On March 8, International Women’s Day, IFAA reflects on the perspectives of feminist and women leaders who have fought against colonialism and apartheid for freedom, and continue to date to fight for social, economic and political transformation. Importantly, Ruth First warns that there is a danger of: ‘forgetting or ignoring … Read More
IFAA Public Forum: South Africa’s Urban Farming Revolution
Urban farming is not a new phenomenon but it has proliferated rapidly in recent years. This has been driven by advances in technology and global challenges that include food insecurity, energy shortage, urban migration, poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization urban farming is … Read More
Kudos to our Senior Researcher Hibist Kassa
IFAA would like to congratulate our senior researcher, Dr Hibist Kassa, on the publication of her chapter ‘The Crisis of Social Reproduction in Petty Commodity Production and Large-scale Mining: A Southern Perspective on Gender Inequality’ in the new collection Inequality Studies from the Global South, Routledge (2020). For more information … Read More
Decolonising Higher Education: Postcolonial Theory and the Invisible Hand of Student Politics
In the following reflections on the decolonisation of higher education, I have three objectives. First, I intend to analyse decolonisation discourse both theoretically and experientially. I do so partly on account of what I would call its viscerality but also because lived experience is an essential category of analysis in … Read More
From Afro-Centrism to Decolonial Humanism: A Response to Simphiwe Sesanti
One by one, nations across the African continent won formal political independence in the second half of the 20th century. Some decades since the formal end of colonial rule, the continent continues to be plagued by significant residues of a bygone era. Neo-colonialism is a concept designed specifically to … Read More
Decolonial, Post-Colonial, Post-Apartheid: Reflections on some dilemmas of self-determination
Professor Ari Sitas argues that the waves of student protest in South Africa in 2015 – 2016 reflect the failure of an ANC government to deconstruct the country’s deeply embedded colonial legacy, both in ideas and in its myriad practical manifestations. The writer uncovers the effects of layers of colonial … Read More