Melanie D. Nicolau

RESTRUCTURING SOUTH AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT Geography literature is rife with calls for the protection of the integrity of the discipline with specific reference to the preservation of the space-in-time perspective, and calls for the discipline to start responding to the transformation imperative of the country are also abundant. Throughout the literature, jmphasis has thus far always been on the need for geographers to ensure that their skills and research are applied and are useful in promoting the transformaion process in South Africa. It is however our opinion that the relevance and contribution of the discipline have proven unquestionable, whilst the issue of possible costs or compromises that the discipline may have to endure as a result of ensuring “usefulness” is not always discussed. It is therefore argued in this aper that we as geographers need to pledge a commitment not only to protect the integrity of the discipline (space-in-time perspective) but also to ensure that our skills, knowledge and research are used in an accountable and uncompromising manner during the transition toward a ‘new South African democracy’. Ultimately, the paper aims to reaffirm the fact that we need to ensure that any restructuring of geography does not take place at a cost that is detrimental to the integrity of the discipline.

Remittances and development: Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa and their impact on their Zimbabwean families

This paper contends that the unprecedented migration of Zimbabwean teachers into South Africa has transformed the well-being of their families in Zimbabwe positively. In some cases, poverty at household level has even been alleviated as a result of remittances sent to Zimbabwean households of the Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa. On the strength of human development impacts such as increased household income and consumption, savings and asset accumulation, improved access to health and nutrition and access to better education identified in this research, it is possible to hypothesize that professional Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa who maintain ties with their home country do indeed make a positive contribution to their own families’ and households’ human development needs back home in Zimbabwe

Campus Greening in Open and Distance Learning: Curriculum Initiatives in the Department of Geography, University of South Africa

This chapter presents and reflects on two campus greening initiatives by the Department of Geography at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The first initiative is the environmental management degree programme, which was implemented in 2000 as the first multidisciplinary, cross-faculty study programme offered at the institution. Successes and challenges as experienced with this programme and how they have been addressed will be reflected upon, with emphasis on implications for campus greening. The second initiative is the signature module “Environmental awareness and responsibility” implemented in 2012, which is available to any student from any discipline at Unisa. This module is part of a group of signature modules, offered exclusively online at Unisa. The reflection on this module will focus on implementation challenges in terms of the online offering, together with the extent to which the main thrust of the module has been achieved, namely to take students from “knowing” about sustainability to “doing” something for sustainability and thereby contributing to campus greening. The experience gained with these two initiatives points to a number of additional measures which can be embedded into the curriculum to achieve full engagement of students with reference to environmental sustainability within their local contexts. As an open and distance learning (ODL) institution, these measures could include the sharing of sustainable practices and experiences on an online platform. This will enable students and academic staff to generate and disseminate good sustainable practices between each other in such a way that both parties can become critical voices in a global but sustainable world. Moving from a contents-driven to an application-based approach to sustainability will contribute to a shift in the values and attitudes of successful graduates who will be able to apply the outcomes of the curriculum to strengthen localised innovation and sustainable practices in their living and working environments.

Virtual Learning Environments for Transformation to Sustainability: A Case Study from the “South”

An appropriate pedagogy for supporting behavioural changes required to achieve more sustainable futures should include collaborative knowledge construction, within learning spaces allowing for critical discourse and reflection integrated with real-world applications. However, it is not easy to implement a challenge based pedagogy like this in institutions where the academic system utilises individual grading and related measures of success and with academic staff reluctant to use alternative approaches and to formulate course outcomes in terms of behavioural change. This chapter maps and critically reflects on the implementation of a sustainability focussed honours (junior post graduate, 4th level) degree, in which a transformative pedagogy is used. It is a fully online degree, offered by the Department of Geography, University of South Africa (an open and distance learning institution). Difficulties associated with collaborative learning for sustainability and the facilitation of project based research within the virtual learning environment are highlighted, and how these are addressed. These reflections include consideration of the Global South context within which Unisa functions, confronting students and staff with infrastructural issues such as access to information and communication technology, but not necessarily preventing transformational learning for sustainability.

African Migrant Traders’ Experiences in Johannesburg Inner City: Towards the Migrant Calculated Risk and Adaptation Framework

ABSTRACT Globally, migrants face numerous socio-economic and institutional impediments that hinder their participation in the labour market of host cities and/or countries. This motivates them to join the informal economic sector to make a living. Applying the concept of tactical cosmopolitanism to understand the social and economic agency of African migrants, this article reports on an explorative analysis of the experiences of informal African migrant street traders (African migrant traders) operating in Johannesburg inner city, Gauteng, South Africa. The study revealed that African migrant traders left their countries of origin to secure better opportunities and to escape hostile conditions in their home countries. Despite the host city turning out to be more hostile and xenophobic, making life and finding formal employment opportunities more challenging, the thought of the more difficult life conditions in their home countries has led them to trading on the streets. Given the risks and challenges, including hostile and xenophobic situations that African migrant traders face in Johannesburg inner city, they have adopted dynamic and agentive strategies to survive and continue operating their businesses. Such findings pointed towards and assisted in the development of the Migrant Calculated Risk and Adaptation Framework.

Empowerment for Sustainability in a Community Context: Lifelong Learning and the Story of the BIG 5 Community Tourism Forum, Koffiekraal/Brakkuil (South Africa)

During a community asset mapping (CAMP) workshop in 2012 in the villages of Koffiekraal/Brakkuil (Northwest Province, South Africa), tourism was identified as a potential asset for community empowerment, development and poverty alleviation. As a result, a learning strategy was designed and implemented to create an awareness of the tourism resource potential of the local area. This strategy intended to empower community members to develop and successfully implement an authentic, local tourism product in sync with a sustainability agenda. The approach so far, and foreseen for subsequent phases, is in line with the post-development ethos of community development that is characteristic of CAMP. The idea is not to enforce pre-set conceptualisations of tourism on community members, but to lead them by self-discovery to awareness of resources for tourism at their disposal within the local context. This paper reviews the progress achieved so far with this project and critically reflects on the initial formal classroom sessions, transect walks through the village to identify possible attractions and the trail runs of a day tour that has subsequently been designed by community members. Despite the numerous challenges involved to translate the classroom theory to the reality of a grassroots designed and driven tourism tour, feedback by community members confirms that the process thus far triggered significant host awareness and learning, with notable gains for sustainable development in the local context and community context.