Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa annually face challenges that often lead to student protests and demonstrations, mostly at the beginning of every academic year, which adversely impact the smooth running of academic programs. Stakeholders' expectations were at the apex of causes that destabilise the academic environment, academic…

Political science majors are down nation-wide as a proportion of all degrees and as a proportion of social science degrees. To explain to undergraduate students why they ought to major in political science, we should emphasize what they can do with the degree rather than reflecting from our own past experience or the wide range of careers one can…

This study analyzes factors that triggered the land-ownership struggle for the Titi Tsoro forest area, the Rights for Cultivation Use and to analyze the various differences in interests related to the land's ownership as a major community resource or a production asset for national plantation company named as PTPN XII. This research is qualitative…

Using Critical Realism, this article looks at articles from selected South African newspapers which reported on the #FeesMustFall protests. The study established that, arising from the protests, was a culture characteried by tensions and distrust amongst stakeholders such as students, university management and the government. This, the article…

Disruptive activism has been a part of college campus since 1766 when the Bad Butter Rebellion at Harvard took place (Dickey, 2016; Ireland, 2012; Moore, 1976). More recently institutions have been facing an increase in disruptive campus activism (Dickey, 2016). When disruptive campus activism occurs on a college campus it is often the student…

Memory politics are often regarded as the "soft" issues contested in the aftermath of political and social upheaval. Yet critical public debates on memory, justice, impunity and reconciliation in South Africa prompted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process suggest otherwise. I offer a partial review of some of the key…

In this article, we explore the academic life of Julia Grace Wales as a public intellectual and peace activist. The study addresses the largely neglected field of female educators and peace activists in the early to mid-twentieth century through a case study of one woman's lifelong popular education campaign to achieve peace and social justice. In…

The continued rise of populisms and divisions alongside widening inequalities nationally and globally give increasing urgency to the question of how educators and activists can respond. This article examines the possibilities that emerge from the connections between global citizenship education (GCE) and learning in social movements, both spaces…

In light of calls to address explicitly lingering and momentous celebrations of white settler nationalism--perhaps most recently made visible through the events surrounding the proposed removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville and the related "Unite the Right" rally and protests, the authors take up the invitation to…

A state voter proposition concerning gun regulation motivated a local far-right political group to organize a pro-gun rally on campus. Overriding the safety and security concerns of faculty and students, freedom of speech rights required that the group be allowed to assemble on campus. The case explores interactions among administration, faculty,…

Improving education outcomes for Black students begins with resisting racist characterizations of blackness. Chezare A. Warren, a nationally recognized scholar of race and education equity, emphasizes the imperative that "possibility" drive efforts aimed at transforming education for Black learners. Inspired by the "freedom…

Cyprus is a Mediterranean island inhabited by two communities with a common culture, although they speak different languages. Efforts to reconcile these two communities, living apart from each other in different parts of the island since 1974, have become more important in recent years and efforts have been made to ensure a lasting solution on the…

This paper describes The Freedom Theatre's Freedom Bus initiative and its use of Playback Theatre for community mobilisation and cultural activism within Occupied Palestine. Utilising a conflict transformation perspective, conventional dialogue-oriented initiatives are contrasted against interventions that pursue concientisation and alliance…

This paper reflects my experiences developing a course within the Criminal Justice Technology Associates of Science degree program at Valencia College that fuses topics unique to peace and police studies. The key challenge in developing this course was in confronting the paradox of the police as instruments of both peace and conflict. In dealing…

In 2014, through the University of the Free State's (UFS) Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ), three South African universities partnered to collaborate on the pilot phase of a research project focused on understanding whether the Arts could enable social cohesion, as the 2012 National Development Plan (2030) had promoted. All…