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Subjects and Failed Subjects in Place-Space-Time: The Quest for Meaning

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Human Rights Literacies

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights ((CHREN,volume 2))

Abstract

In this introduction to Part II, we explain how the continual (re)structuring of difference and diversity in categories of subjects and failed subjects in linear place-space-time influenced the why and the how of a NRF project Human Rights Literacy: Quest for meaning (2012–2016) (Roux, http://hrlit.org/documents, 2012) (Funded research projects of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.). In our understanding of linear place-space-time, the focus is on Lefebvre’s (Rhythmanalysis. Space, time and everyday life, 2013) notion of linear time (space) as repetitive social practices in difference. We argue that the repetitive nature of social practices, actions, structures and systems, concerning human rights, crystallise differently in everyday life and influence meaning making of human rights within diverse contexts. Humans move in, across and through linear place-space-time as they make meaning of human rights in everyday life. Similarly, human rights, as a social practice, and the social practices and processes of human rights, move in, through and across diverse linear place-space-time. These continual interactions and movements aid meaning making and the structuring of human rights literacies. The research project on human rights literacies commenced in April 2012 as a national funded project and concluded as an international survey (2015) in linear place-space-time through five countries (The final analyses of the survey data and the dissemination of the project ended in November 2016. The collaborators in the Netherlands conducted an extra focus group discussion in April 2017 to clarify some contextual issues.). The complexities of diverse countries, the cultural and contextual mappings of the different research sites and the voluntary participants were significant for the research team’s crystallisation of the data and conceptualisation of contextual human rights literacies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    South Africa is a democratic state but it sometimes referred to as a developing democracy (cf. https://www.google.co.za/search?q=developing+democracy&rlz=1C1CHBF_enZA741ZA742&oq=developing+democracy&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.770j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8).

  2. 2.

    The research project was in collaboration with the selected South African universities (2012–2014) and international universities (2015–2016).

  3. 3.

    For reference purposes Netherlands will be used when in brackets instead of the Netherlands.

  4. 4.

    Although online surveys, as a data collection method, have many advantages, they also have disadvantages such as a possible low response rate, the risk of superficial answers and minimal responses, respondents quitting when they get tired and respondents may misunderstand the questions (Cohen et al., 2018, pp. 359–360). As is evident from the numbers, many respondents started, but did not complete the survey. The response rate was low during the second phase and there were some superficial answers in both phases. As English was a second or third language for many participants, language also played a role in their understanding of the questions in the survey.

  5. 5.

    Students enrolled for a degree in the education.

  6. 6.

    BEd Honours is a one-year post-graduate degree obtained after the four-year education BEd degree (BEd = Bachelor Educationus).

  7. 7.

    The term developed and developing is used to illustrate the economic position of the country. The definition is used by the Human Development Index (HDI) and clarifies the level of industrialization and per capita income per individual. It is therefore important to note that the participants (students) were citizens of both developed and developing countries. The countries also represented both colonisers (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) and post-colonial (post-1948) societies. See chapters Roux; Soudien; Becker and Roux in part I of this volume for development, post-colonial and decolonising discourses and the influence thereof on human rights and human rights education.

  8. 8.

    #MustFall is the comprehensive reference to all the student protests during 2014–2016 (Roux & Becker, 2017).

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  1. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Cornelia Roux & Anne Becker

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    Cornelia Roux  & Anne Becker  & 

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Roux, C., Becker, A. (2019). Subjects and Failed Subjects in Place-Space-Time: The Quest for Meaning. In: Roux, C., Becker, A. (eds) Human Rights Literacies. Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99567-0_5

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