Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Science, transformation and society: a contextual analysis of South Africa’s SANCOR-managed marine and coastal research programmes

Science, transformation and society: a contextual analysis of South Africa’s SANCOR-managed... The paper aims to describe and analyse three research programmes over the period 1995–2011 managed by the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR), namely the Sea and Coast programmes I and II and the Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange) programme, in relation to the context in which they were initiated. The paper consists of two parts: the post-apartheid context and a description and analysis of the three programmes. A qualitative methodology is applied and primary documentary and oral data are analysed to provide an understanding of the programmes in relation to the national and international context. There was widespread reform of policy and legislation in the post-apartheid period in order to redress apartheid inequalities in all sectors, leading to the transformation of science infrastructure and policy. In addition, the 1990s witnessed the institutionalisation of international environmental treaties and conventions to which South Africa was a signatory, impacting the content of the SANCOR programmes. In 1995, the first marine science programme was funded through a Joint Venture Agreement between the Foundation for Research Development and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. The programme visions and themes show evidence of the influence of two discourses: the national discourse of transformation and the international discourses of biodiversity conservation and resource use management. Evaluation of the programmes reveals that they were considered successful by external reviewers and interview respondents in terms of output and human capital development, but lacking in broadening the knowledge fields and shifting the domination of the white, male oligarchy in marine science. Post-apartheid policy and legislative reform resulted in more equitable funding processes, the receipt of bursaries by black and female students, the embracing of applied goals to support government mandates, and the expansion of knowledge fields. The three dominant themes apparent in the evaluation of the programmes are the shift from basic to applied research, the inadequate representation of social science in marine research, and success in human capital development. There are positive future prospects for SANCOR-funded research in the marine and coastal environment because funding is in place for a fourth programme. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png African Journal of Marine Science Taylor & Francis

Science, transformation and society: a contextual analysis of South Africa’s SANCOR-managed marine and coastal research programmes

Scott, D
African Journal of Marine Science , Volume 35 (3): 23 – Sep 1, 2013
Download PDF

Science, transformation and society: a contextual analysis of South Africa’s SANCOR-managed marine and coastal research programmes

Abstract

The paper aims to describe and analyse three research programmes over the period 1995–2011 managed by the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR), namely the Sea and Coast programmes I and II and the Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange) programme, in relation to the context in which they were initiated. The paper consists of two parts: the post-apartheid context and a description and analysis of the three programmes. A qualitative methodology is applied and...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/taylor-francis/science-transformation-and-society-a-contextual-analysis-of-south-FFBPb8n4C0
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright © NISC (Pty) Ltd
ISSN
1814-2338
eISSN
1814-232X
DOI
10.2989/1814232X.2013.842932
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The paper aims to describe and analyse three research programmes over the period 1995–2011 managed by the South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR), namely the Sea and Coast programmes I and II and the Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange) programme, in relation to the context in which they were initiated. The paper consists of two parts: the post-apartheid context and a description and analysis of the three programmes. A qualitative methodology is applied and primary documentary and oral data are analysed to provide an understanding of the programmes in relation to the national and international context. There was widespread reform of policy and legislation in the post-apartheid period in order to redress apartheid inequalities in all sectors, leading to the transformation of science infrastructure and policy. In addition, the 1990s witnessed the institutionalisation of international environmental treaties and conventions to which South Africa was a signatory, impacting the content of the SANCOR programmes. In 1995, the first marine science programme was funded through a Joint Venture Agreement between the Foundation for Research Development and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. The programme visions and themes show evidence of the influence of two discourses: the national discourse of transformation and the international discourses of biodiversity conservation and resource use management. Evaluation of the programmes reveals that they were considered successful by external reviewers and interview respondents in terms of output and human capital development, but lacking in broadening the knowledge fields and shifting the domination of the white, male oligarchy in marine science. Post-apartheid policy and legislative reform resulted in more equitable funding processes, the receipt of bursaries by black and female students, the embracing of applied goals to support government mandates, and the expansion of knowledge fields. The three dominant themes apparent in the evaluation of the programmes are the shift from basic to applied research, the inadequate representation of social science in marine research, and success in human capital development. There are positive future prospects for SANCOR-funded research in the marine and coastal environment because funding is in place for a fourth programme.

Journal

African Journal of Marine Science – Taylor & Francis

Published: Sep 1, 2013

Keywords: applied science; discourses; human capital development; marine science; post-apartheid; social science

References

  • Advancing a political ecology of global environmental discourses
  • Five years into democracy: corrective action in marine science
  • 97 status report. Coastal communities & living resources
  • Consensus study on the state of the humanities in South Africa: status, prospects and strategies
  • An evaluation of the Sea and Coast Programme
  • Defining fishers in the South African context: subsistence, artisanal and small-scale commercial sectors
  • Integrating qualitative methodologies into risk assessment: insights from South Durban
  • Green dots, pink hearts: displacing politics from the Malaysian Rain Forest
  • The role of lay people in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge
  • Scientists in society: a history of the Royal Society of South Africa
  • The decline of the humanities and social sciences in South Africa (Leader)
  • Marine science takes lead from those in need
  • White Paper on Science and Technology: preparing for the 21st century
  • Dismantling the boundaries in science and technology studies
  • The labour market drop-out rate: a new approach to estimating the returns to Government investment in higher education: the case for marine science in South Africa
  • Influences of discourse on decision-making in EU fisheries management: the case of North Sea cod (Gadus morhua)
  • Socio-economic aspects of tiger-shark diving industry within the Aliwal Shoal Marine Protected Area, South Africa
  • Review. How has South Africa's scientific landscape changed?
  • Smell the ozone
  • Whose knowledge, whose nature? Biodiversity, conservation, and the political ecology of social movements
  • The spatial turn: geographical approaches to the history of sciences
  • An evaluation of the Sea and the Coast Programme I
  • An assessment of marine and coastal research over the period 1994–2008
  • A biologist's personal overview of the marine science community and its outputs (2001–2006)
  • The natural science perspective. Presentation at the SANCOR [South African Network For Coastal And Oceanic Research] Forum
  • Beyond South Africa's ‘indigenous knowledge – science’ wars
  • Rebuilding ground zero: the politics of performance
  • Co-management: a solution for subsistence fishing
  • The process of developing a management system for subsistence fisheries in South Africa: recognizing and formalizing a marginalized fishing sector in South Africa
  • The case for cross-disciplinary approaches in international development
  • Perceptions of subsistence and informal fishers in South Africa regarding the management of living marine resources
  • Reflections of a SANCOR Forum chairperson
  • Elusive equity in doctoral education in South Africa
  • Has reforming South African fisheries contributed to wealth redistribution and poverty alleviation?
  • Technologies of humility: citizen participation in governing science
  • A reflection on fisheries management in South Africa
  • Good people in the ANC may say no to the new racism
  • An historical review and analysis of the NRF rating system 1983–2005
  • Doing flood risk science differently: an experiment in radical scientific method
  • The beginning of the second phase: a status report on the Sea and Coast II Programme
  • Text, talk and testimony: geographical reflections on scientific habits, an afterword
  • A century of physical oceanography in South Africa: in search of the legacy of John D. F. Gilchrist
  • South African integrated coastal management and engineering: converging towards collision or collaboration?
  • An assessment of the recreational fishery in the St Lucia estuarine system, KwaZuluNatal, South Africa
  • The focus area landscape programme of the National Research Foundation: a review
  • Balancing science and politics in South African marine biology
  • The interpretive turn: history, memory, and storage in qualitative research. FQS Forum
  • Science in Africa at the dawn of the 21st century. Country report, part one
  • Putting discourse in its place: planning, sustainability and the urban capacity study
  • Introduction: historical geographies of science: places, contexts, cartographies
  • Fisheries co-management – an institutional innovation? Lessons from South East Asia and Southern Africa
  • Introduction: Mode 2 revisited: the new production of knowledge
  • Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange): SEAChange Guide for 2011
  • Research outputs and highlights of the Sea and Coast II Programme for 2006
  • Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange): call for research proposals: 2011 funding
  • SEAChange Programme (Society, Ecosystems and Change): executive summary of the 2011 grant year
  • Raw data of SANCOR research programmes
  • Executive summary of the 2012 grant year
  • Sea and the Coast Programme comes to an end
  • Restructuring of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism
  • Science and fisheries management in southern Africa and Europe
  • Society, ecosystems and change: SEAChange. A successor to the Sea and Coast II Programme
  • Tracking development of marine science capacity in South Africa: a synopsis
  • The limits to caring: sustainable living and the loss of biodiversity
  • Higher education and the environmental sector in South Africa: quality and relevance of provisioning
  • White Paper on Higher Education 3: a programme for higher education. Government Gazette
  • Marine Living Resources Act 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998). Government Gazette
  • National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004). Government Gazette
  • National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act 2008 (Act No. 24 of 2008). Government Gazette
  • The modus operandi used in the development of the Sea and the Coast Programme
  • Minutes of the third Joint Venture Agreement Committee (JVAC) of the Sea and Coast 1 Programme. Royal Cape Yacht Club, 11 November 1999
  • Description of Sea and Coast II
  • Society, Ecosystems and Change (SEAChange) Programme description
  • Minutes of the SANCOR Forum, uShaka Marine World, Durban, 24 February 2011
  • Constitution and rules for SANCOR. Updated February 2011
  • Making marine science effective: marine and coastal science in support of sustainable development, Draft v. 6
  • State of marine and coastal research in South Africa: 1994–2008. Prepared for Rhodes University, SANCOR [South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research], NRF [National Research Foundation] and DEAT [Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism]
  • South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research
  • Leakages and blockages in the university human capital development (HCD) pipeline
  • The integration of social science and the humanities into research in the marine and coastal environment
  • Guidelines for integrating social science into marine and coastal research
  • Positivism, post-positivism and domestic water demand: interrelating science across the paradigmatic divide, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
  • Making waves
  • DST initiatives towards advancing marine sciences. Presentation made at the SANCOR [South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research] Forum, 16 May 2012
  • SANCOR marine research programme. Wealth from the sea
  • Joint venture contract signed at last!
  • Developing a new marine research programme – investors and scientists share their perspectives
  • Marine protected areas in South Africa: new policies, old paradigms
  • Shallow waters: social science research in South Africa's marine environment
  • Introduction: rural sustainable development in the knowledge society era
  • Convention on Biological Diversity
  • Knowledge for governance, governance of knowledge: inclusive knowledge management in collaborative governance processes
  • Making waves
  • The handmaiden of industry: marine science and fisheries development in South Africa 1890–1939
  • Mapping knowledge controversies: science, democracy and the redistribution of expertise
  • Re-inventing a square wheel: critique of a resurgent ‘protection paradigm’ in international biodiversity conservation