02341nam a22002417a 4500003000500000005001700005008004100022020003000063040002300093082002000116100003600136245008400172260005800256300005000314504005700364520120800421521001001629650009301639651002501732700024301757942008002000999001902080322820241023105246.0241023b        sa ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a9781770 097759cPaperback  aRDAbEnglishc3228  a306.420968 POVE  aGumede, William Mervin 9110770  aThe poverty of ideas:bSouth African Democracy and the Retreat of Intellectuals  aAuckland Park, South Africa : bJacana Media, c2009.  a xiv, 258 pagesbcolour illustrations:c21 cm  a
Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-258)  aSummary: "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.

  aAdult  2Democracy, Dissenters, Intellectual life, Intellectuals, Political culture, South Africa  aSouth Africa9116385  aWilliam 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 Padayachee9190050  2ddccBOOKw12663xPriscilla Nozizwe Mogaley12663zPriscilla Nozizwe Mogale  c769297d769296