The Meaning of Mandela

A literary and intellectual celebration

Fatima Meer was an intellectual, academic, writer and activist – a tireless fighter for social justice and human rights. Her intellectual work sought to intertwine place, identity, and ethical commitment.

This book draws together research on professional learning communities in schools and teacher education in diverse contexts in South Africa.

How has the end of apartheid affected the experiences of South African children and adolescents? This pioneering study provides a compelling account of the realities of everyday life for the first generation of children and adolescents growing up in a democratic South Africa. The authors examine the lives of young people across historically divided communities at home, in the neighbourhoods where they live, and at school. The picture that emerges is one of both diversity and similarity as young people navigate their way through a complex landscape that is unevenly post-apartheid. Historically and culturally rooted, their identities are forged in response to their perceptions of social redress and to anxieties about others living on the margins of their daily lives. Although society has changed in profound ways, many features of the apartheid era persist: material inequalities and poverty continue to shape everyday life; race and class continue to define neighbourhoods, and integration is a sought-after but limited experience for the young.

This research monograph defines 'intangible heritage' as oral traditions, memories, traditional arts and rituals, languages and knowledge systems. It reviews the international legislative and financial tools to manage heritage resources and makes recommendations for safeguarding the intellectual property of communities.