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Social Surveys Unit
The Social Context and Contours of HIV/AIDS in Brazil and South Africa
Ben Beinart Rm, Ground Floor, Otto Beit Building
In collaboration with the University of Pernambuco.
Please RSVP to Ncedeka Mbune by 31 August.
Theorising and Measuring Social Class in South Africa
Prof Jeremy Seekings
Room 4.29 Leslie Social Science Building
Urban Studies School
Jeremy Seekings is co-convenor of the first Urban Studies School being held under the auspices of Research Committee 21 of the International Sociology Association and the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), in Sao Paulo, between 17 and 25 August 2009. This School - a Winter School in the Southern Hemisphere, but a Summer School from the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere - will bring together twenty-five young researchers from around the world and a team of senior urban scholars, to address a variety of topics in urban studies. See further http://www.shakti.uniurb.it/rc21/.
Two new articles in African Journal of AIDS Research
The latest issue of the African Journal of AIDS Research (8,2, 2009) includes two articles by CSSR researchers. Rene Brandt (ASRU) reviews existing studies of the mental health of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Rachel Bray (SSU) analyses ethnographic data from a Cape Town township on how HIV-positive or AIDS-sick women make decisions about where to live, with whom, and where their children should live. See:
Brand, R. The mental health of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa: a systematic review.
Bray, R. How does AIDS illness affect women's residential decisions? Findings from an ethnographic study in a Cape Town township
Research on Institutions for Pro-poor Growth
Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings are part of an international research collaboration on state-business relations for the project on Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth (IPPG). The IPPG project explores the proposition that political and social institutions have a direct bearing on economic institutions and thereby on economic growth and distribution. Nattrass and Seekings are conducting a South African case study of how state-business relations are shaped by the historical growth path and by labour-market institutions inherited from the past, but which nevertheless are strongly influenced by policy changes (notably black economic empowerment). They argue that South Africa's growth path will only become 'pro-poor' when institutional changes are made to facilitate a more labour-demanding growth path. This, however, would require compromises from organised labour. These ideas have been aired in business forums as part of the ongoing research process.
Comprehending Class conference
Jeremy Seekings addressed a plenary session of a conference on "Comprehending Class" in Johannesburg in June. The conference, organised by the universities of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand, brought together scholars examining the concept, meaning and consequences of class in South Africa and elsewhere. The other plenary speakers were Erik Olin Wright (University of Madison), Alex Callinicos (King's College, London), Jose Alcides Santos (Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil), Satish Deshpande ((Delhi University) and Mike Savage (Manchester University). Jeremy Seekings' paper examined the significance for the analysis of class in South Africa of the ideas about risk and individualisation put forward by the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck.
SSU Projects
‘Growing up’ after apartheid
The combination of quantitative and qualitative research on childhood and adolescence has constituted one of the SSU’s primary activities since 2001. Quantitative data have been collected primarily through the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), which has followed the lives of a panel of adolescents since 2002 (as well as collecting extensive retrospective data on their lives prior to 2002). Complementary qualitative research has been conducted through a series of projects.
Prof Jeremy Seekings
Director: Social Surveys Unit
Professor, Political Studies and Sociology, University of Cape Town
Professor Seekings has been at UCT since 1992. In this time he has also held visiting appointments at Yale (in 1994, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2009), Oxford (1999) and Princeton (2008). He has an undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford, an Honours degree in African Politics from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a D.Phil in Politics from Oxford. His doctorate was a study of political mobilization and organization in South African townships between 1978 and 1984.
Contact details
Email: jeremy.seekings@gmail.com
Tel: +27 21 650 3505
Office: Rm 441, Leslie Social Science Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
2008 Annual Report released
The Centre for Social Science Research's annual report for 2008 has been released. It, and earlier reports, can be downloaded on the Annual Reports page.
It includes the annual reports for each of the research units within the CSSR.
