Afrikanische Entwicklungsalternativen: Ubuntu und die Post-Development-Debatte
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142157 , vital:38054 , DOI: 10.3224/peripherie.v38i2.03
- Description: In post-development theory, ubuntu is often cited as an example of an “alternative to development”. This article investigates whether ubuntu can play this role and what to think of the demand for alternatives to development in general. In order to do this, the paper fi rst deals with central aspects of postdevelopment theory and the debate about ubuntu. Although the concept fi ts well into a post-development perspective, the attempts to contrast ubuntu with Western ideas and ways of life are often fueled by the desire to rekindle an original, pre-colonial, authentic African philosophy. Yet discourses on Africa are always embedded in Western discourses, so this opposition reproduces precisely those dichotomies it aims to fi ght. More generally, this also holds true for the idea of “alternatives to development”, which postulate an essential opposition to “development”. This, however, denies claims for equal rights and participation at the root of demands for “development”. The struggle for these claims cannot be fought beyond the existing global order. Instead of engaging in romanticizing projections about an Africa beyond “development”, people’s views and needs should be taken as the starting point for the struggle against injustice and inequality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142157 , vital:38054 , DOI: 10.3224/peripherie.v38i2.03
- Description: In post-development theory, ubuntu is often cited as an example of an “alternative to development”. This article investigates whether ubuntu can play this role and what to think of the demand for alternatives to development in general. In order to do this, the paper fi rst deals with central aspects of postdevelopment theory and the debate about ubuntu. Although the concept fi ts well into a post-development perspective, the attempts to contrast ubuntu with Western ideas and ways of life are often fueled by the desire to rekindle an original, pre-colonial, authentic African philosophy. Yet discourses on Africa are always embedded in Western discourses, so this opposition reproduces precisely those dichotomies it aims to fi ght. More generally, this also holds true for the idea of “alternatives to development”, which postulate an essential opposition to “development”. This, however, denies claims for equal rights and participation at the root of demands for “development”. The struggle for these claims cannot be fought beyond the existing global order. Instead of engaging in romanticizing projections about an Africa beyond “development”, people’s views and needs should be taken as the starting point for the struggle against injustice and inequality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Reflections on the appropriate use of unjustly conferred privilege:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142714 , vital:38104 , DOI: 10.3167/th.2013.6013502
- Description: What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular with feminist literature on the topic of privilege, building on arguments provided in this literature to argue that in many cases the best contribution the privileged can make to struggles for justice, is to use unjustly conferred privileges in a way that ultimately undermines the unjust systems and structures that conferred them. I tentatively outline some ways in which the privileged can develop the sensibilities which will allow them to use their privilege in this way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142714 , vital:38104 , DOI: 10.3167/th.2013.6013502
- Description: What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular with feminist literature on the topic of privilege, building on arguments provided in this literature to argue that in many cases the best contribution the privileged can make to struggles for justice, is to use unjustly conferred privileges in a way that ultimately undermines the unjust systems and structures that conferred them. I tentatively outline some ways in which the privileged can develop the sensibilities which will allow them to use their privilege in this way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Thinking Africa Newsletter: (June 2014)
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:38065 , http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12137/23
- Description: Thinking Africa Newsletter (June 2014).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:38065 , http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12137/23
- Description: Thinking Africa Newsletter (June 2014).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Thinking Africa Newsletter: (March 2014)
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:38067 , http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12137/22
- Description: Thinking Africa Newsletter (March 2014).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:38067 , http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12137/22
- Description: Thinking Africa Newsletter (March 2014).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Alternatives to Development in Africa:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142202 , vital:38058 , ISBN 9783319675091 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67510-7_7
- Description: Africa’s place in the world has been closely linked to the idea of development. Building on post-development theory’s critique of development, Matthews’ chapter asks whether and how we can move beyond development in Africa. She argues that contrary to the wishes of some post-development theorists, we cannot retrieve, discover, or create something that is purely not-development, entirely non-Western, and fully outside of coloniality. However, this does not mean that we ought to acquiesce in the face of the powerful discourses that have come to dominate the way in which we talk about Africa. The chapter tentatively explores some possible ways in which development can be both resisted and reappropriated in creative ways.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142202 , vital:38058 , ISBN 9783319675091 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67510-7_7
- Description: Africa’s place in the world has been closely linked to the idea of development. Building on post-development theory’s critique of development, Matthews’ chapter asks whether and how we can move beyond development in Africa. She argues that contrary to the wishes of some post-development theorists, we cannot retrieve, discover, or create something that is purely not-development, entirely non-Western, and fully outside of coloniality. However, this does not mean that we ought to acquiesce in the face of the powerful discourses that have come to dominate the way in which we talk about Africa. The chapter tentatively explores some possible ways in which development can be both resisted and reappropriated in creative ways.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
On Their Own: women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa, by Allison GoebelUbuntu und die Post-Development-Debatte. A review
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142169 , vital:38055 , DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2017.1400210
- Description: Allison Goebel's book gives much-needed attention to the experiences of women in South African cities. While there is plenty of literature on the urban experience in South Africa, such literature does not often give much attention to gender. Goebel's book draws on the experiences of poorer women living in informal and township areas in the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Goebel has conducted extensive fieldwork in the area and uses this fieldwork to provide the reader with a sense of South African women's experiences of urban living.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142169 , vital:38055 , DOI: 10.1080/14616742.2017.1400210
- Description: Allison Goebel's book gives much-needed attention to the experiences of women in South African cities. While there is plenty of literature on the urban experience in South Africa, such literature does not often give much attention to gender. Goebel's book draws on the experiences of poorer women living in informal and township areas in the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Goebel has conducted extensive fieldwork in the area and uses this fieldwork to provide the reader with a sense of South African women's experiences of urban living.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Privilege, solidarity and social justice struggles in South Africa: a view from Grahamstown
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142270 , vital:38064 , DOI:10.1353/trn.2015.0016
- Description: The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number and prominence of social movements in South Africa. Many of these movements are supported by relatively privileged individuals who are not themselves victims of the injustices the movements oppose. In this paper, I draw out some of the possibilities and limitations of the role of privileged individuals in supporting social movements struggling for social justice, looking particularly at the role of students in supporting such movements. The paper is based on research on the relationship between one such movement, the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM), and a student organisation, the Students for Social Justice (SSJ), both of which are based in Grahamstown, South Africa. While acknowledging that privileged supporters of such movements can play a constructive role in social justice struggles, I use the experiences of the UPM and SSJ to explore some of the tensions that are likely to emerge and that need to be addressed when the relatively privileged participate in popular struggles. In particular, I discuss the likely difficulties privileged supporters will experience in bridging social divides and in contributing meaningfully to the theorisation of popular struggles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142270 , vital:38064 , DOI:10.1353/trn.2015.0016
- Description: The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number and prominence of social movements in South Africa. Many of these movements are supported by relatively privileged individuals who are not themselves victims of the injustices the movements oppose. In this paper, I draw out some of the possibilities and limitations of the role of privileged individuals in supporting social movements struggling for social justice, looking particularly at the role of students in supporting such movements. The paper is based on research on the relationship between one such movement, the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM), and a student organisation, the Students for Social Justice (SSJ), both of which are based in Grahamstown, South Africa. While acknowledging that privileged supporters of such movements can play a constructive role in social justice struggles, I use the experiences of the UPM and SSJ to explore some of the tensions that are likely to emerge and that need to be addressed when the relatively privileged participate in popular struggles. In particular, I discuss the likely difficulties privileged supporters will experience in bridging social divides and in contributing meaningfully to the theorisation of popular struggles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
White privilege and institutional culture at South African higher education institutions:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142097 , vital:38049 , ISBN 9781869142902 , https://books.google.co.za/books?id=49o8rgEACAAJanddq=Being+at+home:+Race,+institutional+culture+and+transformation+at+South+African+higher+education+institutionandhl=enandsa=Xandved=0ahUKEwiPgsa6mpjjAhXNN8AKHbNwAtoQ6AEIKDAA
- Description: This edited work has gathered together contributions on how to transform universities in South Africa; as many are struggling to shift their institutional culture. In a South African context, transformation means to attempt to change higher education institutions such that they no longer reflect the values promoted by apartheid but rather reflect the values embodied in South Africa's 1996 Constitution. Institutional culture is the main subject for discussion in this book. In order to transform South Africa's universities, the contributors begin by analyzing the idea of what a university is, and relatedly, what its ideal aims are. A second theme is to understand what institutional culture is and how it functions. Moreover, transformation cannot occur without transforming the broader cultures of which they are a part. Related to this theme is a general concern about how contemporary moves towards the instrumentalization of higher education affect the ability to transform institutions. These institutions are being pushed to conform to goals that are outside the traditional idea of a university, such as concerns that universities are being 'bureaucratized' and becoming corporations, instead of a place of learning open to all. In conclusion it can be said that the contemporary South African academic community has an opportunity to recreate itself as the end of apartheid created space for engaging in transformative epistemic projects. The transformation of the tertiary sector entails a transformation of institutional cultures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142097 , vital:38049 , ISBN 9781869142902 , https://books.google.co.za/books?id=49o8rgEACAAJanddq=Being+at+home:+Race,+institutional+culture+and+transformation+at+South+African+higher+education+institutionandhl=enandsa=Xandved=0ahUKEwiPgsa6mpjjAhXNN8AKHbNwAtoQ6AEIKDAA
- Description: This edited work has gathered together contributions on how to transform universities in South Africa; as many are struggling to shift their institutional culture. In a South African context, transformation means to attempt to change higher education institutions such that they no longer reflect the values promoted by apartheid but rather reflect the values embodied in South Africa's 1996 Constitution. Institutional culture is the main subject for discussion in this book. In order to transform South Africa's universities, the contributors begin by analyzing the idea of what a university is, and relatedly, what its ideal aims are. A second theme is to understand what institutional culture is and how it functions. Moreover, transformation cannot occur without transforming the broader cultures of which they are a part. Related to this theme is a general concern about how contemporary moves towards the instrumentalization of higher education affect the ability to transform institutions. These institutions are being pushed to conform to goals that are outside the traditional idea of a university, such as concerns that universities are being 'bureaucratized' and becoming corporations, instead of a place of learning open to all. In conclusion it can be said that the contemporary South African academic community has an opportunity to recreate itself as the end of apartheid created space for engaging in transformative epistemic projects. The transformation of the tertiary sector entails a transformation of institutional cultures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Shifting white identities in South Africa: white Africanness and the struggle for racial justice
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142180 , vital:38056 , DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/3821
- Description: The end of apartheid predictably caused something of an identity crisis for white South Africans. The sense of uncertainty about what it means to be white has led to much public debate about whiteness in South Africa, as well as a growing body of literature on whites in post-apartheid South Africa. One of the many responses to this need to rethink white identity has been the claim by some that white South Africans can be considered to be African or ought to begin to think of themselves as being African. This paper argues that whites' assertion of an African identity does not necessarily assist in the achievement of racial justice, but that some kind of shift in white identity is required in order for whites to be able to contribute to the achievement of a racially just South Africa. In making this argument, the paper brings contemporary discussions on race and whiteness, and in particular discussions about racial eliminativism, to bear on the question of whether or not white South Africans may rightly claim an African identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142180 , vital:38056 , DOI: 10.25159/2413-3086/3821
- Description: The end of apartheid predictably caused something of an identity crisis for white South Africans. The sense of uncertainty about what it means to be white has led to much public debate about whiteness in South Africa, as well as a growing body of literature on whites in post-apartheid South Africa. One of the many responses to this need to rethink white identity has been the claim by some that white South Africans can be considered to be African or ought to begin to think of themselves as being African. This paper argues that whites' assertion of an African identity does not necessarily assist in the achievement of racial justice, but that some kind of shift in white identity is required in order for whites to be able to contribute to the achievement of a racially just South Africa. In making this argument, the paper brings contemporary discussions on race and whiteness, and in particular discussions about racial eliminativism, to bear on the question of whether or not white South Africans may rightly claim an African identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Confronting the Colonial Library: teaching Political Studies amidst calls for a decolonised curriculum
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142191 , vital:38057 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2018.1418204
- Description: This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the ‘colonial library’ with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term ‘colonial library’ refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistemological order. This presents a profound challenge for attempts to decolonise university curricula as it suggests that the colonial library's reach extends into attempts to dismantle it. In response to this challenge, I discuss ways in which we can oppose epistemological ethnocentrism and argue that we need to be open to the possibility of the emancipatory reappropriation of aspects of the colonial library. The paper concludes by relating the foregoing discussion to the South African political studies classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142191 , vital:38057 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2018.1418204
- Description: This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the ‘colonial library’ with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term ‘colonial library’ refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistemological order. This presents a profound challenge for attempts to decolonise university curricula as it suggests that the colonial library's reach extends into attempts to dismantle it. In response to this challenge, I discuss ways in which we can oppose epistemological ethnocentrism and argue that we need to be open to the possibility of the emancipatory reappropriation of aspects of the colonial library. The paper concludes by relating the foregoing discussion to the South African political studies classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
White anti-racism in post-apartheid South Africa:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142361 , vital:38073 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2012.683938
- Description: South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to respond to past and present injustices. However, some discussions of the way in which white privilege operates and is perpetuated in post-segregationist societies suggest the need for caution with regard to white involvement in anti-racist struggles, arguing that some of the ways in which white people involve themselves in apparently anti-racist work actually result in the perpetuation rather than the erosion of white privilege. This article explores concerns about the intractability of white privilege while also ultimately defending the appropriateness of white involvement in anti-racist struggles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142361 , vital:38073 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2012.683938
- Description: South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to respond to past and present injustices. However, some discussions of the way in which white privilege operates and is perpetuated in post-segregationist societies suggest the need for caution with regard to white involvement in anti-racist struggles, arguing that some of the ways in which white people involve themselves in apparently anti-racist work actually result in the perpetuation rather than the erosion of white privilege. This article explores concerns about the intractability of white privilege while also ultimately defending the appropriateness of white involvement in anti-racist struggles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Reflections on the appropriate use of unjustly conferred privilege:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142314 , vital:38068 , DOI: 10.3167/th.2013.6013502
- Description: What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular with feminist literature on the topic of privilege, building on arguments provided in this literature to argue that in many cases the best contribution the privileged can make to struggles for justice, is to use unjustly conferred privileges in a way that ultimately undermines the unjust systems and structures that conferred them. I tentatively outline some ways in which the privileged can develop the sensibilities which will allow them to use their privilege in this way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142314 , vital:38068 , DOI: 10.3167/th.2013.6013502
- Description: What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular with feminist literature on the topic of privilege, building on arguments provided in this literature to argue that in many cases the best contribution the privileged can make to struggles for justice, is to use unjustly conferred privileges in a way that ultimately undermines the unjust systems and structures that conferred them. I tentatively outline some ways in which the privileged can develop the sensibilities which will allow them to use their privilege in this way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
The ambivalence of African elitehood:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142442 , vital:38080 , DOI: 10.1177/0021909609357416
- Description: Recent discussions in South Africa about the role of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie highlight the much debated question of what role elite Africans can and ought to play in the upliftment of the poor. Those supporting the notion of a patriotic bourgeoisie believe that national or racial solidarity is sufficient to allow privileged Africans to act in the interests of their poorer fellow citizens. However, a reconsideration of an older discussion of African elitehood, that of Amilcar Cabral, suggests that something more may be needed before elites can act in the interests of the poor. Cabral argues that elites need to renounce their privilege and to live and struggle alongside the poor if pro-poor societal transformation is to be achieved. While Cabral may be right that shared racial or national identity is insufficient for elite solidarity with the poor, he does not consider all the complexities that arise when elites actually try to work with and for the poor. A consideration of the experiences of a long-standing Senegalese NGO reveal some of these complexities and suggest that any attempt by African elites to engage meaningfully in the upliftment of the poor, will inevitably involve continuous and difficult negotiation between paternalism and naïve egalitarianism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142442 , vital:38080 , DOI: 10.1177/0021909609357416
- Description: Recent discussions in South Africa about the role of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie highlight the much debated question of what role elite Africans can and ought to play in the upliftment of the poor. Those supporting the notion of a patriotic bourgeoisie believe that national or racial solidarity is sufficient to allow privileged Africans to act in the interests of their poorer fellow citizens. However, a reconsideration of an older discussion of African elitehood, that of Amilcar Cabral, suggests that something more may be needed before elites can act in the interests of the poor. Cabral argues that elites need to renounce their privilege and to live and struggle alongside the poor if pro-poor societal transformation is to be achieved. While Cabral may be right that shared racial or national identity is insufficient for elite solidarity with the poor, he does not consider all the complexities that arise when elites actually try to work with and for the poor. A consideration of the experiences of a long-standing Senegalese NGO reveal some of these complexities and suggest that any attempt by African elites to engage meaningfully in the upliftment of the poor, will inevitably involve continuous and difficult negotiation between paternalism and naïve egalitarianism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Becoming African: debating post-apartheid white South African identities
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142409 , vital:38077 , DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2011.530440
- Description: The post-apartheid era necessitates the rethinking of white identities in South Africa. One way in which some white South Africans are seeking to redefine themselves is through describing themselves as African. However, claims by white South Africans that they too are Africans have been met with mixed responses from black South Africans. In this article I use contributions to an online university students' forum to explore ways in which some white South Africans are embracing an African identity and to consider ways in which some black South Africans are responding to white South Africans' shifting identities. I use contributions to this forum as a starting point to think about the possibilities and limitations that the embracing of an African identity has for the development of what Frankenberg calls ‘anti-racist forms of whiteness’ among white South Africans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142409 , vital:38077 , DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2011.530440
- Description: The post-apartheid era necessitates the rethinking of white identities in South Africa. One way in which some white South Africans are seeking to redefine themselves is through describing themselves as African. However, claims by white South Africans that they too are Africans have been met with mixed responses from black South Africans. In this article I use contributions to an online university students' forum to explore ways in which some white South Africans are embracing an African identity and to consider ways in which some black South Africans are responding to white South Africans' shifting identities. I use contributions to this forum as a starting point to think about the possibilities and limitations that the embracing of an African identity has for the development of what Frankenberg calls ‘anti-racist forms of whiteness’ among white South Africans.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
The role of the privileged in responding to poverty: perspectives emerging from the post-development debate
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142476 , vital:38083 , DOI: 10.1080/01436590802201022
- Description: The debate between post-development theorists and their critics has raised several important questions, one of them being the question of how relatively privileged people may respond meaningfully to poverty while not perpetuating the flaws of past development practice. In this article I build upon the ideas of several contributors to the post-development debate in order to suggest three ways in which we who are relatively privileged may play a role in struggles against poverty. I argue that we can work to rethink the concepts informing development practice; that we may find ways to give our support to popular initiatives, and that there are aspects of our own societies which we may change in solidarity with the struggles of distant others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142476 , vital:38083 , DOI: 10.1080/01436590802201022
- Description: The debate between post-development theorists and their critics has raised several important questions, one of them being the question of how relatively privileged people may respond meaningfully to poverty while not perpetuating the flaws of past development practice. In this article I build upon the ideas of several contributors to the post-development debate in order to suggest three ways in which we who are relatively privileged may play a role in struggles against poverty. I argue that we can work to rethink the concepts informing development practice; that we may find ways to give our support to popular initiatives, and that there are aspects of our own societies which we may change in solidarity with the struggles of distant others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
A critical psychology of the postcolonial: the mind of apartheid. A book review
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142351 , vital:38072 , DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2012.730818
- Description: This book provides a careful and detailed defence of the idea that the (post)colonial condition, and particularly the role that race has played in the (post)colony, cannot properly be understood without the theorisation of the ‘psychopolitical’. By the ‘psychopolitical’, Hook refers to ‘a reciprocal form of critique in which we not only place the psychological within the register of the political, but, perhaps more challengingly, in which the political is also – although strategically – approached through the register of the psychological’ (p. 40). In order to do this, Hook engages with and develops upon the insights of some key postcolonial thinkers, most notably Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha. Hook argues convincingly that concepts and approaches from psychoanalysis are helpful in properly understanding the postcolonial condition and, particularly, in getting to grips with the malleability and persistence of racism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142351 , vital:38072 , DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2012.730818
- Description: This book provides a careful and detailed defence of the idea that the (post)colonial condition, and particularly the role that race has played in the (post)colony, cannot properly be understood without the theorisation of the ‘psychopolitical’. By the ‘psychopolitical’, Hook refers to ‘a reciprocal form of critique in which we not only place the psychological within the register of the political, but, perhaps more challengingly, in which the political is also – although strategically – approached through the register of the psychological’ (p. 40). In order to do this, Hook engages with and develops upon the insights of some key postcolonial thinkers, most notably Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha. Hook argues convincingly that concepts and approaches from psychoanalysis are helpful in properly understanding the postcolonial condition and, particularly, in getting to grips with the malleability and persistence of racism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals. A book review
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142257 , vital:38063 , DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1153185
- Description: Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals. A book review.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142257 , vital:38063 , DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1153185
- Description: Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals. A book review.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Reflections on Teaching Africa in South Africa:
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142235 , vital:38061 , DOI: 10.1111/1467-9256.12107
- Description: This article draws on the author’s experience of teaching African Studies to undergraduate South African students in order to reflect on some of the key challenges facing teachers of African Studies, both in South Africa and beyond. In particular, it discusses challenges relating to teaching a field as contested as African Studies, looking at whether teaching African alternatives to mainstream African politics is helpful and at whether and how one can teach Africa in a way that encourages and develops critical thinking. The article also explores how the racial politics of the context in which one teaches African Studies inevitably affects the way in which students engage with the content of the course. While the article discusses these issues in relation to the South African higher education context in particular, implications for other contexts are also highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142235 , vital:38061 , DOI: 10.1111/1467-9256.12107
- Description: This article draws on the author’s experience of teaching African Studies to undergraduate South African students in order to reflect on some of the key challenges facing teachers of African Studies, both in South Africa and beyond. In particular, it discusses challenges relating to teaching a field as contested as African Studies, looking at whether teaching African alternatives to mainstream African politics is helpful and at whether and how one can teach Africa in a way that encourages and develops critical thinking. The article also explores how the racial politics of the context in which one teaches African Studies inevitably affects the way in which students engage with the content of the course. While the article discusses these issues in relation to the South African higher education context in particular, implications for other contexts are also highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Colonised minds?: post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142213 , vital:38059 , DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1279540
- Description: While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confronts when faced with the continued desire on the part of many people in Africa for development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142213 , vital:38059 , DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1279540
- Description: While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confronts when faced with the continued desire on the part of many people in Africa for development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Attaining a better society: critical reflections on what it means to be 'developed'
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142509 , vital:38086 , DOI: 10.3167/004058105780929228
- Description: It is clear from these and other definitions that development, no matter how it is conceived, involves change. However, it is also clear that not all change constitutes development. A particular change could be part of a process of development, but could also be part of several other processes, such as those of alteration, modification, deformation, adaptation, regression, degradation and the like. Thus it is necessary to differentiate between changes that can be said to be part of a process of development, and those that cannot. In an attempt to make such a distinction and in line with the above-mentioned definitions of development one could say that changes that are part of development are changes that bring about increased likeness to some more advanced or better state of being. A six-year-old child who, after years of talking, becomes mute is regressing rather than developing; and a child whose behaviour changes such that she begins to act like a dog would be considered to be in some kind of disordered state. However, when a child’s behaviour undergoes changes that lead to increased similarity to some conception of adult behaviour, then that child can be said to be developing. When assessing whether changes in a child’s behaviour constitute development, or some other kind of process, one has to have in mind some conception of what the child ought to be becoming.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142509 , vital:38086 , DOI: 10.3167/004058105780929228
- Description: It is clear from these and other definitions that development, no matter how it is conceived, involves change. However, it is also clear that not all change constitutes development. A particular change could be part of a process of development, but could also be part of several other processes, such as those of alteration, modification, deformation, adaptation, regression, degradation and the like. Thus it is necessary to differentiate between changes that can be said to be part of a process of development, and those that cannot. In an attempt to make such a distinction and in line with the above-mentioned definitions of development one could say that changes that are part of development are changes that bring about increased likeness to some more advanced or better state of being. A six-year-old child who, after years of talking, becomes mute is regressing rather than developing; and a child whose behaviour changes such that she begins to act like a dog would be considered to be in some kind of disordered state. However, when a child’s behaviour undergoes changes that lead to increased similarity to some conception of adult behaviour, then that child can be said to be developing. When assessing whether changes in a child’s behaviour constitute development, or some other kind of process, one has to have in mind some conception of what the child ought to be becoming.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005