACT

Using South Tyrol as a case study, this article analyses how boundaries between groups and their institutionalisation through power-sharing arrangements affect the politics of immigrant integration. Through a longitudinal qualitative analysis of party manifestos, the article focuses on the period between 1993 and 2013 to evaluate the immigration and integration discourses of political parties, claiming to represent the German and Ladin minorities. It is argued that these parties have deliberately framed immigration as a challenge to the strength of their respective cultures and languages, as well as the array of institutions that support the separate but equal coexistence of South Tyrol's linguistic groups. The consequence of this tendency to ‘think in groups’ is that the main political parties of the German and Ladin minorities are shoring up group boundaries and advancing an assimilationist model of immigrant integration.     

尼泊尔民族宗教问题对西藏南亚大通道建设的影响

西藏南亚大通道建设的提出,是西藏融入"一带一路"建设的重要表现,为中国与南亚相关国家的合作带来了新的机遇,具有重要的现实意义。但是西藏南亚大通道建设沿线国家和地区民族复杂、宗教多元,也面临着诸多民族宗教领域问题的挑战。尼泊尔在西藏南亚大通道建设中的地位特殊,民族宗教因素影响的重要性不容忽视。一方面,要充分发挥尼泊尔国内民族宗教因素的积极作用,助力西藏南亚大通道建设;另一方面,要有效应对和防范尼泊尔民族宗教问题给西藏南亚大通道建设在政治、经济和安全等领域带来的风险。     

宁夏南部山区回族妇女早婚习俗调查与分析--以同心县预旺乡张家树村为个案

本文依据田野作业的有关资料,以宁夏同心县预旺乡张家树村早婚现状为个案,探讨了宁夏贫困山区回族妇女早婚原因,同时对早婚危害、早婚治理作了进一步的分析。     

西藏开拓南亚市场的特殊意义与实施对策

我国加入WTO和西部大开发战略的实施 ,为西藏开拓南亚市场提供了难得的机遇。发展西藏边境贸易、开拓南亚市场既有利于西藏开发和对外开放 ,也有利于促进西藏产业结构调整和新兴产业的培育 ,还有利于富民兴边 ,改善周边国际关系 ,对实现西藏跨越式发展具有重大意义。目前西藏边境贸易发展态势较好 ,但还需采取适当措施予以促进     

近代陇南学术谱系与西北社会中的哈锐

近代陇南学术群体在风云变幻的西北社会中自觉践行“躬行为本”的学术旨趣,表现为时社会现实的强烈关照,在主流学术谱系中具有承前启后地位的哈锐致力于化除民族隔阂、维护地方秩序的实践,可谓这一思想的延伸.哈锐始终与回族社会保持密切关联,这是其身份认同的体现,也是其在涉及回汉问题时主动参与的另一要素.在主流学术圈与回族群体中所获...     

Group cues and public opposition to immigration: evidence from a survey experiment in South Korea

One view in the study of attitudes towards immigration is that public reactions depend on who the immigrants are. Using a survey experiment, we confirm that group cues matter: South Koreans are more likely to support liberal immigration policies, when immigrants are framed as North Korean defectors (coethnic group). When other groups cues—Korean Chinese (semi-coethnic group) or guest-workers from Indonesia (non-coethnic group)—are given, the level of support becomes significantly lower. Apparently clear evidence on the existence of favouritism towards coethnic group notwithstanding, the relationship between in-group favouritism and immigration threat is not simple, as demonstrated by the finding that individuals exposed to Korean Chinese cues are more likely to feel culturally and socially threatened than those exposed to Indonesian cues. Also, South Koreans experience higher levels of economic threat from North Korean defectors than from Korean Chinese and Indonesians. Additional analysis reveals that ethnic group cues affect public attitudes towards immigration policies not necessarily by heightening perceived threat towards immigrants, but by facilitating individuals’ emotional reactions to them.     

Under the cloak of professionalism: covert racism in teacher education

This study focuses on manifestations of racism and colonialism in teacher education. I build on the theoretical framing of Critical Race Theory and decolonization in order to expose racist and colonial assumptions at the core of teacher education. I highlight in particular the work of covert racism under the cloak of teachers’ professionalism. I focus on what I call ‘professional microaggressions’: subtle forms of racism and colonialism hidden beneath professional definitions. By interviewing graduates of a well-established Indigenous teacher education program in British Columbia, Canada, I examine the mechanisms that still hinder the success of Indigenous teacher candidates in teacher education and in the school system. The study highlights the resilience, resistance, and strategic planning that Indigenous teachers use to challenge the system while advancing their position within it. Lastly, I suggest ways to support Indigenous teacher candidates in teacher education.