- Title
- South Africa’s Abortion Values Clarification Workshops: an opportunity to deepen democratic communication missed
- Creator
- Vincent, Louise
- Date Issued
- 2011
- Date
- 2011
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141981
- Identifier
- vital:38021
- Identifier
- DOI: 10.1177/0021909610396161
- Description
- A rich literature exists on local democracy and participation in South Africa. While the importance of participation is routinely built into the rhetoric of government, debate has increasingly focused on the dysfunctionality of participatory mechanisms and institutions in post-apartheid South Africa. Processes aimed ostensibly at empowering citizens, act in practice as instruments of social control, disempowerment and cooptation. The present article contributes to these debates by way of a critique of the approach used by the South African state, in partnership with the non-governmental sector, in what are called abortion ‘values clarification’ (VC) workshops. This article examines the workshop materials, methodology and pedagogical tools employed in South African abortion VC workshops which emanate from the organization Ipas — a global body working to enhance women’s sexual and reproductive rights and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries. VC workshops represent an instance of a more general trend in which participation is seen as a tool for generating legitimacy and ‘buy-in’ for central state directives rather than as a means for genuinely deepening democratic communication.
- Format
- 14 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Journal of Asian and African studies
- Relation
- Vincent, L., 2011. South Africa’s Abortion Values Clarification Workshops—An Opportunity to Deepen Democratic Communication Missed. Journal of Asian and African studies, 46(3), pp.264-277.
- Relation
- Journal of Asian and African studies volume 6 number 3 264 277 May 2011 1745-2538
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Sage Journals Terms of Use statement (https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/terms-of-use)
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Gender Action Forum (GENACT)
Vincent, Louise (Prof)
RU Department of Political and International Studies
SDG 05. Gender Equality
SDG 03. Good Health and Well-Being
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