Presenting ten exciting chapters delving into the socio-cultural aspects of African contexts and their profound impact on regional, national, and international business, Contextualising African Studies lays the foundation for a comprehensive exploration of Africa's business landscape.

Social science researchers in the global South, and in South Africa particularly, utilise research methods in innovative ways in order to respond to contexts characterised by diversity, racial and political tensions, socioeconomic disparities and gender inequalities. These methods often remain undocumented – a gap that this book starts to address. Written by experts from various methodological fields, Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences is a comprehensive collation of original essays and cutting-edge research that demonstrates the variety of novel techniques and research methods available to researchers responding to these context-bound issues. It is particularly relevant for study and research in the fields of applied psychology, sociology, ethnography, biography and anthropology. In addition to their unique combination of conceptual and application issues, the chapters also include discussions on ethical considerations relevant to the method in similar global South contexts. Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences has much to offer to researchers, professionals and others involved in social science research both locally and internationally.

South Africa's democratic government inherited a divided and unequal system of education. Under apartheid, South Africa had nineteen different educational departments separated by race, language, geography and ideology. This education system prepared learners in different ways for the positions they were expected to occupy in social, economic and political life under apartheid and was funded and resourced in ways that favoured white people and disadvantaged black people who remain in the working class. The newly elected democratic government in 1994 laid a foundation for a single national education system. Twenty-five years after the dawn of democracy, education is still in a parlous state in many communities in South Africa, but it is in the rural areas mainly in the former homelands that learners are most disadvantaged. Contributors are: Olufemi Timothy Adigun, Oluwatoyin Ayodele Ajani, Alan Bhekisisa Buthelezi, Joyce Phikisile Dhlamini, Bongani Thulani Gamede, Samantha Govender, Lawrence Kehinde, Nontobeko Prudence Khumalo, Primrose Ntombenhle Khumalo, Azwidohwi Philip Kutame, Manthekeleng Linake, Sive Makeleni, Nkhensani Maluleke, Bothwell Manyonga, Mncedisi Christian Maphalala, Takalani Mashau, Hlengiwe Romualda Mhlongo, Rachel Gugu Mkhasibe, Dumisani Wilfred Mncube, Nicholus Tumelo Mollo, Ramashego Shila Mphahlele, Fikile Mthethwa, Grace Matodzi Muremela, Edmore Mutekwe, Nokuthula Hierson Ndaba, Clever Ndebele, Thandiwe Nonkululeko Ngema, Phiwokuhle Ngubane, Sindile Ngubane, Dumisani Nzima, Livhuwani Peter Ramabulana, and Maria Tsakeni.

The New Frontiers in African Business and Society series provides innovative reflections on the nature of business and society across parts of Africa and its emerging economy. Distinguished scholars formulate important answers to the problems within the continent, discovering new avenues of research and pathways forward.

This volume, co-published with Dar es Salaam University Press, includes an introduction by Werner Biermann and the important subject of contextualizing poverty in Africa.

Narrative inquiry is growing in popularity as a research methodology in the social sciences, medicine and the humanities. In narrative inquiry, the transparency of interactions between researcher and research participants, together with rich, contextual descriptions, help to shape and structure research texts rendering them engaging and readable. Contextualising Narrative Inquiry argues that all researchers should foreground the importance of the context in which research takes place and develop methodological approaches that are grounded in their local contexts. To do so, they need to pay attention to how knowledge is constructed, shared and understood in those contexts. This is particularly important when contexts have been subjugated historically through colonialism and when local, indigenous ways of knowing have been ignored or dismissed. The contributors to this edited collection have all used narrative inquiry for a range of topics and in a range of contexts, including: Leadership styles of Asian women The Deaf community in the UK Voluntary celibacy in Malta Administrators in Ghanaian higher education Multiculturalism in primary education in Cyprus Teacher identities in Hong Kong The reflective practitioner in higher education in Malaysia. The diversity of the topics illuminates the potential for narrative inquiry to be used to investigate a broad range of issues in many contexts by people with a wide range of backgrounds. A common thread throughout is a reflexive discussion of how each contributor used narrative inquiry as a methodological approach; highlighting not only its affordances, but also the complexities of using it in specific cultural, social and historical contexts.

The purpose of this book is to establish the first formalised scholarly work on critical management studies (CMS) in the South African context. The book is a collection of seven chapters, six of which employ a conceptual methodology and one of which follows an interpretive paradigm employing qualitative methods of inquiry. CMS is a relatively young school of thought, arising in the early 1990s and still very much a peripheral movement within the academic discipline of management. South Africa has very little scholarship on CMS as precious few scholars work in this space. Furthermore, publication opportunities are virtually non-existent as CMS is virtually unknown in the South African community of management scholars. Thus, this book represents the first academic work on CMS published in South Africa, written and reviewed by scholars who are familiar with the field. The primary target readership would be management academics, but it could also be a useful reference for postgraduate students in management.