Duration: Six months
Language medium: English
Target group:
Citizens of South Africa, including:
International (including African) and local students of Humanities (political science, sociology, anthropology, gender studies) and Economics who want a better understanding of the South African transition and the nature of citizenship in South Africa
Foreign students and professionals in South Africa who want to broaden their understanding of South Africa in the World
Professionals in the Public Service, NGOs/NPOs, trade unions and social movement
Indigenous/traditional leaders including health practitioners
Students, intellectuals and academics from the African diaspora
Admission requirements:
M + 3
OR
5 years experience in a professional or organizational field
Registration periods:
Semester registration periods
Course leader details:
Prof Darlene Ajeet Miller
PhD Sociology
TM African School of Public and International Affairs
Political Economy of Development, Women's/Matriarchal Leadership
UNISA Irene Campus
milledr@unisa.ac.za
Programme administrator:
Ms Sonja Geyer
Administrative Officer
Short Learning Programmes
Thabo Mbeki African School of Public And International Relations
Tel: 012-3276012
E-mail geyersd@unisa.ac.za
Purpose statement:
This Advanced Programe seeks to offer prospects for research and innovative thinking in the fields of Citizenship Studies on the African Continent. A successful student will understand the importance of Engaged Citizenship for promoting hope and social cohesion in Post-Apartheid South Africa. This AP contributes to African citizens taking an equal place as global citizens, and also promotes agency of African citizens in a productive engagement with other global citizens.
1.The module CITIZENSHIP, IDENTITY AND CITIZEN SCIENCE is aimed at promoting Engaged Citizenship that is based on both local and global understandings of Citizenship (glocal) - with knowledge of theoretical and working/applied knowledge of the challenges faced by Citizens. This module will thus add value to the well-being of Citizens and help students to understand complex national problems in post-Apartheid South Africa. This module will also add value to the finding of solutions in South African society. Building a national identity through the understanding of Difference and Identity Formation is another central aim of this module, particularly with respect to migration, xenophobia and foreign nationals.
2.The module INDIGENOUS AND ENGENDERED CITIZENSHIP will contribute to (a) the further indigenization of knowledge systems and (b) the facilitation of a productive relationship between traditional and Constitutional systems of governance that characterizes bifurcated citizenship in Africa. Engendered citizenship enables the student to recognise the different experiences and positionalities of queers/LGBTQIAH+ and women. This module will enable students to answer the key questions of, "How do we become engaged Citizens in the African context and promote the growth of Citizen Science?"
3.The module FOOD CITIZENSHIP AND FOOD (SELF-) GOVERNANCE will focus on the Food Sector as an opportunity for co-curricular engagements with community food movements. Food Security is a central tenet of global citizenship through the SDG goals. This module will build practical knowledge of how to engage with community food projects in the process of research, and how to advocate for these projects. The module will thus find opportunities for glocal action that will help to negate disillusionment, build hope and open up new alternatives for political economic development through direct citizen action in the key areas of food distribution. The module will build understanding of local and global food systems and ways of advancing self-governance in the areas of food production and consumption.
4.The module QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS FOR CITIZEN SCIENCE will build understanding of qualitative research methods that embrace a Citizen Science approach to research inquiry. Citizen Science enquiry places the local and global experiences of citizens at the centre of the data gathering endeavour, endeavouring to gain insight into the subjective perceptions of citizens - SA, African and global. The module will provide the students with the skills to conduct research that shows awareness of Gender and Indigeneity in their research practices.
Modules:
AD21ST1 - Citizenship, Identity and Citizen Science
Content:
1. The global and local context of African citizenship in the 21st Century: Key global problems; Post-Independence Africa; Theory of 'Glocalisation'; African challenges in different sectors of Development
2. Engaged Citizenship and Active Citizenship; South African key challenges
3. African Alternatives and Post-Apartheid Development Programs
4. Identity Formation and Difference globally and in post-Apartheid South Africa, including the African Diaspora and the Black Lives Matter movement
AD21ST2 - Indigenous and Engendered Citizenship
Content:
1.Conceptual competency in Indigenous Citizenship and the underlying African cosmologies that inform Indigenous Citizenship, and how the concept of Bifurcated Citizenship places African citizenship in a distinct place in the global world
2.Knowledge of Intersectionality as a concept that deconstructs gender and how Intersectionality is at variance with patriarchal and African patriarchal systems of knowledge and practice.
3.Exploring the differential positionalities of women, men and queers/LGBTQIA+ in different research contexts, and the differential and diverse experiences of these differently located Citizens.
4.The Concept of heteronormativity and the implications of Indigeneity and Intersectionality for Engaged Citizenship.
AD21ST3 - Food Citizenship and Food Self-Governance
Content:
Information on different aspects of local/national/continental/global food systems/regimes.
Aspects of governance in food systems, challenges of equitable distribution of food and challenges related to food sustainability.
Examples of Food Alternatives at various geographic scales (local/national/Continental/global) with a focus on Food Alternatives in the African context, and the context of large-scale land grabs in Africa.
Food Policy in South Africa for the promotion of equity and sustainability in food systems/regimes in South Africa.
AD21ST4 - Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods for Inter-Disciplinary Citizen Science
Content:
1.Dominant and mainstream research paradigms for qualitative research methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
2. Basic instruments for reading quantitative information and compiling and conducting quantitative research in relevant areas.
3. Ethnographic case studies from different South African and African contexts that demonstrate indigenous experiences and realities of Citizenship at different geographic scales.
4.New and cutting-edge research methods that use indigenous rituals and practices in the conducting of data-gathering for Qualitative Research Methods.