Violent Political Contexts and the Emotional Concerns of Township Youth

This article presents the findings of a series of studies that examine the perceptions of black South African youth about township life and the civil conflict and violence it encompasses. The studies were conducted with comparable samples of 58–82 youth at 3 points in South Africa's history, all characterized by high levels of violence but differing in terms of their political contexts. These contexts were overt State-community conflict, covert opposition and political repression, and intracommunity violence. The data revealed that in all 3 contexts youth reported a high exposure to violence, but only when violence occurred in the context of intracommunity conflict was it subjectively construed to be the most problematic. Reasons for this may include the real increase in more extreme forms of violence, including deaths, that occurs in intracommunity violence and the blurring of the distinction between political and criminal violence in this context.     

Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors     

Is Schooling a Risk? Gender,Power Relations,and School Culture in Uganda

This article relates a study of AIDS education in Uganda which used an ethnography of school culture to explore the contradictions in curriculum intervention. The school was found to be a site of an extensive set of gendered practices which constituted a risk in themselves in terms of sexual health. Four forms of control are examined in this article: hegemonic masculinity, gendered discipline patterns, sexual harassment and 'compulsory' heterosexuality. Male domination and power imbalances in the school encouraged attitudes and practices with regard to sexual relationships which negated the official messages of the AIDS curriculum.     

Changing Resource and Organizational Patterns: The Challenge of Resourcing Education in the 21st Century

This paper looks at the changing patterns ofresourcing (financing) education in thetwenty-first century. It identifies five trendsthat are altering the resourcing and provisionof education through their impact on theorganization of education systems. As aconsequence of these trends, it puts forwardthe view that the role of government ischanging from direct provider of education toone of regulator of the education industry.