Papers by Nkululeko Majozi
ReOrient, 2018
In this article, I engage with the current security debate on the conceptual understanding of the... more In this article, I engage with the current security debate on the conceptual understanding of the Islamic State (IS). I critically evaluate the dominant Western view within the debate that conceptualises IS as an “Islamic” terrorist organisation and a product of the “backwardness” of Islam and argue that such a conceptualisation of IS is rooted in a racist and Islamophobic Western epistemological narrative which seeks to create a “natural” link between terrorism and Islam. Through a conceptual discussion on terrorism and a critical assessment of the Eurocentric nature of security studies theories, both traditional and critical, I show how hegemonic Western epistemologies are able to conveniently ignore the European roots of terrorism in the foundation of Western modernity. One result is that hegemonic Western epistemologies are thus able to appropriate the concept of security as an exclusive domain of Western states and their societies, all the while carving out the non-European wor...
Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies
Ufahamu, 2018
Author(s): Houston, Gregory F.; Twala, Chitja; Majozi, Nkululeko | Abstract: This article analyse... more Author(s): Houston, Gregory F.; Twala, Chitja; Majozi, Nkululeko | Abstract: This article analyses the emphasis given to the teaching of the South African liberation struggle history at the country’s universities. Although this history has been analyzed in books, chapters, journal articles, conference papers, theses,and dissertations by South African scholars working in various disciplines, it is generally underrepresented in the curricula of the country’s universities. This absence stems, at least in part, from the racial segregation that divided South African universities until the end of Apartheid in 1994. Today, the overwhelming majority of lecturers devote, on average, six or fewer of their annual class sessions to the subject, when most university modules run from seven to fourteen weeks. Despite the limited time given to topics on South African liberation struggle history, a majority of academics surveyed in history and political science departments believe that their institu...
Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2021
Over the last 25 years, South Africa’s regional and global stature has been in flux. Although the... more Over the last 25 years, South Africa’s regional and global stature has been in flux. Although there is continuity in its foreign policy objectives, there have been changes in emphasis and application. These changes, together with shifts in the domestic political and economic landscape, have impacted negatively on South Africa’s international relations. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his 2018 State of the Nation Address, boldly proclaimed a ‘new dawn’ for South Africa. A key aspect of the intended new dawn is the repositioning of South Africa regionally and globally. This paper examines the shifts and the continuity in South Africa’s foreign policy, and the reasons for its waning global and regional stature. The paper argues that South Africa is once again in a position to be a norm- and agenda-setter, especially in relation to peace and security, but that this will be a lost opportunity if there is a lack of the necessary reflection, visioning and redress needed for transformation.
Community advice offices (CAOs) are small, non-profit organisations that offer free basic legal a... more Community advice offices (CAOs) are small, non-profit organisations that offer free basic legal advice services and human rights information to people who are marginalised because of poverty, social circumstances and geographical location. These organisations are non-partisan and non-political in their operation. As a result of limited funding, CAOs deliver their services by utilising scarce community resources as well as relying on already overworked paralegals and volunteers. Although these services are essential for most communities, the paralegals that work at some of the CAOs continue to occupy an under-formalised and under-recognised institutional space.
ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, 2018
In this article, I engage with the current security debate on the conceptual understanding of the... more In this article, I engage with the current security debate on the conceptual understanding of the Islamic State (IS). I critically evaluate the dominant Western view within the debate that conceptualises IS as an "Islamic" terrorist organisation and a product of the "backwardness" of Islam and argue that such a conceptualisation of IS is rooted in a racist and Islamophobic Western epistemological narrative which seeks to create a "natural" link between terrorism and Islam. Through a conceptual discussion on terrorism and a critical assessment of the Eurocentric nature of security studies theories, both traditional and critical, I show how hegemonic Western epistemologies are able to conveniently ignore the European roots of terrorism in the foundation of Western modernity. One result is that hegemonic Western epistemologies are thus able to appropriate the concept of security as an exclusive domain of Western states and their societies, all the while carving out the non-European world, particularly Islamic societies, as the exclusive sources of potential terrorist threats. I, therefore, advance the decolonial theoretical concept of global coloniality as a means of reframing the debate and shifting the point of enunciation from dominant Western views of IS to a more critical Global South decolonial perspective. As such, I emphasise the European origins of terrorism as a constitutive element of the foundation of Western modernity, while addressing the cognitive confinement of security studies theories. In this light, the study concludes by asserting that IS is a creation of the constitutive violent logic of Western modernity/coloniality, which has terrorism as its foundational core.
Uploads
Papers by Nkululeko Majozi