Mark Israel

South African Political Exile in the United Kingdom

After 1948 many opponents of apartheid were forced out of South Africa. This accessible and readable account draws upon interviews with many of those involved to examine how those activists who came to the United Kingdom developed political organisations, social networks, ideologies and identities that supported their time in exile. It examines the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the African National Congress in exile and documents the violent attempts by the South African government to control exile activity. Finally, it investigates how exiles came to terms with the possibility that they might return.

‘Newsmaking geography’: communicating geography through the media

Geographers have undertaken important work exploring the role of the media in projecting and producing imagined worlds. This work needs to be extended to consider how the products of our labours might be broadcast most effectively to the public through the media. This paper presents a case study of media responses to research in South Australia by one of the authors to illustrate how the media shaped and represented the findings. From the case study, the paper outlines three lessons for geographers who either deal with the media or are involved in training students in professional skills. Geographers need to develop a ‘newsmaking geography’ by: first, understanding the nature of the media as a set of institutions that encapsulate and communicate our works; second, positioning ourselves as ‘authorized knowers’ – people known to have something credible to say about a specific range of issues; and third, developing effective strategies for delivering information and ideas to the media. Engagements with the media may allow us to publicize the vitality that has characterized parts of geography in the past two decades, help overcome the power/knowledge ineffectiveness of academic publications, and fortify our public activism.

Research ethics and integrity for social scientists : beyond regulatory compliance

Why care about ethics? Ethical approaches Codes and principles Regulating ethics Informed consent Confidentiality Avoiding harm, doing good and seeking justice Integrity and misconduct Relationships Beyond regulatory compliance

The commercialisation of university-based criminological research in australia

As part of the Australian university sector, criminologists have been encouraged to find commercial clients for their skills and products. This paper examines the implications for the future development of criminology in Australia of changing patterns of Commonwealth, State and non-government organisation funding. It explores what might happen to criminology if the entrepreneurial periphery gains a tighter purchase on the academic core.

If ‘Something Works’ is the Answer, What is the Question? Supporting Pluralist Evaluation in Community Corrections in the United Kingdom

The aims of the paper are to present the argument for pluralistic evaluation, by outlining and assessing the various measures that have been and might be used in the United Kingdom, and to question the value of relying on reconviction rates. Most evaluation studies of offender programmes in the community and in prison have been based on single measures, mostly the recidivism rate. Some studies have evaluated the effectiveness of particular programmes in terms of the costs or of changing the attitudes or addressing the needs and problems of offenders. However, no single measurement can reveal the full picture of the effectiveness of a particular correctional programme. This paper criticizes current evaluation-driven practice - only do things that can be measured and divert resources from delivery to fairly unimaginative evaluation. It concludes that commitment to pluralistic evaluation in principle is often compromised in practice.

Telling Stories of Crime in South Australia

Using a South Australian example, and based on interviews with journalists and their sources, this paper examines how the media and their sources negotiate the reporting of fear in a community. It sketches the process by which a particular story was created, the features that were highlighted, and considers the part that different organisations play in shaping the construction of news about crime.

Crimes of the state: Victimisation of South African political exiles in the United Kingdom

Victimology and criminology have been spectacularly unsuccessful in confronting the way that governments victimise their opponents. This paper is concerned with state violence against opponents who are based ouside the national territory, political exiles. Throughout their time in exile in the United Kingdom, South Africans connected to the African National Congress were subject to physical and symbolic violence from the South African government through a series of ideological, administrative and paramilitary measures. In this paper, I use the example of counter-exile activity in London to argue that researchers must contemplate research agendas that challenge state policy when the causes of violence have been the direct result of state policy even if that policy has been fundamental to the continuing existence of the regime.

Rolling back the bureaucracies of ethics review

Dyck and Allens criticisms of current systems of governance are well founded, at least in some jurisdictions. Their desire to halt the expansion and intensification of research ethics governance is to be applauded. However, their listed categories of research to be exempted from mandatory review may not create a better system.

Women, Resistance and Africa: Armed Struggles in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Eritrea

The three Australian-based authors have completed doctorates on African liberation movements. Following fieldwork in Eritrea, Zimbabwe and among South African exiles in the United Kingdom, we each reached a similar conclusion - that the role that women played in African national liberation struggles had been inadequately acknowledged. We were concerned that dominant interpretations of the content and context of resistance had excluded non-combat activities necessary to sustain military action. Drawing on the work on resistance by Foucault and Scott, we became interested in extending the range of theoretical material available to those engaged in analyzing the relationship between gender and national liberation in the African context

Law School Lemonade: Or Can You Turn External Pressures into Educational Advantages?

In a context of ever-dwindling resources, this article encourages legal academics to seek innovative strategies to safeguard the integrity of our mission. Teaching innovation funding, more effective use of students as a resource and a willingness to be flexible when it comes to content coverage are suggested as means to maintain, or even improve, not just teaching quality but morale among academic staff. The article challenges the notion that smaller class sizes are necessary for higher teaching quality, suggesting the alternative of collaborative learning groups to keep students engaged and to encourage deep and independent approaches to learning. Collaborative learning provides additional benefits in freeing up staff time and engaging us in the educational process at a level more commensurate with our skills and expertise.