Learning as change
Presenter: Dr Luke Metelerkamp
Environmental Learning Research Centre, Rhodes University
In South and Southern Africa, more than half of the young people are ensnared in a complex and seemingly intractable unemployment crisis that is being driven, in part, by a transition toward a highly industrialised food system. As efforts to address this crisis, while simultaneously renewing efforts around land reform heat up, the question needs to be asked: Are young people even interested? And given what we know about the failures to support the knowledge needs of sluggish land reform, how might we think about supporting skills development among an even greater number of new farmers if efforts to expedite land reform succeed?
Based on empirical data from a combination of narrative research and social network mapping across South Africa, Dr Luke Metelerkamp will share two central insights from his past and ongoing research that speaks to these questions. The first presents youth narratives on agricultural careers as a politically resonant mandate for food system transformation. The second touches on insights into how the informal and fragmented knowledge within emerging sustainability niches can be wielded more effectively to underpin the skills revolution that a transition to a just food system requires.
Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Time: 13h00-14h00
Venue: PLAAS Boardroom, 2nd Floor Main Hall, University of the Western Cape
For more information, contact: Joy van Dieman
Tel: 021 959 3754 or Email: jvandieman@plaas.org.za
