CISC

Culture, Identity and Social Cohesion is a thematic area that is framed in terms of its intersectionality with respect to gender, race, class and sexuality.

There is a growing understanding that there is an urgent need to revitalize a humanities-driven research theme, to build our understanding of closed identities in relation to understanding our past, our heritage and our future in a transforming and developing state.

The movement is towards a knowledge-based economy, investment in development and greater emphasis on building human capital. This will be realized by promoting the value in the human meaning of public policy in evidence-based research.­

The following documents are aimed at contributing to the growing policy discourse on culture, identity and social cohesion.

Policy briefs

• Development on the move: Measuring and optimising migration's economic and social impacts 
  
  Executive summary of a report on a wide range of migration's impacts on development, including poverty reduction in developing countries.
  Institute for Public Policy Research, May 2010
• Identity, politics and public policy 
  
  Aims to understand what new evidence can reveal about some important public policy questions that involve issues around identity.
  Institute for Public Policy Research, April 2010
• ‘Xenophobia’: Violence against foreign nationals and other ‘outsiders’ in contemporary South Africa 
  
  One in a series of migration policy briefs summarising research to inform debates around­ human mobility in Southern Africa.
  Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), June 2010

Research reports & papers

• Xenophobia research 
  
  A study intended to feed policy-oriented recommendations back to civil society regarding both xenophobia and the lessons needing to be learned about strengthening civil society.
  Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), May 2009
• Adaptation amidst prosperity and adversity: Insights from happiness studies from around the world 
  
  With examples from the economics, democracy, crime, corruption, and health arenas, concluding with policy implications.
  Brookings Institution, July 2010
• Citizenship, violence and xenophobia in South Africa: Perceptions from South African communities 
  
  Reports on a rapid response study to investigate the causes underlying the outbreak of 2008 ­xenophobic violence in South Africa.
  Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), June 2008
• Demons and democracy: Positive values and the politics of outsiderness in contemporary South Africa  
  
  Reflects on xenophobia and the language used to talk about outsiders.
  Heinrich Boll Stiftung, May 2010
• Mass localism: A way to help small communities solve big social challenges 
  
  Proposes an approach by which central and local government can encourage local responses to social challenges.
  NESTA, February 2010
• Policy papers on responses to social cohesion challenges 
  
  A selection of papers including topics such as language pluralism, expression of identity and economic inequalities.­
  Shared Societies Project, 2010
• Practical peacemaking wisdom from Africa: Reflections on Ubuntu 
  
  Outlines the five stages of the peacemaking process found among Ubuntu societies, including: acknowledgement of guilt, showing remorse and repenting, asking for and giving forgiveness, and paying compensation or reparation as a prelude to reconciliation.
  Journal of Pan African Studies, June 2006
• Racial identity, citizenship and nation building in post-apartheid South Africa 
  
  Looks at issues around promoting national unity, including the question of racial identities and the nature and feasibility of social cohesion.­
  Alexander, N., March 2006
• Report: South African civil society and xenophobia 
  
  Analyses the conditions that allowed xenophobic violence to erupt in South Africa in 2008, focusing on the role played by civil society.
  Atlantic Philanthropies South Africa, July 2010
• Social cohesion: a South African perspective 
  
  Traces factors impacting on social cohesion in South Africa, giving a historical ­background as well as challenges facing the country since the first democratic elections.
  Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance, June 2009
• South Africa's public policy clubs of exclusion  
  
  Commentary from the South African Civil Society Information Service (Sacsis) that the Zuma administration is attempting to insulate public policy choices from contestation in society, and as a consequence failing to build broader­ policy consensus.­
  Hassen, E-K., July 2010
• The impact of culture on creativity 
  
  Calls for policies on innovation to recognise cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary aspects of creativity, including elements of 'culture-based creativity', 'economic' and 'technological innovation.'
  KEA, June 2009
• Towards tolerance, law, and dignity: Addressing violence against foreign nationals in South Africa 
  
  Outlines the political economy of violence against outsiders and immediate triggers and factors that helped translate xenophobic attitudes into the violent attacks of May­ 2008.
  International Organization for Migration (IOM), January 2009
• What holds us together: Social cohesion in South Africa 
  
  Examines the effects of a range of crosscutting global forces on local forms of identity, coherence and cohesion.
  Human Sciences Research Council, 2003

Case studies

• Community conversations: Communities embracing each other – 2009 
  
  Details the outcomes of ­15 dialogues the Nelson Mandela Foundation convened in various communities across South Africa affect­ed by xenophobic violence in 2008.­
  Nelson Mandela Foundation, January 2010

Toolkits & guidelines

• Community cohesion: Seven steps: A practitioners toolkit 
  
  Identifies seven steps to developing community cohesion, illustrating with in-depth cases studies and practical examples.
  Cohesion and Faiths Unit, Home Office, United Kingdom, March 2005
• Research as a tool for advocacy 
  
  A presentation outlining approaches to achieving research-based­ policies.
  Institute for Security Studies (ISS), 2010
• Taking action on threats of xenophobic violence: Recommendations for the Inter-Ministerial Committee 
  
  A set of recommendations sutmitted to the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on xenophobic violence, with a 10-point action plan.­
  Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), June 2010
• The broadcasting independence handbook: Lessons from the South African experience: A handbook in three parts 
  
  For use by South African and Southern African Development Community (SADC)-wide civil society organisations, as well as independent and community media.­
  Freedom of Expression Institute, 2008

Conference & seminar papers

• Mapping social cohesion: 2009 Scanlon Foundation report 
  
  Transcript of a discussion focused on ­immigrants' experiences of connectedness, social justice, sense of belonging and worth.
  Grattan Institute, June 2010
• The African debate on social justice 
  
  Examines the concept of social justice in Africa and the possible role to be played by the youth, especially in the age of globalis­ation.­
  Centre for Policy Dialogue, Zambia, 2008

Reading lists

• Annotated bibliography on social exclusion, adverse incorporation and chronic poverty 
  
  Explores the latest thinking on social exclusion within development studies and the more historical debates  concerning the ways in which processes of 'adverse ­incorporation', closure' and 'marginalisation' work to impoverish regions, sectors and people.­
  Smith, B., December 2007

Advocacy initiatives

• Archival Platform 
  
  A networking, advocacy and research initiative, referring not only to archives and libraries, but also to memory, cultural practice and places that tell the stories of the past. It aims to facilitate dialogue and information sharing between professionals, academics and government employees in the heritage and archive sector.
  2009
• Observatory of Cultural Policies in Africa 
  
  ­A pan-African non-governmental organisation aiming to enhance the development of national cultural policies in the region and their integration in human development strategies through advocacy and promoting information exchange, research, capacity building and cooperation at the regional and international level.
  January 2010
• September National Imbizo 
  
  A new Facebook forum for a national citizens' dialogue, currently working against xenophobia and planning for ­a National Indaba in September 2010.
  July 2010
• Shared Societies Project 
  
  A Club of Madrid global initiative that supports democratic development through leadership for dialogue, diversity and social cohesion. Read about their Call to action and their Ten Commitments outlining policy areas essential for promoting social inclusion. ­
  January 2010
• Working against xenophobia 
  
  A project aimed at preventing xenophobic violence and protecting refugee rights, with related documents including case studies and commentary.­
  Sonke Gender Justice Network, June 2010