This timely collection, compiled and edited by veteran journalist and political commentator Max du Preez, contains critical reflections on various aspects of contemporary South Africa. Each contributor is a significant voice in their area of commentary and is well positioned to explore the complexities of the topic under analysis. The resulting pieces offer insights that will engage all readers interested in understanding and addressing the challenges of an unevenly changing nation. Topics in the collection include: The state of the nation; Personal and social identities - race, ethnicity and class; Environment - climate change and sustainability; Governance - skills, capacity and service delivery; The judicial system; Crime and violence; Education; Race relations and Health care.

ÿ Germany and South Africa experienced drastic social transitions with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1986 and the end of Apartheid in 1994. This book consists of a collection of essays from German and South African theologians who analyse the role that religious communities had, andÿ are still playing within the respective civil societies. The concept and texture of civil society are analysed; case studies are presented; theological perspectives are given on the relation between church, state and civil society; and guidelines are provided for the healing role that Christian religious communities can play in Germany and South Africa. This book is mainly directed at theologians and scholars in religious studies, however, sociologists and political philosophers may also find the essays informative. Besides the wide variety of theological approaches; sociological and empirical data; and practical theological perspective, the book also yields interesting comparative analysis on two societies in transition.

Applied Theatre: Women and the Criminal Justice System offers unprecedented access to international theatre and performance practice in carceral contexts and the material and political conditions that shape this work. Each of the twelve essays and interviews by international practitioners and scholars reveal a panoply of practice: from cross-arts projects shaped by autobiographical narratives through to fantasy-informed cabaret; from radio plays to film; from popular participatory performance to work staged in commercial theatres. Extracts of performance texts, developed with Clean Break theatre company, are interwoven through the collection. Television and film images of women in prison are repeatedly painted from a limited palette of stereotypes – 'bad girls', 'monsters', 'babes behind bars'. To attend to theatre with and about women with experience of the criminal justice system is to attend to intersectional injustices that shape women's criminalization and the personal and political implications of this. The theatre and performance practices in this collection disrupt, expand and reframe representational vocabularies of criminalized women for audiences within and beyond prison walls. They expose the role of incarceration as a mechanism of state punishment, the impact of neoliberalism on ideologies of punishment and the inequalities and violence that shape the lives of many incarcerated women. In a context where criminalized women are often dismissed as unreliable or untrustworthy, the collection engages with theatre practices which facilitate an economy of credibility, where women with experience of the criminal justice system are represented as expert witnesses.

Winner of the Zócalo Book Prize A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice “Combines powerful moral arguments with superb storytelling.” —New Statesman What moral values do we hold in common? As globalization draws us together economically, are the things we value converging or diverging? These twin questions led Michael Ignatieff to embark on a three-year, eight-nation journey in search of an answer. What we share, he found, are what he calls “ordinary virtues”: tolerance, forgiveness, trust, and resilience. When conflicts break out, these virtues are easily exploited by the politics of fear and exclusion, reserved for one’s own group but denied to others. Yet these ordinary virtues are the key to healing and reconciliation on both a local and global scale. “Makes for illuminating reading.” —Simon Winchester, New York Review of Books “Engaging, articulate and richly descriptive... Ignatieff’s deft histories, vivid sketches and fascinating interviews are the soul of this important book.” —Times Literary Supplement “Deserves praise for wrestling with the devolution of our moral worlds over recent decades.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

Democracy in South Africa turns twenty on 27 April 2014. In A Rumour of Spring, Max du Preez investigates and analyses the progress and lack of progress the country has made during these twenty years. A Rumour of Spring looks at the legacies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki in an attempt to understand how we got here, and examines Jacob Zuma’s presidency to better understand where we are. In the context of blatant corruption, populism and tragedies such as the Marikana massacre, the book considers the current state of the ruling party and the opposition, and dissects the big issues currently afflicting our society, including the state of education, land reform, crime and policing, the judiciary, nationality and race. And then, with images of the Arab Spring fresh in our collective memory, it dares to look to the future and what it may hold. An honest and balanced account, A Rumour of Spring tackles the questions asked by ordinary South Africans every day: How are we really doing? What is really going on in our country? How should we understand what is happening here? And will it get any better?

Drawing on a wide range of international contexts, International Education and Development provides an innovative and comprehensive critique of developments to improve schooling in the global South. Offering both a theoretical critique of the field and a series of case studies, drawn from recent research, illustrating the usefulness of a narrative approach, it generates a greater understanding of the meta-narratives that shape development and international education. Focusing on three periods of extensive field work in South Africa, Bangladesh and Mauritius, this book reflects upon the combination of narrative and biographical approaches in different national settings. Context is provided in three levels, meta, meso and micro, through a clear and critical examination of the macro ‘stories’ of development and international education over the past fifty years, and an examination of the role that narrative can play at local and micro levels, looking at the stories of individual decision makers – from children in the classroom to education officers at the district education office – and the opportunities and challenges of using these accounts for research, teaching and policy-making purposes. International Education and Development adds a global perspective to an area dominated by a concern with the Northern industrialised world, making it an essential text for students following courses in the social sciences, and individuals working the field of international education. It addresses a fundamental concern of development theory in a unique and engaging manner. A highly original contribution to a growing field, this book synthesises developments both in this field and in the growing topic of narrative research.

This book examines the crucial issues affecting Human Rights Education in contexts of culture, religious and societal diversity. It exhibits an impressive scholarly achievement, capturing and combining the insights of both established academics and emerging researchers. Each author succeeds in distilling the knowledge of their particular fields of interest, as well as conveying the essence of their intuitive understanding and the richness of the context. This book considers a variety of connected content and methodological issues in three major sections: ‘Philosophical and policy perspectives’, ‘Gender discourses: diverse perspectives’ and ‘Discourses on narratives as safe spaces’. The Edition is further strengthened by allowing international reviewers the opportunity of engaging with the contributors in the Introduction and Conclusion, an innovative departure from conventional formats and which will provide a global perspective to the readers. The focus of the various chapters succeeds in establishing both a foundation and platform for dialogue surrounding human rights and human rights education in modern policy and governance. Aptly named “Safe Spaces”, the Edition offers in-depth and credible (“safe”) nuances (“spaces”), in terms of the somewhat reified concept of human rights, at a time when human rights remains a highly topical and contested international issue. As such, the book imparts an immense scope of theoretical and empirical perspectives, reflected by the distinguished intellectuals who navigate the terrain of their respective disciplines with profound erudition. This book represents a collaborative effort of immeasurable value. This exemplary edition is both timeous, and will prove timeless.