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Justice and Liberty
Issues in South Africa
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T.Y.
Okosun (tokosun@neiu.edu)
Northeastern Illinois University
JUST 3150-31 : Justice and Liberty Issues in Africa
Spring Semester (Jan. - April. 2007) (Study Trip March 10-24)
On Campus dial: Ext. 5453
Off Campus dial: 773 442-5453
Office: Library Lib 407
Course
Description: Click
to View Study Trip Information
This
course will examine the South African revolution/liberation
from a critical justice perspective. We will focus on the
meaning of liberation, justice, and equality as fundamental
elements necessary for understanding freedom from injustice,
and the ultimate question and vision of liberty and democracy.
In searching for liberation from oppression or any form
of dehumanization, revolution, as is the case in South Africa,
served as a critical disruption of the apartheid system
and led to a new social arrangement, democracy in a co-responsible
context. There are apparently several angles to the new
arrangement, and our interest is to understand these perspectives
in more detail in order to link the liberation from apartheid
to the peoples’ discourse to the fundamental practice
of equality and self-determination. It is one thing to assert
that people are equal based on the notion of human dignity,
but quite another when it comes to examining people’s
well being in the light of the palpable reality of economic
and social justice. It is, therefore, imperative that we
remain philosophically critical in examining the dimensions
of economic and social benefits ushered in by the struggle
against the old regime especially in the face of new arrangements
and accords with international bodies. The critical reading
of the history of this domination and the struggles against
it, and black Africans’ response of forgiveness and
reconciliation is valuable in understanding the new or re-arranged
version of liberty and justice in South Africa.
For this reason we are interested in the enormous Black
African underclass, steeped in underemployment, and marginalized
with the burdens of the new society. We will be forced
to ask if the new arrangement is a continuation of the old
status quo masked in new political and economic language,
or whether the manifestation of change is real but slow
in its journey. Here the critical issues of race, class,
power, privilege, self-determination, and globalization
will feature prominently.
Course
Objective:
In
this course you will:
Engage
in critical analysis of positive revolution, liberation,
justice, and inequality issues in South Africa.
Explore the different ways that groups and individuals
contribute to just and unjust conditions.
Explore how distributive justice (national resources and
wealth managment) in South Africa is approached.
Engage in critical dialogue in relation to:
South Africa’s past apartheid context ( what that
means in relation to the present -- contemporary race
relations, education, and equality/inequality/class arrangements).
South Africa in the contemporary context (well being -
health, social, economics, gender, democracy, who benefits?).
Prospects for the future of all South Africans especially
the Blacks, Indians, and other marginalized populations.
Specifically gender, health, and education dynamics with
special reference to the new democratic constitution.
Explore the implications of South Africa and its connection
to globalization, South Africa within Africa and South
Africa in the world, global justice, and the place and
the role of especially Black South Africans in the arrangements.
Engage the South African cultural context with the attempt
to understand and integrate into our vision of fairness
how Africans image justice, especially in the humanistic
and corporate notion of ubuntu, where
ubuntu is still most likely
found and practiced, and the challenges ubuntu
faces in the context of freemarket neoliberal capitalistic
economics gradually taking hold in South Africa.
Terreblanche,
Sampie, A History of Inequalities in South Africa..,
Univ of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 2002
Desai, Ashwin, We Are the Poors: Community Struggles
in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Monthly Review
Press, 2002
Patrick Bond, Looting Africa: The Economics of
Exploitation, Zed Book, 2006
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The
Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Back Bay Books,
1995
Tutu, Desmond, No Future Without Forgiveness,
Doubleday, 1999
Toxic Tour Reading (Mandatory)
1.
Desai
on Durban 1
2. Desai
on Durban 2
3. Bond on
Johannesburg
Course
Requirements:
Thoroughly read and prepare critical responses to the assigned
books. All responses are due three weeks before the trip.
Active engagement and contribution are essential during
the pre-trip meetings. This is a course as well as a seminar.
All texts must be read otherwise you are going to be a walking
blind in South Africa. All those registered for this course
must be part of several meetings with me where brief research
interests, questions, and social contexts of interests must
be clearly defined, sharpened and prepared before the trip.
Attendance
All pre and post class meetings before and after the trip
are mandatory. There is no exception.
We
will use my website,www.neiu.edu/~tokosun
for all of our interactions on the Study Tour
to South Africa. Please visit the site frequently for announcements,
updates, and so on.
Grading
20%:
Participation: pre-trip meetings, tour in South Africa,
and post-trip meetings.
15%: Research questions, social context definition,
methodology, and placement
15%: Assignments 1 - 4 (Pre-Trip)
30%: Assignments 5 - 9 (During Trip)
20%: Assignment 10 Research (Literature Review, Method,
Findings, Conclusion).
Public Presentation. (Post-Trip)
Your
papers are evaluated with the following criteria
A.
= 90-100:
Paper thoroughly responds to the assignment. Thesis, arguments
and supporting evidence, and style are very coherent,
and there is clear evidence of original thought if that
is required.
B.
= 80-89: Paper responds to the assignment.
Thesis, arguments and supporting evidence, and style are
coherent, and there is some evidence of original thought
if that is required. Minimal writing errors expected.
C.
= 70-79: Paper struggles to respond to the
assignment. Thesis, arguments and supporting evidence,
and style are not coherent, and no evidence of original
thought. Paper is replete with writing errors.
D.
= 65-69: Paper does not respond to the assignment.
Thesis, arguments and supporting evidence, and style are
dangerously incoherent or absent. Paper is overwhelmed
with writing errors.
F.
= 0-64 Paper does not respond to the
assignment. Thesis, arguments and supporting evidence,
and style are absent. Paper is dangerously overwhelmed
with writing errors.
Academic
Honesty:
One of the most serious problems that professors find
with students' written work is plagiarism or other
forms of academic dishonesty. When you write an essay,
paper or exam your written words must be you own. It is
legitimate, even necessary, to use and build on observations,
knowledge, ideas, and concepts from other people. However,
it is also crucial to give credit to the sources
of your information, ideas, concepts, phrases, etc. There
are standard ways of doing this with which you should
be familiarby now. If you do not give adequate credit,
you are engaged in plagiarism, which is a serious ethical
offense. Here is the definition of plagiarism from Indiana
University (note that I have put the definition in quotation
marks and given the citation information below):
"A
student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements
of another person without appropriate acknowledgment.
A student must give credit to the originality of others
and acknowledge an indebtedness whenever he or she does
any of the following:
a.
Quotes another person's actual words, either oral or written;
b. Paraphrases another person's words, either oral or
written;
c. Uses another person's ideas, opinion, or theory; or
d. Borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material,
unless the information is common knowledge."
Quoted from Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities,
and Conduct, Part III, Student Misconduct, Academic Misconduct,
By action of the University Faculty Council (April 24,
1990) and the Trustees of Indiana University (May 4, 1990).
Again, if you are not sure whether what you are doing
may be plagiarism, please find out!
In
order to give credit to the sources, you must pay attention
to the details as you learn. Don't copy passages
out of books or articles without making a clear note from
where you copied it. If you have something in your
paper that you cannot remember from where it came, go
back and check. When you do quote something, make
sure that you quote correctly. Do not leave words
out, change spelling, etc. The penalty for plagiarism
is a zero grade on an assignment. Ignorance about
plagiarism will not be an acceptable excuse.
The
Value of Participation:
To
earn full credits for both academic and personal education,
you must be present at all class meetings and contribute
productively to discussions. This does not mean dominating
the discussion! It does mean that you are willing to offer
comments and insights on a regular basis AND to respond
to each other respectfully. Being able to work with others
cooperatively, coherently and respectfully is one of the
most valued skills in the workplace. Use your classroom
and tour experiences as an opportunity to practice and
improve these skills.
Schedule
of Class Topics and Tasks
| January |
Regular Class Meetings:
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Regular
Class Meetings |
Paper
1
Pretrip Major Paper due: Feb 18
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| February |
Regular
Class Meetings: |
Regular
Class Meetings: |
Paper
2
All Pre-trip Assignements due:Feb 28
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| March |
While
in South Africa
March 10 - March 24
- Pursue
and complete your mini-research
-
Create a personal narrative including challenges,
highlight, low points, issues, gains, new knowledge,
observations, comparativity, etc., from the Study
Tour (Written Daily, minimum 14 pages or a page each
day).
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Paper 3
Research in South Africa
Paper due: March 31
PLEASE NOTE:
Execellent assignments, the trip, and excellent
and responsible participation in Chicago and South
Africa = A
Mediocre assignements, plus the trip, and mediocre
(disruptive) and/or poor participation =
C or lower grade
.
Trip only with no assignments = F
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| April |
2
Post-trip meetings
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To
Complete Your Study Trip
1. Presentation of Research
Paper
2. Submission of Personal Narrative
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Best
Wishes Folks |
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