Johannesburg 2012 — Course Descriptions
Courses offered at the eleventh South Africa Democracy & Diversity Institute:
New Democracies, Old Questions,
Laurence Piper (University of Western Cape Town, Political Studies) & Lawrence Hamilton (UJ, Politics)
Democracy is now the avowed commitment of most regimes in the contemporary world, from false monarchies (Sweden) to real tyrannies (North Korea). Rather than settling arguments, however, that great political shift opens the way for new arguments about what it does and should mean for a polity to be reasonably democratic. We start with a brief assessment of competing definitions of democracy. Then we look at the relevant modern history ‘ the re-emergence of the notion of ‘democracy’ in the late 18th Century, 19th Century developments, and contemporary arguments and examples, with special reference to post-apartheid South Africa. Throughout we will pay attention to two enduring sets of questions. One concerns the relations among democratic virtues (e.g., participation, deliberation, equal voting). The other is about relations between democracy and power (e.g., representation, political judgment, empowerment). In other words, we will demonstrate why it is important to be both realistic and utopian regarding democracy.
Shifting Power in the Global Economy: Rethinking Development Strategies,
Teresa Ghilarducci (NSSR, Economics) & Richard McGahey (The New School for Public Engagement, Public Policy and Economics) & Stephen Gelb (UJ, Economics and Econometrics)
This course examines the implications for developing economies, especially in Africa, of the emergence of China and India as major economic forces and the shift in the global economic power towards them, which has accelerated since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008. The first part of the course will examine the factors behind the high growth rates in China since the 1980s and India since the 1990s, and assess the effects on global markets for goods, services, finance and labour, on global economic governance and on Africa’s trade and investment relations. The second part of the course will examine alternative development strategies which may be enabled by the emergence of China and India, but whose prospects are affected by the global crisis. These strategies include the promotion of natural resource exports, the expansion of inward foreign direct investment and foreign aid, participation in global value chains, increased use of regional trade agreements and governance reforms.
Romancing Violence: Theories and Practices of Political Violence,
Elzbieta Matynia (NSSR, Sociology and Liberal Studies) and Shireen Hassim (University of the Witswatersrand, Political Studies)
Far from receding with the rise of liberal democracies worldwide, violence appears to be enjoying a spectacular rebound , from the wave of revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East to dramatic acts of individual terror in Norway. In this course we explore classical theoretical propositions concerning the role of violence in bringing about social and political change , from Marx, through Weber, Lenin, Gramsci, Arendt, and Benjamin, to more recent thinkers like Foucault, Derrida, Zizek, and Michnik. We will look at different types of political violence and their specific instances, and revisit Arendt’s well-known distinction between the justifiability and the legitimacy of violence. Conscious of the traditional forms of political violence -‘ wars, revolutions, and armed struggle movements , we will pay attention to the forms and consequences of structural violence, but also examine the forms of cultural and symbolic violence, such as language that routinely serves to legitimize violence. Mindful of Foucault’s work on the body as the key subject of power we will explore the continuities between social regulation of bodies and intimate relationships, and expressions of violence in the public sphere. We will look at the body as the quintessential marker of boundaries, from those of nation-states and communities, to the range of violent political acts that escape the public gaze. While our approach will be primarily historical and comparative, we will also use phenomenological perspectives to explore ideas and practices generated in different parts of the world.
Race & Modernity in Africa: Constellations of Identity and Place,
Jacob Dlamini (Yale University, History) & Melissa Steyn (University of the Witwatersrand, Sociology)
This class will explore some aspects of identity and its interconnection with place within the context of modern South Africa. The course consists of two sections. The first six classes, taught by Melissa Steyn, focus more broadly on the construction of the modern racial order and examine aspects of the racialised identities that have evolved in the country. In particular, discussions will focus on contextualising theorisations of whiteness and blackness.
The second section, taught by Jacob Dlamini, will examine the complex ways in which Johannesburg is both a site and product of modernity. Taking a historical and philosophical approach, the section will use Johannesburg as a lens through which to reflect on Africa´s place in the world and on the struggles over/about modernity that have taken place in Johannesburg, the largest urban centre in the country. It will consider the economic, political and social identities that have come to define Johannesburg as we know it.