Books

Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa provides answers to some of the most difficult questions about fatherhood in South Africa: Who is a father? What does it mean to be a father? Is it important for fathers to do more for children in a world that assumes that mothers take the primary parenting role? Do different people understand fatherhood in different ways? What evidence is there of new fatherhood styles emerging in South Africa?

Science councils have been tasked with complex new mandates, to achieve these they have to interact with knowledge users in the private and public sectors and be of benefit to communities, particularly to those that are vulnerable and marginalised.

This report provides a baseline study on psychosocial support of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in two villages in Botswana and forms part of a series of reports that examine the work undertaken as part of the Kellogg OVC Intervention Project from 2002 to 2005.The general aim of the project is to assist families and households to better cope with the increased burden of care for OVC. The purpose of this particular baseline psychosocial survey (PSS) was to gather data to facilitate the introduction and evaluation of the effectiveness of orphan care intervention programmes for strengthening community participation and empowerment of OVC in two villages in Botswana. This information will be used in evaluating the effectiveness of the new OVC interventions that will be implemented in the two villages in Botswana as part of the overall OVC project.

Since its publication in 1988, this has been one of the leading methodology textbooks in South African tertiary education. It provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of social science research, and complements books on specific research methods and techniques.

Sedert die verskyning van hierdie titel in 1985 het dit een van die toonaangewende metodologiehandboeke in die Suid-Afrikaanse tersire onderwys geword. Dit verskaf 'n inleiding tot die fundamentele begrippe in geesteswetenskaplike navorsing en vul ander boeke oor spesifieke navorsingsmetodes en tegnieke aan.

Despite a strong emphasis on teacher education and development in post-apartheid South Africa, statistics show a low retention of beginner teachers in the teaching profession. This trend has serious implications for learner outcomes, given the contribution teachers can and should make to learner achievement.

In 2002, the Human Sciences Research Council was commissioned by the WK Kellogg Foundation to develop and implement a five-year intervention project focusing on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in southern Africa. In collaboration with several partner organisations, the project currently focuses on how children, families and communities in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe are coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS. The aim of the project is to develop models of best practise so as to enhance and improve support structures for OVC in the southern African region as a whole.

A variety of authors contribute to this book on the causes of crime and violence in South Africa. Based on a public health approach, it presents strategic case studies and local and international research findings. The writers develop a model of integrated crime and injury prevention strategies for South Africa.

South Africa has participated in a number of local and international achievement studies in the field of education over the last 20 years and responses to the results have been somewhat mixed. Critics argue that participation in international assessments is a pointless exercise because of the slow pace of improvement in South African education. Supporters point out that international assessment results can be useful at many different levels of policy and planning, especially when studies are repeated across time. The purpose of this book is to provide a measured assessment of what has been achieved in South African education over the last 20 years based on the evidence provided by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMMS), to redefine what good progress means in light of South Africas developmental pathway and to recommend what evidence based interventions can be considered as the next realistic steps in South Africas educational development.

Biko was not only considered a ‘brilliant political theorist’, but is also considered ‘a formidable and articulate philosopher’. Biko was not simply and merely a philosopher in the manner in which Immanuel Kant was a philosopher, but a philosopher of a special kind, an important Africana existential philosopher. From Biko’s writings, speeches and interviews, Mabogo More’s view is that, philosophy is not a disembodied system of ideas nor is it a mechanical reflection about the world; rather, it is a way of existing and acting. To be a philosopher, especially an Africana existential philosopher, is not just to hold certain views, it is a way of perceiving and a way of being in the world, what Biko himself describes as ‘a way of life’. This important perspective on Biko would be of value to many Africana philosophers of existence, African philosophers, political and social thinkers, social scientists, psychologists, cultural critics, political activists, students, critical race theorists and anyone interested in the ideas that Biko presents.