Rohit Kanda, G. S. Bhalla, Harish Handa, Vinay Kumar, Puneet Mahajan, Manjeet Kaur
This article assesses the ways in which the shifting ethical perspectives of money-orientated learned individuals influence their approach towards family, career and societal bounds. For the purpose of this study, a descriptive study of 100 college students was undertaken at a leading university in north-western India by using self-administered questionnaires with stratified random sampling procedures. A principal component (factor) analysis using varimax rotation and K-means clustering were conducted. The findings indicated that consumption communicative senior poor students and lifestyle communicative young poor students have no materialistic career goals. A high prospect for integrated career and social development is a common expectation, providing the need to assess other variables affecting integrated career and social development. Ethnicity, academic discipline and gender are factors of perspective, incitement and prospects towards ethics, materialism and career and social goals. Social interaction in consumption or lifestyle also has a significant impact on materialistic career goals and integrated career and social development. By increasing communicativeness, the probability of having low materialistic career goals also increases. Materialistic career goals of students substantially influence their integrated career and social development. Social groupings and institutional gatherings may devise new ways to inculcate social and academic ethics among their affiliates. Institutional change in instilling values in staff behaviour can result in positive outcomes and a social lifestyle.
{"title":"Ethics, Materialism and Higher Education: The Dilemma between Career and Social Goals","authors":"Rohit Kanda, G. S. Bhalla, Harish Handa, Vinay Kumar, Puneet Mahajan, Manjeet Kaur","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/6981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/6981","url":null,"abstract":"This article assesses the ways in which the shifting ethical perspectives of money-orientated learned individuals influence their approach towards family, career and societal bounds. For the purpose of this study, a descriptive study of 100 college students was undertaken at a leading university in north-western India by using self-administered questionnaires with stratified random sampling procedures. A principal component (factor) analysis using varimax rotation and K-means clustering were conducted. The findings indicated that consumption communicative senior poor students and lifestyle communicative young poor students have no materialistic career goals. A high prospect for integrated career and social development is a common expectation, providing the need to assess other variables affecting integrated career and social development. Ethnicity, academic discipline and gender are factors of perspective, incitement and prospects towards ethics, materialism and career and social goals. Social interaction in consumption or lifestyle also has a significant impact on materialistic career goals and integrated career and social development. By increasing communicativeness, the probability of having low materialistic career goals also increases. Materialistic career goals of students substantially influence their integrated career and social development. Social groupings and institutional gatherings may devise new ways to inculcate social and academic ethics among their affiliates. Institutional change in instilling values in staff behaviour can result in positive outcomes and a social lifestyle.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130559280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Internationally, significant variation exists between the use and application of the term ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training) to define levels of economic and social exclusion among groups of young people. It depends on the situation, and/or the context in which the term is applied. The term draw attention to unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity, as well as the scarring consequences this may have on young people’s lives. The use of the term ‘NEET’ has faced a number of international challenges, including the age cohort to which the term is applied. This varies from one organisation to another, and the specific target group assigned and the variability of meaning of the term ‘NEET ‘itself. This paper aims to provide a review of the shifting and changing age cohort included within the NEET category since its inception in the 1990s. The study utilises an Entity-Related Diagram to demonstrate the international variation that now exists. Recommendations are made in order to maximise the deployment of a standardised definition of NEET, in order to achieve some commonality of understanding about how we measure and define ‘NEEThood’, and crucially, in developing and applying policy responses to address their needs.
{"title":"#6751 WHY WE NEED TO ACHIEVE AN INTERNATIONALLY AGREED AGE DEFINITION OF THE ‘NEET’ GROUP","authors":"Walter, M. Ngoepe","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/6751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/6751","url":null,"abstract":"Internationally, significant variation exists between the use and application of the term ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training) to define levels of economic and social exclusion among groups of young people. It depends on the situation, and/or the context in which the term is applied. The term draw attention to unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity, as well as the scarring consequences this may have on young people’s lives. The use of the term ‘NEET’ has faced a number of international challenges, including the age cohort to which the term is applied. This varies from one organisation to another, and the specific target group assigned and the variability of meaning of the term ‘NEET ‘itself. This paper aims to provide a review of the shifting and changing age cohort included within the NEET category since its inception in the 1990s. The study utilises an Entity-Related Diagram to demonstrate the international variation that now exists. Recommendations are made in order to maximise the deployment of a standardised definition of NEET, in order to achieve some commonality of understanding about how we measure and define ‘NEEThood’, and crucially, in developing and applying policy responses to address their needs.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115084251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this article is to scrutinise the way in which the concepts of land and land redistribution were discussed in the private media in Zimbabwe during the Zimbabwe land reform exercise – dubbed the “third Chimurenga” – that took place in the period 2000–2008. This study makes use of the framing theory. The framing theory is an adaptation of the agenda-setting theory and it talks about the way in which the media diverts the attention of audiences from the importance of an issue to what it wants to project; it places the issue in a field of meaning. This article firstly argues that although the ZANU-PF-led government stated that land was going to be redistributed to the landless black majority, the private media in general and the Daily News in particular reported that it was the black minority (the elite class) who obtained most of the land at the expense of the poor and middle-class black majority. Secondly, it argues that the land redistribution exercise was not meant to correct colonial land imbalances but was instead used by the ZANU-PF-led government as a means to avenge the referendum which they had lost in February 2000. The referendum was perceived as intending to change the Constitution in favour of the ZANU-PF. Lastly, this article argues that land, according to the Daily News, was supposed to be given to people (regardless of their race) who were making or going to make the land productive and not the poor, landless black majority. In order to authenticate the above claims and arguments, a number of the Daily News stories – purposively sampled during the period – will be used as examples.
{"title":"Mining the Truth: Representation of Land and Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe in the Daily News","authors":"Washington Mushore, K. Khan","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8304","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this article is to scrutinise the way in which the concepts of land and land redistribution were discussed in the private media in Zimbabwe during the Zimbabwe land reform exercise – dubbed the “third Chimurenga” – that took place in the period 2000–2008. This study makes use of the framing theory. The framing theory is an adaptation of the agenda-setting theory and it talks about the way in which the media diverts the attention of audiences from the importance of an issue to what it wants to project; it places the issue in a field of meaning. This article firstly argues that although the ZANU-PF-led government stated that land was going to be redistributed to the landless black majority, the private media in general and the Daily News in particular reported that it was the black minority (the elite class) who obtained most of the land at the expense of the poor and middle-class black majority. Secondly, it argues that the land redistribution exercise was not meant to correct colonial land imbalances but was instead used by the ZANU-PF-led government as a means to avenge the referendum which they had lost in February 2000. The referendum was perceived as intending to change the Constitution in favour of the ZANU-PF. Lastly, this article argues that land, according to the Daily News, was supposed to be given to people (regardless of their race) who were making or going to make the land productive and not the poor, landless black majority. In order to authenticate the above claims and arguments, a number of the Daily News stories – purposively sampled during the period – will be used as examples.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121119577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the potency of rural cooperatives for the effective planning and implementation of rural strategies to address poverty. Rural cooperatives function as a participatory approach that provides the potential to equip and empower people in rural areas with various skills. Hence, rural cooperatives represent the means and strategies to unshackle rural people from the vicious circle of poverty. The contestation about a deadlock of rural development has become pertinent in the recent and ongoing political transformation in South Africa. This paper is grounded on the social capital theory and its ideals. As such, it depends on a literature review for its premise, argument, crux and purpose, as well as drawing up results and conclusions. The paper gathers information in respect of various scholars’ notions on rural cooperatives and rural development from related articles, journals and books. The paper reveals that where the South African government is confronted and characterised by some form of upheaval and service delivery challenges, so rural cooperatives are fit to capacitate citizens to avoid depending on the government for scarce resources. The paper further reveals that rural cooperatives are deemed to ameliorate the long-standing patterns of developmental backlogs in almost all South African municipalities. The conclusion that can be made from this paper is that the authentic promotion of rural development in the formulation of a well-informed legislative framework, that is clear and unambiguous, can deal effectively with the challenges of rural cooperatives.
{"title":"Effective Planning for Rural Development in A Democratic South Africa: The Prospects of Rural Cooperatives","authors":"F. Kgobe","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8646","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the potency of rural cooperatives for the effective planning and implementation of rural strategies to address poverty. Rural cooperatives function as a participatory approach that provides the potential to equip and empower people in rural areas with various skills. Hence, rural cooperatives represent the means and strategies to unshackle rural people from the vicious circle of poverty. The contestation about a deadlock of rural development has become pertinent in the recent and ongoing political transformation in South Africa. This paper is grounded on the social capital theory and its ideals. As such, it depends on a literature review for its premise, argument, crux and purpose, as well as drawing up results and conclusions. The paper gathers information in respect of various scholars’ notions on rural cooperatives and rural development from related articles, journals and books. The paper reveals that where the South African government is confronted and characterised by some form of upheaval and service delivery challenges, so rural cooperatives are fit to capacitate citizens to avoid depending on the government for scarce resources. The paper further reveals that rural cooperatives are deemed to ameliorate the long-standing patterns of developmental backlogs in almost all South African municipalities. The conclusion that can be made from this paper is that the authentic promotion of rural development in the formulation of a well-informed legislative framework, that is clear and unambiguous, can deal effectively with the challenges of rural cooperatives.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"27 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121132912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the advent of slavery and colonial rule, Africa has been portrayed as a dark continent, hence slavery and colonialism were said to be on a civilising mission. Colonial administrators were responsible for disseminating ideas that dehumanise Africa. Since the acquiring of freedom of Africans, including those in the diaspora, the media have been used to maintain dichotomies that existed prior to the liberation of Africa. Against this background, the total emancipation of the mind and spirit of Black people on the continent and in the diaspora becomes urgent and inevitable. Deploying Afrocentricity, this paper explores the portrayal of Black people in the movies, Twelve Years a Slave (2003) and The Good Lie (2014). It revolves around interrogating the various images of Black people in the two selected movies. The implications and agenda of such images are discussed. The paper establishes that the way in which Africans are portrayed in the movies is dehumanising. The images border on stultifying representations that seek to subjugate and subvert African humanity and agency. The representation of Africans in the movies is informed by the ideology of Eurocentrism, which maps Europeans as the superior race and Africans and other oppressed peoples of the world as a peripheral race. The movies aim to disempower and induce a sense of self-hatred in people of African descent. The paper concludes that movies can be agents of the miseducation of African people and may inadvertently valorise European people.
{"title":"Misnaming Africa: Dehumanising Images of Africa in Twelve Years a Slave and The Good Lie","authors":"Tevedzerai Gijimah","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8027","url":null,"abstract":"Since the advent of slavery and colonial rule, Africa has been portrayed as a dark continent, hence slavery and colonialism were said to be on a civilising mission. Colonial administrators were responsible for disseminating ideas that dehumanise Africa. Since the acquiring of freedom of Africans, including those in the diaspora, the media have been used to maintain dichotomies that existed prior to the liberation of Africa. Against this background, the total emancipation of the mind and spirit of Black people on the continent and in the diaspora becomes urgent and inevitable. Deploying Afrocentricity, this paper explores the portrayal of Black people in the movies, Twelve Years a Slave (2003) and The Good Lie (2014). It revolves around interrogating the various images of Black people in the two selected movies. The implications and agenda of such images are discussed. The paper establishes that the way in which Africans are portrayed in the movies is dehumanising. The images border on stultifying representations that seek to subjugate and subvert African humanity and agency. The representation of Africans in the movies is informed by the ideology of Eurocentrism, which maps Europeans as the superior race and Africans and other oppressed peoples of the world as a peripheral race. The movies aim to disempower and induce a sense of self-hatred in people of African descent. The paper concludes that movies can be agents of the miseducation of African people and may inadvertently valorise European people.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115060194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article contends that Hyginus Ekwuazi’s That Other Country addresses the Nigerian Civil War experience and the agonies of the Igbo persona. Being a latter third generation Nigerian poetry, the collection chronicles the connection between the agonies of the Igbo persona, the activities that led to the war, and the war experience itself. Unlike most Nigerian Civil War poetry, Ekwuazi’s That Other Country is influenced by the recent campaign and agitation for Biafra. The poetry does not only record a new version of the war experience, it reflects the Igbo persona’s disenchantment with the worsening socio-political situation of the Nigerian State. The poetry shows that the agony of the war glows, even though the war took place 50 years ago. The collection depicts that the agony of the war is fuelled by the inability of the Igbo persona to forget the horrible experience of his past. The article concludes that Nigerian Civil War poetry has continued to surface because successive Nigerian governments have been unable to provide a levelling ground for its people to melt away the tribal and ethnic mistrust that has become part of its national consciousness.
{"title":"The Igbo Persona and the Agony of the Nigerian Civil War in Hyginus Ekwuazi’s That Other Country","authors":"Solomon Awuzie","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/9216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/9216","url":null,"abstract":"The article contends that Hyginus Ekwuazi’s That Other Country addresses the Nigerian Civil War experience and the agonies of the Igbo persona. Being a latter third generation Nigerian poetry, the collection chronicles the connection between the agonies of the Igbo persona, the activities that led to the war, and the war experience itself. Unlike most Nigerian Civil War poetry, Ekwuazi’s That Other Country is influenced by the recent campaign and agitation for Biafra. The poetry does not only record a new version of the war experience, it reflects the Igbo persona’s disenchantment with the worsening socio-political situation of the Nigerian State. The poetry shows that the agony of the war glows, even though the war took place 50 years ago. The collection depicts that the agony of the war is fuelled by the inability of the Igbo persona to forget the horrible experience of his past. The article concludes that Nigerian Civil War poetry has continued to surface because successive Nigerian governments have been unable to provide a levelling ground for its people to melt away the tribal and ethnic mistrust that has become part of its national consciousness.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126527129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There seems to an abundance of literature that discusses Internal Savings and Lending Schemes (ISALS) and poverty reduction in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa. However, there is a lack of academic literature in Zimbabwe that interrogates the impact of ISALS on orphans and vulnerable children. This paper, using the project being implemented by the Tsungirirai Organisation (TO), discovered that when households participate in ISALS there is positive expenditure on education, food, health and many other needs of orphans and vulnerable children. More importantly, the study identified household expenditure on transport for orphans and vulnerable children living with HIV to access anti-retroviral medications (ARVs). As a qualitative study, the data in the study were collected using in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and we analysed the data by using thematic content analysis.
{"title":"Household Participation in Internal Saving and Lending Schemes: Impact on Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Chegutu, Zimbabwe","authors":"Itai Kabonga, K. Zvokuomba","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8668","url":null,"abstract":"There seems to an abundance of literature that discusses Internal Savings and Lending Schemes (ISALS) and poverty reduction in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa. However, there is a lack of academic literature in Zimbabwe that interrogates the impact of ISALS on orphans and vulnerable children. This paper, using the project being implemented by the Tsungirirai Organisation (TO), discovered that when households participate in ISALS there is positive expenditure on education, food, health and many other needs of orphans and vulnerable children. More importantly, the study identified household expenditure on transport for orphans and vulnerable children living with HIV to access anti-retroviral medications (ARVs). As a qualitative study, the data in the study were collected using in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and we analysed the data by using thematic content analysis.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122514977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
There are eight health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the mandate of which is to ensure access to affordable healthcare for poor countries, especially in Africa. These MDGs were supposed to be reached by 2015, but six years have now passed with little success being realised. The cost of affordable medicines remains the main predicament for poor African countries. The focus of this paper is limited to the poor countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a part of sub-Saharan Africa. I have previously written on other measures that have been employed to improve access to medicine, for example pooled procurement used by a number of SADC countries. Unfortunately the vast rural nature of SADC member states makes it prohibitively impossible to reach every citizen, let alone convince them of the usefulness of Western healthcare. A number of scholars have written about southern Africa’s riches in the area of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) that directly relate to healthcare. It is thus the objective of this paper to argue that both efforts of using IKS and the modern healthcare system can complement each other in the quest for the realisation of better healthcare and quality of life for the citizens of southern Africa. This paper starts with a motivation to indicate why IKS and access to healthcare are related. An analysis of the eight related MDGs follows as a way of measuring how far these have been realised post the anticipated date in 2015. In this analysis, it is critical to unearth how IKS can be used in the realisation of solutions to these shortcomings.
{"title":"Interfacing Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Access to Healthcare in SADC through the Millennium Development Goals","authors":"A. Saurombe","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/7012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/7012","url":null,"abstract":"There are eight health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the mandate of which is to ensure access to affordable healthcare for poor countries, especially in Africa. These MDGs were supposed to be reached by 2015, but six years have now passed with little success being realised. The cost of affordable medicines remains the main predicament for poor African countries. The focus of this paper is limited to the poor countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a part of sub-Saharan Africa. I have previously written on other measures that have been employed to improve access to medicine, for example pooled procurement used by a number of SADC countries. Unfortunately the vast rural nature of SADC member states makes it prohibitively impossible to reach every citizen, let alone convince them of the usefulness of Western healthcare. A number of scholars have written about southern Africa’s riches in the area of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) that directly relate to healthcare. It is thus the objective of this paper to argue that both efforts of using IKS and the modern healthcare system can complement each other in the quest for the realisation of better healthcare and quality of life for the citizens of southern Africa. This paper starts with a motivation to indicate why IKS and access to healthcare are related. An analysis of the eight related MDGs follows as a way of measuring how far these have been realised post the anticipated date in 2015. In this analysis, it is critical to unearth how IKS can be used in the realisation of solutions to these shortcomings.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129691768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the context of gender-based violence and xenophobia (black on black violence), the question is being asked whether black people hate themselves. Scholars have sought explanations for these social ills in socio-economic challenges that are a legacy of apartheid. These challenges have continued in the post-apartheid era. One cultural site in which poverty and violence have been reflected is the song “Bantu Biko Street” by Simphiwe Dana. The singer invokes Bantu Biko’s philosophy of Black Consciousness as a possible solution. This article closely reads this song and argues that the current government fails to deliver its material promises. The article also depicts Black Consciousness as a possible alternative ideology to foster black pride, hope and communal sharing.
{"title":"The Deification of Black Consciousness as an Alternative Ideology in Simphiwe Dana’s “Bantu Biko Street”","authors":"Mzukisi J. Lento","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8473","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of gender-based violence and xenophobia (black on black violence), the question is being asked whether black people hate themselves. Scholars have sought explanations for these social ills in socio-economic challenges that are a legacy of apartheid. These challenges have continued in the post-apartheid era. One cultural site in which poverty and violence have been reflected is the song “Bantu Biko Street” by Simphiwe Dana. The singer invokes Bantu Biko’s philosophy of Black Consciousness as a possible solution. This article closely reads this song and argues that the current government fails to deliver its material promises. The article also depicts Black Consciousness as a possible alternative ideology to foster black pride, hope and communal sharing.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129175412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research reveals that South Africa is facing a critical skills shortage. Companies are struggling to source engineering professionals for their ongoing operational success. In order to retain critical engineering skills, young engineers should be provided with inspirational mentorship. Despite South Africa’s move to a democracy, its workplace is still mired by social inequalities. Organisations aiming to harness diversity should create a culture of respect and accessibility so that all employees can reach their full potential. While many studies focus on the importance of mentorship, little has been said about the value of Ubuntu in mentor-mentee relationships. The paper argues that for an inclusive workplace, the answer lies in Ubuntu. By practising Ubuntu, mentor engineers can contribute to the direly needed professional development of young engineers. Ubuntu is an African philosophy which acknowledges that one’s own humanity is interlinked with the dignity and humanity of others. Ubuntu is forgoing one’s personal interests for the benefit of people around you, while growing together as a community. The study aimed to establish that instead of looking at individualistic solutions, we should embrace mutual growth and empowerment. The author used questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions to collect data. Fifty engineering professionals in different fields and from different cities in South Africa participated in this case study. The data were analysed inductively as well as deductively. Mentorship was identified as an important aspect of Ubuntu. It was recommended that engineers practise Ubuntu in their workplace to cultivate an ethos of community and mutual respect.
{"title":"Ubuntu in the Engineering Workplace: Paying it forward through Mentoring","authors":"Fouzia Munir","doi":"10.25159/2663-6549/8379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/8379","url":null,"abstract":"Research reveals that South Africa is facing a critical skills shortage. Companies are struggling to source engineering professionals for their ongoing operational success. In order to retain critical engineering skills, young engineers should be provided with inspirational mentorship. Despite South Africa’s move to a democracy, its workplace is still mired by social inequalities. Organisations aiming to harness diversity should create a culture of respect and accessibility so that all employees can reach their full potential. While many studies focus on the importance of mentorship, little has been said about the value of Ubuntu in mentor-mentee relationships. The paper argues that for an inclusive workplace, the answer lies in Ubuntu. By practising Ubuntu, mentor engineers can contribute to the direly needed professional development of young engineers. Ubuntu is an African philosophy which acknowledges that one’s own humanity is interlinked with the dignity and humanity of others. Ubuntu is forgoing one’s personal interests for the benefit of people around you, while growing together as a community. The study aimed to establish that instead of looking at individualistic solutions, we should embrace mutual growth and empowerment. The author used questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions to collect data. Fifty engineering professionals in different fields and from different cities in South Africa participated in this case study. The data were analysed inductively as well as deductively. Mentorship was identified as an important aspect of Ubuntu. It was recommended that engineers practise Ubuntu in their workplace to cultivate an ethos of community and mutual respect.","PeriodicalId":159147,"journal":{"name":"Commonwealth Youth and Development","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134125191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}