humanities and social sciences 8
H U M A N I T I E S A N D S O C I A L S C I E N C E S
search units and three research centres are weaknesses in its approach are evident.
focused “on user needs”. These are: One of these has been an unwillingness to
engage in the debates on macro-economic
l Research programmes: Child, Youth,
policy which, as this chapter has made
Family and Social Development, Democ-
clear, has helped to drive the humanities to
racy and Governance, Education, Science
the margins of intellectual enquiry.
and Skills Development, and Social
Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health;
8.4 In search of recovery
l Cross-cutting units: Policy Analysis and
Capacity, Enhancement Unit and Know-
ledge Systems;
l Centres: Education Quality Improve-
T
hese are the somewhat gloomy cir-
cumstances that have confronted the
humanities in South Africa for the best
ment, Poverty, Employment and Growth
part of fifteen years. Once at the centre of
and Centre for Service Delivery.
the university (and, indeed, in the country),
and at the forefront of the struggle to end
The HSRC has come in for criticism for the
apartheid, they now face shrinking budgets,
high salaries paid to its researchers and for
economic determinism and managerialism.
recruiting academics from the university
Of course, as the responses to a number of
system. It has also not shown deep interest
enquiries have shown, the South African
in developing – or, rather, redeveloping – in-
humanities are not alone in facing
terest in areas like literature, history, philo-
sophy, religion, art history, music, drama declining proportions of students and
and the like. There are, it seems, some dis- faculty positions, low funding inside the
cussions within the HSRC to fill this lacuna in university, a diminished audience be-
its work by directing attention towards the yond the academy, disorientating shifts
humanities, but ways to achieve this appear in demography of students and faculty,
still to be at the embryonic stage. It is fair to and dislocating theoretical innovations
say that the applied policy direction of the (Ayers 2009:24).
HRSC is understandable in a country like
South Africa where poverty levels are high But in South Africa, as these pages have ar-
and where the gap between the richest gued, this outcome has been subjected to
and poorest is the largest in the world. It is particular pathologies. To the question of
also true that the HSRC has helped to open how the humanities in South Africa have
up space for humanities in the country. Its responded to these many challenges we
publishing house, the HSRC Press, operates must now turn.
on an open access system which provides
free access to all it publications as part of it In the late-1990s, the government appeared
public purpose mandate. This is no trifling to encourage the idea that all the country’s
matter in a country where the selling price universities should adopt what was called
of books has greatly increased. However, a ‘programme approach’ to under-gradu-
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