Universities across the world strive to
be engaged institutions whose purpose is to foster positive social change
through teaching, research and community engagement. The integration of these
roles may sometimes hinder authentic engagement. Community engagement
research in South Africa: histories, methods, theories and practice proposes
a transformative model for engagement, in which societal involvement is the
driving force behind all activities of the university. This overarching focus
serves to blur the divisions between the core higher education and training
activities as research becomes more community-based and teaching prepares
students to be agents to be informed by research through teaching and learning,
and to be agents for positive social change in all spheres of life.
This idea is explored throughout the
book, with chapters written by renowned community engagement practitioners and
scholars of various disciplines. Contributions map community engagement
interventions in the intersections of fields such as education, the social sciences,
psychology, health, planning, engineering and architecture. They share best practices
and draw from theoretical scholarship and practical experience, innovative ways
of conceptualising, establishing and “community experiencing” projects. Based
on original research, contributors encourage thought of modelling the practical
implementation of community engagement at universities.
Elize S van Eeden is an NRF-rated
researcher and professor of History and Deputy Director in the School of Social
Sciences at the Vanderbijlpark campus of the North-West University. Her
research interests are Regional history (also in multidisciplinary contexts),
History teaching practices and regional studies in ecohealth & wellbeing
research. She is author and editor of leading publications in Regional
histories and in History teaching, including Teaching & Learning History
and Geography in the South African Classroom, published by Van Schaik Publishers.
Irma Eloff is a professor of
Educational Psychology and former dean of Education at the University of
Pretoria. She is a guest professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. As
a registered psychologist her research focuses on sustainable development,
quality of life and wellbeing.
Hanlie Dippenaar is an associate
professor in the Department of English (Faculty of Education) at the Wellington
campus of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She has published widely
on language acquisition, pre-service teacher training, service-learning and community
engagement.
Those of us who are interested in
strengthening higher education’s commitment to advancing the public good are
fortunate to have this excellent volume to inspire us, to guide our practice,
and to deepen our understanding of the potential and promise of community
engagement research and service-learning to fulfil that commitment.
- PROFESSOR
ANDREW FURCO, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA.
Section
A
Science
in (and) community and (in) research
Thoughts
from academia
Science
for society: the practice of community engagement
Chapter
1: Mirroring 25 years of community engagement research and practice in South
Africa
Section B
Theories in community engagement
and other modes of participatory collaboration
Thoughts from academia
Research and service-learning for
the enhancement of pre-service teachers and communities
Chapter 2: Understanding the gemeinschaft
in student-led community engagement in higher education
Chapter 3: Service-learning as a
“boundary practice” in higher education:
an activity theory lens
Chapter 4: University engagement
practitioners on the challenges and benefits of higher education engagement and
its institutionalisation
Chapter 5: Collaboration embedded
in service-learning through the lenses of a network of activity systems and a
Change Laboratory
Section C
Methods of community engagement:
indigenous community health care and wellbeing
Thoughts from academia
Community centric curriculum: an
engaged curriculum approach to student teaching and learning
Chapter 6: Reflections on the
process of ethical co-creation of knowledge with community partners – lessons
learnt
Chapter 7: Affordances of
indigenous knowledge systems for community engagement by educational
institutions in South Africa
Chapter 8: Observing freedoms and
unfreedoms in rural and urban communities – challenges to leading a life people
have reason to value
Chapter 9: International
collaboration in community intervention programmes: developments and challenges
Section D
Methods of community engagement:
rural and urban contexts
Thoughts from academia
Inclusive and collaborative
community research – Ndumo, KwaZulu-Natal
Chapter 10: Inclusive community
engagement studies: sharing moments of integrative multidisciplinary research
in the Far West Rand region
Chapter 11: Building strong
educational pathways from early childhood development to tertiary education: a
case study of Mamelodi township
Chapter 12: Benefits of community
engagement practice in the context of higher education and rural school
partnership: multiperspective voices
Chapter 13: On the
researcher-researched relationship in educational psychological research with
vulnerable populations
Chapter 14: Engagement with
mining-affected communities: lessons learnt – a case study within the West Rand
Goldfields
Chapter 15: Engaging with
complexity: wicked problems in a southern context
Section E
Science for society: the practice
of community engagement
Thoughts from academia
Community engagement in higher
education and training in the future: from theory to practice
Chapter 16: Moving community
engagement in South Africa from rhetoric to reality through engaged scholarship
Chapter 17: The relevance of
social responsibility in empowering students with required Fourth Industrial
Revolution power skills through a service-learning module
Chapter 18: Strength-based
activities in community intervention: an example of a restorative justice
programme in a South African female correctional centre
Chapter 19: Towards a live project
framework for community engagement in
South Africa: an architectural education perspective
Chapter 20: The transformative
pedagogical potential of pre-service teacher professional learning communities
embedded in a mathematics service-learning course
Chapter 21: Valuing the world café
in a South African context
Chapter 22: Conducting fieldwork
in South African communities: challenges
and best practices
Chapter 23: Studying processes and
experiences: ethnographic tools for experiential field research in communities
Chapter 24: Towards a responsive
community engagement: reflections of key stakeholders
Chapter 25: Higher education and
training’s responsibility in 21st-century societies: considering a redefined and
integrated engagement
Chapter 26: The Sustainable
Development Goals and community-based collaboration and research
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