Transforming the Marginalised via IJRCS: The need to Rejig Rural and Community Studies towards Emancipation

Authors

  • Dr Bunmi Isaiah Omodan University of The Free State
  • Dr Fumane P. Khanare University of The Free State

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51986/ijrcs-2021.vol3.01.01

Keywords:

IJRCS, Rurality, Community, Marginalisation, Emancipation

Abstract

Literature and social reality confirm that rurality and its people remain underprivileged, while groups within communities, even in urbanism, still demonstrate marginalisation and social inequalities. Not only that, but research is also limited to emancipate the perpetual deficiencies and the various inequalities that emerge within the context of rurality and community livelihood. Even the little research output in this category suffers revered outlets where rural and community studies could be disseminated. This forms the gap to which the Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies (IJRCS) intends to fill. This, therefore, is the inaugural statement of the Journal. The statement presents the historical background of the Journal, the focus of the Journal, and subsequently defines the conceptual understanding of the rural and community to enlighten the authors and readers about the kind of acceptable articles. The editorial process and the professional profile of our editors were presented with a conclusion that whatever knowledge production is coming from the archives of IJRCS is authentic, productive and will definitely assume national and international standards without giving loopholes for contestation.

Author Biographies

Dr Bunmi Isaiah Omodan, University of The Free State

Bunmi Isaiah Omodan is a lecturer and researcher at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He was the first prize winner of a research award at the University of the Free State in 2020 and subsequently named one of the top ten researchers in the Faculty of Education of the same year. He also won the first prize in a competition titled: Decoloniality in the 21st Century Classroom in 2019. He is a certified human resource manager with a PhD in Education Management and Leadership, a Masters degree in Educational Management and B. A. Ed in English Language. He is the Managing Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Education Research and Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies and reviews for other journals. He has supervised and is still supervising postgraduate students. He is currently a member of the British Education Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS), Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP) and Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM). He has published articles in various local and international accredited journals, chapters-in-book, and local and international conference proceedings. His research focus includes but not limited to qualitative and quantitative research approach, community-based participatory action research, decoloniality, Ubuntu, social transformation, social pedagogy, social crisis management and university transformation.

Dr Fumane P. Khanare, University of The Free State

Fumane Portia Khanare is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa. Her research focuses on health-promoting schools, psychosocial well-being of learners in rural schools, learner support, and HIV and AIDS education. She combines asset-based approaches and arts-based research methods as pathways to advance young people’s voices and agency for systematically enabling learning environments. She has been a MAC AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative Fellow at Columbia University, the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). In 2017, she was honoured to be one of the Child and Youth Institute Laureates under the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). She is currently the co-convener of WERA-IRN (World Education Research Association International Research Network (2019-2021).

References

Binelli, C., Loveless, M., & Whitefield, S. (2015). What is social inequality and why does it matter? Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe. World Development, 70, 239-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.02.007

Bock, B. B. (2015). Rural marginalisation and the role of social innovation; A turn towards nexogenous development and rural reconnection. Sociologia Ruralis, 56(4), 552-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12119

Chebanne, A. & Dlali, M. (2019). The curse of poverty and marginalisation in language development: The case of Khoisan languages of Botswana. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 58, 219-233. https://doi.org/10.5842/58-0-844

Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (2018). Guidelines on defining rural areas and compiling indicators for development policy. Publication prepared in the framework of the Global Strategy to improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. fao.org/3/ca6392en/ca6392en.pdf

Green, G., & Haines, A. (2008). Asset building and community development (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hawley, A. (1950). Human ecology: A theory of community structure. New York: Ronald Press.

Luloff, A. E., & Krannich, R. (2002). Persistence and change in rural communities. A 50 year follow up to six classic studies. New York: Cabi Publishing.

Matarrita-Cascante, D. & Brennan, M. A. (2012). Conceptualising community development in the twenty-first century. Community Development, 43(3), 293-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2011.593267

Mbhiza, H. (2021). Witchcraft and mathematics learning in South African rural schools. Interdisciplinary Journal of Education Research, 3(1), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.51986/ijer-2021.vol3.01.03

Moore, N. L. (2015). In a class of their own: The Bantu Education Act (1953) revised. Master Thesis, University of Pretoria.

Obo, U. B., & Coker, M. A. (2014). The Marxist theory of the state: An introductory guide. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(4), 527-533. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p527

Omodan, B. I. (2021). Kenimani-Kenimatoni organisational practice: An Africanised construct of superordinate-subordinate relationships in a university system. African Journal of Development Studies, 11(1).

Omodan, B. I. (2019). Dissemination of quality knowledge for educational, community and national development: Our inaugural editorial statement. Journal of Education Research and Rural Community Development, 1(1), 1-13.

Omodan, B. I., Tsotetsi C. T. & Dube, B. (2019). Decolonising rural-urban dichotomy in South Africa: An asset-based approach. Progressio: South African Journal for Open and Distance Learning Practice, 41(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.25159/0256-8853/5665

Perret, S., Anseeuw, W., & Mathebula, F. (2015). Poverty and livelihoods in rural South Africa: Investigating diversity and dynamics of livelihoods. Case studies in Limpopo. University of Pretoria.

Plein, C. (2011). Place, purpose, and role in rural community development outreach: Lessons from the West Virginia community design team. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 15(4), 59-81. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ936710.pdf

Poplin, D. (1979). Communities: A survey of theories and methods of research. New York: Macmillan Publishing.

Rosenblatt, T., Cheshire, L., & Lawrence, G. (2009). Social interaction and sense of community in a master planned community housing. Theory and Society, 26(2), 122-142, https://doi.org/10.1080/14036090701862484

Statistics Canada (1997) Postal code counts user’s guide: Population and dwelling counts (1996 Census). Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 92F0086XCB.

Toit, A. (2017). Explaining the Persistence of Rural Poverty in South Africa. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, 27 February - 1 March 2017.

Tsotetsi, C. T. & Omodan, B. I. (2020). Deconstructing power differentials in a supervision process: Mentoring in Ubuntu perspective. Ubuntu: Journal of Conflict Transformation, 9(1), 105-129. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-1eb5d4e406

van Schalkwyk, B., Schoeman, C., & Cilliers, J. (2014). The interface between rural communities in South Africa and their urban counterparts: The significance for sustainable rural community development in the Vaalharts area. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 191, 453-462. https://doi.org/10.2495/SC140381

Published

2021-03-19

How to Cite

Omodan, B. ., & Khanare, F. . (2021). Transforming the Marginalised via IJRCS: The need to Rejig Rural and Community Studies towards Emancipation. Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies, 3(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.51986/ijrcs-2021.vol3.01.01

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021): Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural & Community Studies

Section

Rural and Community Articles

Copyright (c) 2021 Bunmi I Omodan, Fumane P Khanare

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.