The Politics of Teaching, Funding and Publication in South African Anthropology: “Our Experiences”

This paper takes a critical look at the politics of teaching, funding and publication that seemingly dominate the academic context of anthropology in South Africa. The views that will be expressed are of an inherently personal nature as they will reflect the experiences that we have had as young academics in our institution and beyond. There are numerous challenges that we have had to face; many of them having to do with the political context of teaching, funding and research/publication. In this paper, we will indicate some of the major challenges that we have had to face, specifically within the context of teaching, funding and research. These three areas are of specific importance to us because, as young researchers/academics, these issues are critical in relation to our institution’s criteria for academic staff development. However, despite the importance of these criterion, we will show, based on our own experiences, how institutional politics within the university context as well as the politics associated with publication, have become obstacles preventing us from developing successfully ourselves and making a meaningful contribution to the development of South African anthropology.