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HSRC launches latest book on Quality of Life and Wellbeing at UFS

19 June 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Suplied

Quality of Life and Wellbeing Book Launch 2024 — Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation (second from the left), was the lead editor with Profs Narnia Bohler-Muller and Prof Zitha Mokomane (left). With them is Dr Derek Davids (right), research director in the HSRC's Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research division and an advisory member at the Department of Applied Legal Studies at Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

The Human Sciences Research Council Press (HSRC Press) launched its latest book in the flagship publication State of the Nation series, titled Quality of Life and Wellbeing at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The launch took place on Thursday, 13 June in the Equitas Auditorium on the Bloemfontein Campus. Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation of the UFS, was the lead editor, with Profs Narnia Bohler-Muller, divisional executive in the HSRC’s Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research division; and acting Group Executive; Zitha Mokomane, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pretoria; and Prof Crain Soudien, Chief Executive Officer of the HSRC. Prof Soudien was not at the launch.

The discussion was facilitated by Dr Molapo Qhobela, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Change, Strategic Partnerships and Societal Impact.

Celebrating its 20th year of existence, the State of the Nation volume, one of the HSRC’s flagship publications, serves as an invaluable, independent scholarly resource offering insights into the current state of South Africa. The 2024 edition explores themes such as the environment, quality of life and wellbeing, an open economy, mental health, the arts, human security, gender and wellbeing, vaccinations, wellbeing and happiness, and inequality in South Africa.

The state in which the nation finds itself

In his welcome remarks, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Francis Petersen, said two decades ago when the State of the Nation series began, South Africa was attempting to come to terms with the complex legacies of colonialism and apartheid and was contending with the post-apartheid reconstruction, development and reconciliation.

“I think there was a sense of optimism during that time for the future and a collective sense that the country’s challenges, however deep and multifaceted, those challenges were and are, could be overcome in time.

“Two decades later South Africa finds itself at a political watershed and having to deal with many of the same challenges as from 2004, such as economic inequality, social justice and effective government,” said Prof Petersen.

According to him, it is welcome to note that this volume brings to the fore new, fresh and relevant directions that address issues relating to quality of life and notions of wellbeing. Key questions that are inferred and that underpin much of the scholarship on offer, said Prof Petersen, is what is the state? Where is the state? Where does the state begin and where does it end?

“The editors offer compelling analyses that it is in the complex act of making lives of individuals acting in their own interest and the government articulating an agenda for the nation that we are able to discern the outlines of the state in which the nation finds itself.”

The scope and drivers

Prof Reddy, in his short introductory remarks, provided descriptive comments and focused on the background, the concept, the process, and some of the scope and drivers informing the text and context shaping the volume.

The latest book which took two-and-half years to produce, has two predecessor volumes published in the 2019 and 2021 respectively, with poverty and inequality and an ethics of care being a strong thematic.

“What is the importance of the scope of the volume and what makes the book unique. With this volume, thematising quality of life and wellbeing, we have seen some very interesting work being developed in the country. This particular volume is the first fully dedicated edition in the State of the Nation series dealing with this issue. We felt it was timely, we felt that this issue of Quality of Life and Wellbeing that were kind of completely interrelated,” said Prof Reddy.

According to him, some of the drivers that shaped this volume included the spectre of poverty and inequality which is an underlying implicit theme. Their implication for human wellbeing and human conditions in several different ways remains key.

Prof Reddy said the book is divided into four parts that deal with quality of life, politics and the state; economics; society, culture, identity and the public good; and looking at South Africa and beyond, including issues such as human security, gender and peace.

“The big issue with the volume’s theorical and conceptual framework is about building theory as well as much as it is also about dealing with the empirical and material realities facing citizens. The volume is predicated on quality of life and wellbeing, asking whether standards of living and styles of living lead us to a good life. And the questions we pose include: What is a good life? What are the attributes and elements of such a life? What are the conditions that need to be met to meaningfully improve quality of life and wellbeing?”

Environmental wellbeing

Talking about her chapter which addresses environmental and human health, Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller stated that the constitution was the starting point as what is embedded in the constitution is the recognition of the importance of wellbeing although the word is seldom used in the constitution.

“The first time ‘wellbeing’ is used is in Section 24 which deals with environmental rights. We thought this is a complex intersection – law, human rights, constitutionalism, health and wellbeing, and quality of life, so let’s explore it.

“We all know that the environment is extremely important. We cannot live without it. We are in a massive crisis in the world when it comes to the environment and climate change. There is an intersectionality between environment, climate, health, and wellbeing. Other issues also include clean water and the risk of extreme weather events as a result of climate change.”

Dissatisfied by the status quo in Soutth Africa

Prof Mokomane said two questions drove her co-authored chapter titled Quality of Life and political support in SA – resilient nation. The first question is: Do peoples’ perception of quality of governance influence their quality of life? And the second question was: Which aspects of government quality signify as important contributors to quality of life?

“This chapter reaffirms the notion that was held by many that the general public has become increasing dissatisfied by the status quo in South Africa over the past decade. We concluded that the political and economic crises of the past decade have perhaps begun to create a scenario in which personal fear is gaining traction over the hope that South Africans are known for.

“The overall conclusion is that for many South Africans resilience has been displaced by resignation which has introduced the risk of further disability and fragility in the country in the future.”

Profs Hussein Solomon from the Centre for Gender and African Studies and Philippe Burger, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, were respondents to the text.

News Archive

Open letter from Prof Jonathan Jansen to all UFS students

2014-02-22

Dear Students of the University of the Free State

In the past four years there has emerged a new consensus on the three campuses of the University of the Free State (UFS) about the things that divide us – such as racism, sexism and homophobia. Students and campus leaders have worked hard to develop this new consensus in residences and in the open spaces on campus. There can be no doubt that new bonds of friendship have developed across the markers of race, ethnicity, class, religion and sexual orientation. I bear witness to these new solidarities every day on the campus.

You chose a white student to head up the transformation portfolio on the SRC. You chose a black captain to head up the university’s first team in rugby. You chose a white “prime” as head of residence to lead a predominantly black men’s residence. You chose a South African woman of Indian descent as Rag Queen and last week, a black student from Cape Town as the men’s Rag winner—choices not possible and never made before in our campus history. Many of you have intimate friends who come from different social or cultural or religious backgrounds. You learn together, share rooms together, pray together and party together. In other words, in the day to day workings of this university campus, you have demonstrated to campus, city and country that we can overcome the lingering effects of racism and other maladies in this new generation. You have helped create a university community inclusive of people of diverse religions, abilities, class and sexual orientation.

I have said this repeatedly that from time to time this new consensus will be tested – when a minority of students, and they are a small and dwindling minority, still act as if these are the days of apartheid. And when that consensus is tested as it was this week, and as it will be tested in the future, only then we will be able to assess the strength and durability of our progress in creating a new South African campus culture of human togetherness based on respect, dignity and embrace.

The real test of our leadership, including student leadership, is how we respond when our transformation drive is threatened.

Let me say this: I have absolute faith in you, as students of this great university, to stand together in your condemnation of these vile acts of violence and to move together in your determination to maintain the momentum for the Human Project of the University of the Free State. We have come too far to allow a few criminals to derail what you have built together in recent years.

There will, no doubt, be unscrupulous people on all sides of the political spectrum wanting to milk this tragedy for their own narrow purposes. There will be false information, rumours and exaggerations by those who wish to inflame a bad situation to gain mileage for their agendas. That is inevitable in a country that is still so divided.

I ask you, through all of this, to keep perspective. Two or ten or even twenty students behaving badly do not represent 30,000 students; a minority of violent and hateful persons do not represent the ideals, ambitions and commitments of the majority. At the same time, let us be realistic – anyone who thinks you can drive transformation without resistance clearly does not understand the difficult process of change.

The events of the week remind us, however, that we still have a long road to walk in deepening social and academic transformation at our university. Yes, we have invested hundreds of hours in training and mentorship; we have created new structures – such as the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice – to capture the energy and imagination of students driving transformation; we have created many opportunities for students to study and travel on this and other continents to enable cross-cultural learning; we have established formal and informal opportunities to dialogue about difficult issues on and off campus between students and their leaders; and we crafted new curricula to enable teaching and learning on the big questions of our times.

But this is clearly not enough, and so I have decided on the following immediate next steps:

We will meet for several hours next week to think about how we can deepen the transformation of our university after this terrible incident.
We will arrange a University Assembly on the events of the past week so that we speak with one voice on human wrongs and to re-commit to human rights and we will continue with open forum discussions during the months to come.
We will review the entire spectrum of programmes, from orientation to residence life to the undergraduate curriculum, to determine how effective our interventions really are in reaching all students with respect to basic issues of human rights.
We will review our media and communications strategy to determine how far and deep our messages on human rights travel across all sectors of the university community. In this regard it is important that the campus be blanketed on a regular basis with our condemnation of human wrongs and our commitment to human rights.
We will commission the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice to review the events of the past week and make recommendations on how we can improve the campus environment so that all students are protected from harm inside residences, classrooms and in open spaces of the campus.
We will take the questions raised during this week into the academic community and to the general staff of the university so that all personnel also engage with our own roles and responsibilities with respect to campus transformations.
We undertake to make annual report-backs on transformation to all stakeholders in public forums so that students and staff and external communities can track the progress of the university on matters of human rights on campus.

I wish to thank my staff for acting firmly as soon as this tragic event came to our attention. We worked through the night to find and identify the perpetrators. We traced the two students and immediately handed them to the police. They were expelled. And throughout this process we offered counselling and support to the victim of this violent act.

The two former students were expelled and will now face justice in the criminal courts. It is hoped that in the course of time they will come to their senses and seek restoration and reconciliation with the student they so callously harmed. They are not part of the university community anymore.

That is the kind of university we are.

Jonathan D Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector
University of the Free State
20 February 2014

Note: The use of the word ‘campus’ refers to all three campuses of the UFS, namely the Bloemfontein Campus, South Campus and Qwaqwa Campus.

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