The purpose of this paper is to review literature to understand the importance of including Adolescent Literature with an Afrocentric context in the English Language Curriculum. Its focus is on how crucial it is that the prescribed literary setwork for English Language learners, particularly grade 12 learners, mirror the geographical and social realities of learners, and promote local knowledge and heritage in local contexts while being sensitive to global imperatives. The theoretical frameworks of Decolonization, Afrocentricity, and Identity form the foundation of this argument as they are linked with the National Curriculum Statement’s principle of social transformation which motivated this writing, teaching literature for social transformation. The findings of this review revealed that teaching literature that is age appropriate and reflects leaners’ life experiences and history, in terms of geographical and social realities, can help learners understand literature and encourage reading. This review recommends further empirical research on Afrocentrism in education and the teaching of Adolescent Literature in South African contexts in the hopes that it would encourage South African setwork selectors to consider selecting Adolescent Literature with an Afrocentric context for South African English Language learners.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has accentuated the parallel existence of discordant and impervious narratives – the global anticolonial and the more local anti-Soviet/Russian. Caught up in their victimhood rivalry, both narratives demonstrate their inability to engage in pluriversal thinking and be ready to sacrifice their privileges, real or symbolic. The invasion has also shown the poverty ofthe global theory that continues to flounder in the swamp of emasculated universalism or to grab on to the provincial and ignorant ”stand pointism” unable to practice solidarity with anyone and for anything. These are disturbing signs of a surrender to modern/colonial futureless agonistics that seeks to spite the enemy rather than to generate anything constructive. In its early years decolonial option stressed the importance of double critique. Today the double critique often shrinks to a one-sided rejection of the straw-manned collective west, while decolonial thinkers too easily pardon dictators and rogue states who manipulatively use their anti-Western rhetoric. Paradoxically, this bias reproduces the same modern/colonial paradigm which decoloniality claims to delink from while dismissing Ukrainians as mere victims or dispensable lives. The essay analyzes the reasons for this current dangerous binarization in decolonial thinking and reflects on possible ways for revamping the complexity of the double critique and hopefully, for reimagining decoloniality in the 21st century.

The concept of epistemic freedom, which I introduced in Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization (2018), is elaborated in this article to give it context and to highlights its itineraries. This reflective article provides five problematic epistemes that necessitates struggles for epistemic freedom. These are racist, (en)slave, colonial/imperial, endocentric/patriarchal, and capitalist/neoliberal epistemes. These inextricably intertwined epistemes are constitutive of Eurocentric epistemologies and its reproductions at a world scale and make it difficult for alternative epistemologies from the Global South to flourish. They also underpin contemporary global economy and its asymmetrical power dynamics, which continues to marginalise decolonial ways of thinking, seeing, and praxes.

During apartheid, the act of disclosing wrongdoing was not a common occurrence in South Africa. With the transition to democratic rule, blowing the whistle on wrongdoing became relatively prominent. However, along with this positive democratic advancement, the South African whistleblower became victim to retaliation. A significant factor contributing to the frequent occurrence of retaliation is the lack of adequate legislative protection for whistleblowers. It is in this context that civil society, which is the voluntary participation of individuals organised around formal and informal associations that are concerned with the advancement of public interests, came forward to support South African whistleblowers. Civil society is, of course, a crucial component for a functional democracy. Nongovernmental organisations form the backbone of civil society. To examine the role of non-governmental organisations in supporting South African whistleblowers, this study employed a qualitative approach. Two qualitative research methods were utilised, namely document analysis which served as the dominant source of data, and semi-structured interviews which were used to supplement the data emerging from the document analysis. The findings indicated that throughout South Africa’s democratic history,non-governmental organisations have advocated for whistleblowers’ rights. They have often aided whistleblowers by providing them legal support, and have made practical tools publicly available to whistleblowers (current and future) to help them better deal with their disclosure experiences. The paper ends with a key recommendation – that non-governmental organisations should better coordinate their efforts to provide whistleblowers more comprehensive support.

This research investigated the potential for increased community engagement in both the triple and quadruple helix models of industrial development as a tool to achieve better innovation results, using the East London Industrial Development Zone and Science and Technology Park case study. The study was qualitative in nature and employed the non-probability sampling technique. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 key informants, which included five industrialists, four business executives, four ex-factory workers, and 40 residents living close to and around the three industrial parks. This was augmented by an in-depth analysis of literature as part of desktop data. The study found that greater community involvement would result in innovations that are tailored to local requirements and circumstances, maximising their potential for adoption and dissemination. Partnerships with communities could also act as a feedback mechanism. The study concludes that the quadruple-helix model offers a sounder community engagement dimension for harnessing the socio-economic potential of innovations and recommends more innovative partnerships with local communities that can see more meaningful implementation and adoption of innovations.

The COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown implemented in March 2020 prompted South African higher education institutions to shift from face-to-face to remote teaching and learning. The sudden transition presented challenges for students in higher education institutions such as universities, but there is limited research examining the perceptions of students in private higher education colleges. Henceforth, this study explores the experiences of students of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in private higher education colleges located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Employing a qualitative approach, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with sixteen students from private higher education colleges. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. The findings indicate that private higher education college students encountered difficulties in navigating remote learningduring the national lockdown due to the intersection of factors, including unstable internet connections and network issues, lack of dedicated study spaces, and insufficient communication and support from lecturers. This article contributes to the body of knowledge on the remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown by shedding light on private college students’ experiences.

ith a focus on two recent queer-themed short stories from Kenya and South Africa, this article considers how the use of a child focaliser in fictional representations of early experiences of same-sex desire can disrupt and subvert ideals of childhood ‘innocence’ and the problematic conflation of paedophilia with same-sex sexuality. The two stories discussed in this article – Idza Luhumyo’s “Nine Pieces of Desire” (2017) and Kharys Laue’s “Plums” (2018) – importantly narrate childhood experiences of same-sex sexuality that are not associated with paedophilia or sexual abuse, but that rather focus on young protagonists’ experiences of the restrictiveness and violence associated with hetero-patriarchal norms. The article argues that the stories eschew the simplistic binary of innocent children/perverse homosexuals in two important ways. Firstly, the stories re-frame the notion of same-sex sexuality itself as ‘perverse’ and violent by instead locating violence and repression within the hetero-patriarchal norms that are ostensibly meant to protect children from harm. Secondly, through the use of complex characterisation and the unabashed depiction of childhood sexuality, the stories implicitly challenge the ideal of childhood ‘innocence’: an ideal which is central to discourses and constructs that diametrically oppose ‘innocent children’ with ‘perverse homosexuals’. The article also explores how the use of a child’s perspective can help us to see socially constructed adult norms ‘anew’. In contrast with the delimitations and divisiveness of heteropatriarchy and its interconnected systems of power, the stories’ young focalisers represent instinct, defiance, and relationality: qualities and alternative points of view that could have wider implications for debates surrounding same-sex sexualities in contemporary African contexts.

In this article, I analyse three music videos by South African artist Nakhane using Connor’s concept of the skin as an “expressive screen”, Coetzee’s conceptualisation of reading what is “written under the skin” and Macharia’s framing of touch leading to pleasure, irritation, and even pain. Nakhane has created a significant body of literary, musical, and film work that not only explores what it means to be queer in Africa but, more importantly, what it means to be and become human. The music videos I examine are titled “In the dark room”, “Clairvoyant” and “Tell me your politik”. These videos demonstrate how touch and affect play a central role in making queer bodies and experiences visible. The main argument of this article is that skin, as an expressive screen, serves as a canvas on which queer affect and touch are negotiated and performed. The portrayal of touch on the skin, in various ways, is significant as it emphasises the importance of intimacy and embodiment in queer worldmaking.

The first of its kind, this book offers unique and concentrated insight into Kahlil Joseph’s oeuvre. It takes seriously the role of black popular culture and the complex space that creators like Joseph occupy in the global capitalist imaginary. At the outset, Jackson opines that his assessment of Joseph is not merely a celebratory take, but one that immerses Joseph, and his work, in contemporary issues of class, capitalism, and race. What emerges is a careful exploration of the vibrant and productive contradictions that mobilise Joseph’s career. Jackson argues that Joseph’s success comes from navigating these tensions – as opposed to seeking to resolve them – which has made him a central figure of the Audiovisual Atlantic.