Review: The Anatomy of Contemporary South Africa
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2005-12
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Journal of Southern African Studies
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
In 1995, eminent social scientist Mark Orkin described the apartheid-era Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) as an instrument of the National Party and a vehicle for the 'racialisation' of social scientific research.3 The HSRC continues to reflect the priorities of government, albeit now defined in terms of poverty reduction, rural development, job creation and improved service delivery. The HSRC is a statutory body, reporting annually to a national parliament that allocates its core funding, and securing much of its substantial contract income from government departments. This highly politicised environment, however, seems to have done nothing to curtail the independence of mind of the volumes' editors, based in the council's democracy and governance research programme. Contributors address themselves to policies rather than to personalities, to be sure, and there is an ostentatious registering at every turn of just how far the country has come since 1994. However, it is the seriousness of contributors' engagement with government priorities and initiatives that gives their critical appraisals genuine bite, and makes them valuable reading for policy-makers and practitioners, and not just for scholars.
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Reference:
Butler, A. (2005). Review: The Anatomy of Contemporary South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 31(4), 901-903.