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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

UFS first to mechanise agricultural technique
2006-05-09

    

Small farmers from Thaba `Nchu were the biggest group attending the farmers day at the UFS Paradys experimental farm.  From the left are Mr David Motlhale (a small farmer from Thaba 'Nchu), Prof Leon van Rensburg (lecturer at the UFS Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences and project leader), Mr Nhlonipho Nhlabatsi (Agricultural Research Council, Glen), Ms Meisie Mthethwa (small farmer from Bloemspruit).  In front is Mr Patrick Molatodi (chairperson of the Tswelopele Small Farmer Association).
 

 

Some of the participants of the farmers day at the UFS Paradys experimental farm were from the left Prof Leon van Rensburg (lecturer at the UFS Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences and project leader, Mr Patrick Molatodi (chairperson of the Tswelopele Small Farmers Association) and Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: UFS Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences).

UFS first tertiary institution in world to mechanise agricultural technique
The University of the Free State (UFS) is the first tertiary institution in the world to mechanise the in-field rain water harvesting technique on a commercial scale.

The technique was recently demonstrated to about 100 small farmers at the UFS Paradys experimental farm outside Bloemfontein. 

“With this technique rain water is channeled to the plant and in this way food security is increased.  The advantage of the technique for commercial farmers lies in the reduced cultivation of land.  Small farmers will benefit from this because they can now move out into the fields and away from farming in their back yards,” says Prof Leon van Rensburg, lecturer at the UFS Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences and project leader.    

Rain water harvesting is an antique concept that was used by communities before the birth of Christ.  In South Africa the technique is mainly used in the plots of small farmers where they make surface structures by hand. 

"The technique is also used for the first time by the UFS on commercial scale by means of the cultivation of a summer crop on 100 ha at the Paradys experimental farm,” says Prof Leon van Rensburg,

Of the farmers who attended the farmers day most represented about 42 rural communities in the vicinity of Thaba ‘Nchu.  A group of seven from KwaZulu-Natal also attended the proceedings.  These small farmers can for example apply this technique successfully on the 250-300 ha communal land that is available in the Thaba ‘Nchu area. 

The project is funded by the UFS and the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the farmers’ day was funded by the Water Research Commission.   

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
9 May 2006

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