02278nam a22002417a 4500 3228 20241023105246.0 241023b sa ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d 9781770 097759 Paperback RDA English 3228 306.420968 POVE Gumede, William Mervin 110770 The poverty of ideas: South African Democracy and the Retreat of Intellectuals Auckland Park, South Africa : Jacana Media, 2009. xiv, 258 pages colour illustrations: 21 cm Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-258) Summary: "In a country where it has been suggested that the distinction requirements at schools be moved down from 80% to 70%, it is of grave importance that we evaluate the role of knowledge and what significance we attach to it. Do we respect and value the production of knowledge, or is contemporary South African society being 'dumbed down'? And if knowledge is no longer an essential commodity, do we have a need for a 'thinking class'; the intellectuals? Where are our great South African minds? Are they hiding in fear of our society's seeming intolerance of criticism and dissent? Eminent thinkers Leslie Dikeni and William Gumede examine how South African intellectuals have regressed from drivers of change in the Apartheid era to disenchanted ghosts that appear to fear critical engagement in The Poverty of Ideas. This title offers differing but critical evaluations of the responsibility of the progressive intellectual in a new democracy. During the struggle against apartheid intellectuals have spoken out and more often then not influenced the trajectory of events. But it appears that today's intellectuals are paralysed by fear of raising the ire of authority"--Kalahari.net website. Adult Democracy, Dissenters, Intellectual life, Intellectuals, Political culture, South Africa South Africa 116385 William Gumede & Leslie Dikeni, Jeremy Cronin, Grant Farred, Shireen Hassim, Jonathan D. Jansen, Helga Jansen-Daugbjerg, Mahmood Mamdani, James Matthews, Mandisa Mbali, Prishani Naidoo, Albert Nolan, Dan O'Meara, Vishnu Padayachee 190050 ddc BOOK 12663 Priscilla Nozizwe Mogale 12663 Priscilla Nozizwe Mogale 769297 769296