Capabilities for equal participation

Calitz, Talita M. L.

doi:10.4324/9781315207070-7

Cited by 3 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Within this group, 25.2% of South Africans live in conditions of extreme poverty where they are unable to meet their daily dietary requirements or fulfil their basic sanitation or housing needs (Statistics South Africa, 2017 ). Students from disadvantaged backgrounds usually have insufficient and precarious financial resources (often going without food and other basic necessities); sometimes feel they do not ‘belong’ and do not always experience teaching and learning that is confidence-enhancing and imparts critical knowledge (Caltiz, 2018 ; Calitz, Walker, & Wilson-Strydom, 2016 ).…”

Section: On Shamementioning

confidence: 99%

Through the Agency of the Muselmann

Davids

Waghid

2021

Academic Activism in Higher Education

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In this chapter, we take the opportunity to reflect on the kinds of stigma and shame students and academics can and do experience in higher educationfrom experiences of discrimination and marginalisation to violence. As troubling as these might sound, higher education has always been a convergence of hope and academic performance, on the one side, coupled with the struggles and tensions created by issues of race, ethnicity, culture, religion and gender, on the other side. It is important, therefore, to take stock of the potential experiences of stigmatisation and shame. Immediately, however, it is equally important to ask who bears testimony to and takes responsibility for the shame and stigma, as symbolised through Agamben's (Remnants of Auschwitz: the witness and the archive (trans: Heller-Roazen D). Zone Books, Brooklyn, 2012) Muselmann. To us, this is the role of academic activism-the act of bearing witness or testimony resides in a preparedness to do so on behalf of others. To bear testimony, we argue, is to make manifest our humanity and our activism.

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Section: On Shamementioning

confidence: 99%

Through the Agency of the Muselmann

Davids

Waghid

2021

Academic Activism in Higher Education

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“…Various lists of dimensions have been generated (e.g. Calitz, 2018;Loots and Walker, 2015;Mutanga and Walker, 2015;Walker, 2006;Walker, 2016;Wilson-Strydom, 2015). The selection of most of the items on these lists centred around student wellbeing.…”

Section: Capability-inspired Dimensions Of (Dis)advantagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participation involves students influencing the real pedagogy, planning, and implementing the processes that work for them as a collective. There is evidence that participatory teaching methods enhance the learning processes of students who may need to acquire personal learning skills (Calitz, 2018). Using participatory teaching techniques, therefore, allows students to take part in their learning process and advantages them, as they are likely to perform better.…”

Section: Bachelor Of Education)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wilson-Strydom (2015) also view this capability in the context of opportunities for students to make reasoned decisions as they complete schooling and enter university. However, this capability can be diminished in the face of unequal participation of students through the knowledge in-knowledge out 'banking system' of education (Calitz, 2018). The banking system in higher education is associated with methods that regard students as mere recipients of knowledge (Freire, 2006).…”

Section: (D) Intellectual Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The intellectual dimension also includes learning disposition, which refers to students having the 'curiosity and desire for learning'; students' ability to learn declines when their will to learn is low (Wilson-Strydom, 2015:120). Calitz (2018) stresses the role of students in having the necessary knowledge and skills to speak and participate in research.…”

Section: (D) Intellectual Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Conceptualising (dis)advantage in South African higher education: A capability approach perspective

2020

CriSTaL

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Higher education policy in South Africa uses the concept of 'historically disadvantaged' to address inequities and inequalities. Disadvantage specifically refers to black students who are marginalised in higher education due to structural factors associated with the apartheid legacy of segregation. In this paper, drawing from the capability approach, the authors argue that (dis)advantage can be better understood in terms of students' capabilities, functionings, and agency, which go beyond race to address other forms of oppression like class, gender and related individual factors. Students with a wider capability set and agency to convert resources into capabilities and functionings are deemed advantaged in comparison with those who have a narrower capability set and lack agency. Based on theory and empirical findings, this paper offers a complex, multidimensional and nuanced conceptualisation of (dis)advantage to understand practical interventions in higher education. The findings show that foregrounding race in addressing disadvantage is limiting and policy should therefore provide opportunities to all students for them to succeed.

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Ubuntu as a valued capability for university students in South Africa

Mathebula,

Martinez-Vargas

2023

JSAA

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Universities are often described as institutions that can promote the wellbeing of their local populations. This is because they are central for advancing human development aims which support the aspirations of students and the communities from which they come. Nevertheless, we know this potential can be constrained by historical processes of oppression and negation of indigenous ways of being and doing. Applying the Capabilities Approach and Human Development paradigm as a normative framework for the outcomes of university education in the South African context, we argue for a focus on the centrality of capabilities (real freedoms) in assessing how well universities are doing to support student wellbeing. We pay special attention to one capability which we see as architectonic for other freedoms, which is Ubuntu. While Ubuntu is generally understood as a moral philosophy, in this paper we articulate it as a valued capability in the space of higher education. We also argue that it is a capability that has transformative and decolonial potential that can enable universities to promote student wellbeing if the conditions to practice it are in place. Drawing from data collected through qualitative and participatory approaches in two longitudinal research projects that were carried out between 2016 and 2021 with undergraduate students in diverse universities in South Africa, we show that Ubuntu informs students’ conceptions of humanity and their aspirations for ‘a good life’ and that it can inform the vision of transformed and decolonised university spaces that reflect indigenous ways of being and indigenous ways of seeing the world.

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Capabilities for equal participation

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Through the Agency of the Muselmann

Through the Agency of the Muselmann

Conceptualising (dis)advantage in South African higher education: A capability approach perspective

Ubuntu as a valued capability for university students in South Africa

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