ABSTRACT

South Africa’s first national democratic elections in 1994 marked a turning point in the history of the country. Since democracy much of the focus of African National Congress (ANC)-led government has been on redress and transformation across all spheres of society, including higher education. This paper examines one important aspect inherent in transforming higher education; that is, changing the academic staffing profile of its institutions to more accurately reflect the demographics of the country. Specifically, we examine the academic staffing profiles (gender, race, and rank) of Geographers employed at higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa and compare these statistics to national academic staffing trends. Results indicate that Geographers in South Africa are most often white and male although these findings mirror national percentages. We also found a paucity of black African Geographers at more senior academic positions as well as a lack of black African female Geographers. Racial inequities in the distribution of academic staff were noted with white male Geographers disproportionately located at historically white institutions while black African Geographers are disproportionately located at historically black institutions. We discuss these, and other results, in the broader context of the transformation of the discipline of Geography in South Africa.

摘要

1994 年南非举行的第一次全国民主选举标志着该国历史上的一个转折点。自民主以来，非洲人国民大会 (ANC) 领导的政府的大部分重点一直放在社会各个领域的补救和转型上，包括高等教育。本文探讨了高等教育转型所固有的一个重要方面；也就是说，改变其机构的学术人员配置，以更准确地反映该国的人口统计数据。具体来说，我们检查了受雇于南非高等教育机构 (HEIs) 的地理学家的学术人员配置概况（性别、种族和等级），并将这些统计数据与国家学术人员配置趋势进行比较。结果表明，尽管这些发现反映了全国的百分比，但南非的地理学家通常是白人和男性。我们还发现，在更高级的学术职位上缺乏黑人非洲地理学家，也缺乏黑人非洲女性地理学家。注意到学术人员分布中的种族不平等，白人男性地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的白人机构，而黑人非洲地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的黑人机构。我们在南非地理学科转型的更广泛背景下讨论这些和其他结果。注意到学术人员分布中的种族不平等，白人男性地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的白人机构，而黑人非洲地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的黑人机构。我们在南非地理学科转型的更广泛背景下讨论这些和其他结果。注意到学术人员分布中的种族不平等，白人男性地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的白人机构，而黑人非洲地理学家不成比例地位于历史上的黑人机构。我们在南非地理学科转型的更广泛背景下讨论这些和其他结果。