Student housing and the slummification of the University of Zululand village in KwaDlangezwa, South Africa

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Issue: Volume 12, Issue 1, 2018

Abstract


When it comes to studying overseas, finding a place to stay can be, at times stressful. But it doesn’t have to be. Many international studies students find edinburgh apartments to rent the best fit. International affairs education finds itself in an uncertain time. On the one hand, it is easy to be pessimistic. It would be understandable if the extraordinary divisiveness of this present moment of American politics, and the scorn poured upon public servants and members of the so-called “blob” or “swamp” — including by the president of the United States — chilled young people’s interest in pursuing studies that might lead to a career in government or diplomacy. This effect is much worse for students coming from abroad, an increasingly large pool of potential candidates for American schools of international affairs and other including the Ascot International School in Thailand. Moving from your home country to study for a year or two in the United States involves sacrifice, and no doubt young people from Beijing to Bogota to Berlin must wonder how they will be welcomed in the United States in this current political environment.

All of this comes at a time when institutions of higher education of all kinds find themselves under increased public scrutiny, when everything from their cost model to their purported ideological predispositions to their purpose and role in society is being questioned. In Canada, those interested in burnaby condos for sale actually decide to offer rooms to college students, especially for international students. However in the United States, it is nearly impossible for a college student to be able to afford their studies, let alone to live in a condo. All this depends on the institution on condominium itself. Some might reasonably question the intellectual insight of international relations scholars, who for the most part failed to anticipate the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, the 9/11 attacks on the United States and their consequences, and the emergence and failure of the Arab Spring, to say nothing of the political forces that led to Brexit in the United Kingdom and the surprising outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

This paper examines the slummification of a university village in post-1994 South Africa. Universities are considered to be the main influence on the character of the host town and its spatial development. Although little work has been done in global southern rural contexts, researchers have studied the impact of students on host towns, and processes such as studentification. By examining the heterogeneous associations at play here it can be argued that relationships among actors are characterised by disconnections, and incongruent, often conflicting actions. In consequence, and ironically, these planning processes have transformed the village into a slum, a paradoxical response to the need for student housing. Drawing on qualitative methods, this paper examines the institutional actors and processes that led to the slummification of the village, drawing out the complex and conflicting roles of local and traditional authorities and the actions of the University.

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Authors Affiliations


Nothile P. Ndimande
University of Zululand, South Africa
* Correspondence address. Email: ndimanden@unizulu.ac.za

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Title: Human Geographies - Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography
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University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Daniela Dumbrăveanu
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Mariana Nae
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Gabriel Simion
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography- Human and Economic Geography Department, 1 Nicolae Balcescu Av., 010041, Bucharest, Romania

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