Legal academics and progressive politics in South Africa: Moving beyond the ivory tower - PULP FICTIONS No.2 Edited by Karin van Marle 2006 ISSN: 1992-5174 Pages:30 Print version: Available Electronic version: Free PDF available About PULP FICTIONS - A space for dialogue: Central to the becoming of a society in the context of posts (postapartheid, postcolonial, postmodern) and in the context of trans-formations of the political, legal, socio-economic and cultural is the creation of a vibrant and active public sphere. Of particular concern is an insistence on democracy and transparency radically different from strategic and instrumental conceptions – a space for dialogue and dissent, an opportunity for crea-tivity, experimentation and re-imaginings. About the publication In the second edition of PULP FICTIONS we continue the search for a vibrant and active public sphere through debate. As in the first edition, the dialogue is one between two academics from the faculty of law and, as in the first edition, different conceptions of law, politics and the role of the academic are teased out. The context of the debate in this edition is a series of research meetings of the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the UP Law Faculty. Over a course of a few of these meetings different perspectives on law, politics and the limits/ potential of the law were voiced by different colleagues.Tshepo Madlingozi presented in one of the meetings his views on the role of legal academics in progressive politics. In this contribution, which appears here, he urges all of us to move ‘beyond the ivory tower’, get out of our ‘air conditioned offices’ and embrace participatory action research. Madlingozi defines the latter as field research where the researcher interacts and participates with communities and engages in research that is ‘unashamedly’ political. Anton Kok in response takes what he calls a ‘pragmatic instrumentalist’ view in contrast to Madlingozi’s more ‘ambitious critique’. Focusing more on law’s potential he highlights the areas where law could contribute to transformation. Both colleagues are not afraid to put their personal political/ideological views on the table. In this way they contribute to the vision of creating a space for dialogue, dissent, creativity and re-imaginings. About the authors: Mr Tshepo Madlingozi works at the Department of Legal History, Comparitive Law and Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. His article: Legal academics and progressive politics in South Africa: Moving beyond the ivory tower. Mr Anton Kok is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Legal History, Comparitive Law and Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. His article: Legal academics and progressive politics in South Africa: Moving beyond the ivory tower - A reply to Tshepo Madlingozi About the editor: Karin van Marle is a Professor at the Department of Legal History, Comparitive Law and Jurisprudence, at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

Many countries around the world are engaged in decentralization processes, and most African countries face serious problems with forest governance, from benefits sharing to illegality and sustainable forest management. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes - most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms - and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the context of weak governance and expanding commercial pressures over forests. Findings are grouped into two thematic areas: decentralization, livelihoods and sustainable forest management; and international trade, finance and forest sector governance reforms. The authors examine diverse forces shaping the forest sector, including the theory and practice of decentralization, usurpation of authority, corruption and illegality, inequitable patterns of benefits capture and expansion of international trade in timber and carbon credits, and discuss related outcomes on livelihoods, forest condition and equity. The book builds on earlier volumes exploring different dimensions of decentralization and perspectives from other world regions, and distills dimensions of forest governance that are both unique to Africa and representative of broader global patterns. The authors ground their analysis in relevant theory while drawing out implications of their findings for policy and practice.

In The globalization of crime: a transnational organized crime threat assessment, UNODC analyses a range of key transnational crime threats, including human trafficking, migrant smuggling, the illicit heroin and cocaine trades, cybercrime, maritime piracy and trafficking in environmental resources, firearms and counterfeit goods. The report also examines a number of cases where transnational organized crime and instability amplify each other to create vicious circles in which countries or even subregions may become locked. Thus, the report offers a striking view of the global dimensions of organized crime today.

This is the academic Age of the Neoliberal Arts. Campuses—as places characterized by democratic debate and controversy, wide ranges of opinion typical of vibrant public spheres, and service to the larger society—are everywhere being creatively destroyed in order to accord with market and military models befitting the academic-industrial complex. While it has become increasingly clear that facilitating the sustainability movement is the great 21st century educational challenge at hand, this book asserts that it is both a dangerous and criminal development today that sustainability in higher education has come to be defined by the complex-friendly “green campus” initiatives of science, technology, engineering and management programs. By contrast, Greening the Academy: Ecopedagogy Through the Liberal Arts takes the standpoints of those working for environmental and ecological justice in order to critique the unsustainable disciplinary limitations within the humanities and social sciences, as well as provide tactical reconstructive openings toward an empowered liberal arts for sustainability. Greening the Academy thus hopes to speak back with a collective demand that sustainability education be defined as a critical and moral vocation comprised of the diverse types of humanistic study that will benefit the well-being of our emerging planetary community and its numerous common locales.

Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

The expansion of the pulp and paper industry is one of the most important causes of land and water conflicts in the South. This book examines the threat to livelihood, soil and biodiversity generated by large-scale pulpwood plantations in the South.

Marshalling facts and the latest research findings, the author systematically refutes the adversaries of globalization, markets, and progress. This book will change the debate on globalization in this country and make believers of skeptics.

A historical narrative and critical analysis of higher education centred on the experiences of Black students and faculty at McGill University.