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25 July 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Prof Robert Peacock
Prof Robert Peacock says the endorsement by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation speaks to the emancipatory agenda of the book.

The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation endorsed the book Victimology in Africa by Prof Robert Peacock for its “move away from the Westernised approach”. According to Prof Peacock “the book Victimology in Africa takes a critical emancipatory approach to the study field, one which recognises indigenous African values as a conceptual framework”.

Prof Peacock is the Head of the Department of Criminology at the University of the Free State (UFS), and currently serves as the President of the World Society of Victimology. He is a well-established criminologist and researcher.

This work was published in July 2019 and stands in stark contrast with the individual-oriented punitive nature of Western concepts of law and criminal justice.

African approach which celebrates humanness 

Analyses of secondary victimisation by Western criminal justice, hidden victimisation in society and dehumanising notions of victimhood, are presented together with the misappropriation of traditional knowledge on the African continent and exploitation of international financial institutions. “Its African approach to victimology   one that celebrates intense humanness and universal interconnectedness   can be considered an emerging area of specialisation in the field,” says Prof Peacock. 

The book provides an opportunity to problematise the enduring role of colonial and neo-colonial institutions in maintaining oppression. “For instance, to what extent Western total institutions (prisons) or criminal justice bodies may be viewed as legitimate?” 

Local and international interest 

The peer-reviewed research that is attributed in the book is used in the Criminology curriculum at the UFS and “with considerable interest expressed from a number of universities in South Africa and internationally.”

“The book provides for a transdisciplinary space and scholarly engagement within the Social Sciences and across different faculties   an ingredient considered necessary to contribute to a more innovative space in teaching and learning,” explains Prof Peacock.

Victimology in Africa is a critical element in the ongoing discussions about decolonisation of higher education in South Africa and the endorsement reads: “It seeks to focus on the humanness of the affected and using the philosophy of Ubuntu.”

News Archive

Arts Festival Rally promises to be great fun
2009-05-20

The annual Amazing Rainbow Rally, presented by the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and UFS Marketing, will take place on Friday, 17 July 2009 during the Volksblad Arts Festival on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

This year all the checkpoints will be on the campus and around the Arts Festival grounds. Corporate companies in Bloemfontein and departments at the UFS may still enter teams and checkpoints.

The closing date for entering teams is 26 June 2009. A team consists of two team members who must work together to complete a route with various checkpoints. The team, who finishes first after having successfully completed all the tasks, is the winner. Last year, Dr I Babst en Dr L Solomon from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health were the winners of the Rally.

The closing date for entering a checkpoint is 17 June 2009. Teams must complete tasks at every checkpoint before proceeding to the next checkpoint. The company sponsoring the checkpoint will also be responsible for handling the activity at the checkpoint.

The “Arts Festival” Rally promises to challenge teams physically, mentally and even artistically. Festival goers will also have the opportunity to see what teams get up to and how their favourite team is doing.

The Rally will be presented for the fifth time in 2009. The main goal of this year’s Rally is to raise funds for the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health’s “Beds of Hope Campaign”. This campaign seeks to increase the number of intensive care beds in the paediatric and neonatal wards. Currently around 250 children and babies in central South Africa cannot receive the life-saving care they need because of a lack of facilities.

For more information and entry forms, contact Ms Adéle van Aswegen at 051 401 3535 or e-mail to vanasweg.stg@ufs.ac.za . You can also visit our website at http://bedsofhope.ufs.ac.za  


Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za

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