DOI: 10.14749/1484314081
title: Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) Research Seminars 2015-2016

description: Description: 
 The seminars focused on HSRC projects that were underway in 2015-2016 and related work being done elsewhere at the time of the seminar. The seminars addressed latest research, identified research gaps, suggested new research agendas and explored potential policy relevance. This data set includes the proceedings of the 10 seminars of 2015-2016. The following themes were covered:

 25 April 2015 - The role of government in an unequal world

 26 August 2015 - The meaning of democracy in post-1994 rural South Africa: examples from research conducted in the Eastern Cape

 27 August 2015 - The meaning of democracy in post-1994 rural South Africa: Policy implications of research conducted in the Eastern Cape and its impact on the Xhalanga District Court judgement

 11 September 2015 - Terrorism, New Militarisms, and Human Rights - Transdisciplinary Approaches

 14 September 2015 - Assessments of Social Inequality across Time and Countries

 15 September 2015 - Attitudes Towards Social Inequality: Hopes, Fears and Global Prospects

 16 November 2015 - The role of science councils in realizing national development goals

 25 November 2015 - Exploring policy and practice for a gender responsive mining sector

 27 November 2015 Bringing cognitive justice and restorative action in public policy making

 17 March 2016 - A new social imaginary and subjectivities for a diverse, socially just world: some interventions
Abstract: 
 The Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) Research Seminar Series is a collaboration between the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in terms of which DST has contracted the HSRC to implement HSD Research Seminars for a three-year period from 2014/15 to 2016/17. The seminar series is designed to

 
 showcase research and knowledge production in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) which is generated by the National System of Innovation (NSI)
 
 serve as vehicles for disseminating research evidence to wider and diverse audiences
 
 operate as platforms for the sharing of local and international expertise and experience and
 
 promote research and knowledge production in the SSH that benefits and enhances the NSI.


 The seminars focused on HSRC projects that were underway in 2014-2015 and related work being done elsewhere at the time of the seminar. The seminars addressed latest research, identified research gaps, suggested new research agendas and explored potential policy relevance.

 The following themes were covered:

 25 April 2015 - The role of government in an unequal world

 This seminar focused on the role that government has to play in a context of increasing inequality. It served as an introductory session to the annual meeting of the International Social Survey Programme

 26 August 2015 - The meaning of democracy in post-1994 rural South Africa: examples from research conducted in the Eastern Cape 

 This seminar focused on the meaning of democracy in post-1994 rural South Africa. It covered examples from research conducted in the in order to provide a historical, sociological and legal background to issues concerning land, governance and democracy in rural South Africa, in particular in areas where Traditional Authorities (TAs) are an important element in local governance

 27 August 2015 - The meaning of democracy in post-1994 rural South Africa: Policy implications of research conducted in the Eastern Cape and its impact on the Xhalanga District Court judgement

 This seminar is related to the previous one and focused on the implications that research conducted in the Eastern Cape has for the Xhalanga District court judgement. The case revolved around the contested appointment of a traditional authority in the Cala Reserve

 11 September 2015 - Terrorism, New Militarisms, and Human Rights Transdisciplinary Approaches

 This seminar coincided with the World Social sciences Forum (WSSF), which interrogated the theme Transforming Global Relations for a Just World. It centred on issues such as terrorist and counter terrorist attacks, state sponsored terrorism, terrorism against civilians, state violence against nascent popular democracy movements, and human rights violations.

 14 September 2015 - "Assessments of Social Inequality across Time and Countries"

 This seminar was a Special Panel session that was organised as part of the third World Social Science Forum (WSSF) that was hosted by the HSRC and CODESRIA. It was aimed at building on a the seminar that had focused on the role of government in an unequal world, and was intended to draw on recent comparative and longitudinal data to provide new insight into public perceptions of social inequality.

 15 September 2015 - "Attitudes Towards Social Inequality: Hopes, Fears and Global Prospects

 This seminar was a roundtable that was held at the World Social Science Forum. It was convened to provide new and emerging scholars with a platform to discuss their views and beliefs concerning various dimensions of social inequality at a personal, national and global level. The roundtable explored a number of themes including participants expectations, hopes and dreams for their future, their views on South Africa position in the world currently and prospectively, and how they see the world evolving.

 16 November 2015 - The role of science councils in realizing national development goals

 This seminar focused on how science councils, as critical public research institutions, can balance their multiple roles while conducting research and encouraging innovation that contributes to the realization of national developmental goals.

 25 November 2015 - Exploring policy and practice for a gender responsive mining sector

 The seminar focused on gender mainstreaming in mining and how the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment in the sector can contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals.

 27 November 2015 - Bringing cognitive justice and restorative action in public policy making

 This seminar focused on the understanding and preservation of IKS which academia frequently fails to recognise or understand. It highlights the importance of the need to rethink thinking and create space in which individual and collective indigenous knowledge is recognised, understood and protected.

 17 March 2016 - A new social imaginary and subjectivities for a diverse, socially just world: some interventions

 The seminar problematized the social imaginary of modernity, which has been constructed through interdependent, dominant ideological orders, most notably whiteness and heteropatriarchy. It highlighted the pervasive assumptions about salient differences, which shape social relations into interlocking, mutually constitutive centres and margins that systematically privilege some and disadvantage others, shaping people's subjectivities accordingly. It emphasizes the importance of changing the assumptions that inform our everyday sense of the normal - so that different social arrangements become thinkable and desirable
description: Compilation or synthesis of existing material
description: Transcription of materials
description: For the 2015/16 period, the seminars focused on the scholarly work done at poverty and inequality related SARChi Chairs, as well as building on seminars held in the previous years.