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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

Community engagement must be a core function of universities
2009-05-21

 
 Members of the NatCEMF Steering Committee are, from the left: Mr Jerome Slamat, Senior Director: Community Interaction, Stellenbosch University, Ms Beatrix Bouwman, Manager: Community Engagement, North-West University, Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service, UFS and chairperson of the committee, Prof. Allan Femi Lana, Director: Institute for Rural Development and Community Engagement, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Prof. Seth Pollack, Fulbright Scholar, University of Western Cape (guest speaker at the meeting), Prof. Denver Hendricks, Director: Community Engagement, University of Pretoria, and Prof. Priscilla Daniels, Chairperson: Human Ecology and Research and CHESP Research Coordinator, University of the Western Cape.
Photo: Lacea Loader
 It is important that all tertiary institutions in South Africa should work together and commit themselves to advance the cause of community engagement in the country.

This was one of the main outcomes of the second meeting held by the National Community Engagement Manager’s Forum (NatCEMF) at the South Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein recently. The meeting was attended by 34 representatives of 16 higher education institutions in the country.

“I am astounded at the interest in this matter. The representatives are committed to make community engagement a core function of their institutions and we all agreed that we should get more involved in expanding this across all institutions. A need for a formal structure for us all to work together and have a more collective voice was also identified,” said Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS and Chairperson of the NatCEMF Steering Committee.

“There is a growing need to expand and develop our engagement with communities – to share our experiences and best practices and to learn from each other. There are universities that are doing excellent work in this field and, by having a formal structure, we can do a lot more towards advancing community engagement,” said Rev Jaftha.

The meeting identified matters such as the coordination of higher education institutions’ involvement in community engagement, the facilitation of research about community engagement, promoting service learning as transformation, the establishment of a community engagement resource centre and the organisation of a national community engagement conference as some of its aims. A national steering committee was also elected.

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