Martin Prozesky
Biographic Data
| ID | 112716 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin Prozesky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin |
| FAMILY NAME | Prozesky |
| SIGNATURE | PROZESKY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9747-037X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Thirty Years of Literacies Testing at the University of Cape Town: A Critical Reflection on the Work and its Impact
In this deeply considered and carefully argued book, Cliff reviews three decades of work into academic literacies testing begun at UCT. His account gives the wider academic community insight into how the testing project evolved at the intersection of localcommitments in South Africa to redress and ensuring epistemological access to higher education (HE), and international trends in sociocultural literacy theory and student support. The book’s cen…
Literary reading as a socially responsive practice: Implications for literature pedagogy at higher education
As university teachers of literature, we tend to accept the rhetoric that students lack the capacity to interpret texts meaningfully, without questioning our own biases about the kinds of meaning we expect them to elicit from texts. Often, these are meanings that have little relevance to students' own social or professional lives. In this article, we report on a research project on literary reading at a South African university in which we set ou…
Literary reading as a web of relationships: Implications for pedagogy at a South African university
We teach English literature in South Africa, to third- or fourth-language English speakers. Increasingly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of our pedagogy under conditions of massification, we seek to agitate propositions about our students’ reading and what these propositions means for our pedagogy. Drawing on narrative theory we analyse our students’ written responses to a portfolio assessment designed to scaffold their reading of a setwork n…
African speculative fiction as Indigenous remembering: Contrasting stories by Jonathan Dotse and Masima Musodza
How to understand what uniquely African contribution speculative fiction created by African authors makes is a vexed question. Drawing on concepts of the geopolitics of knowledge and locus of enunciation, from the South American tradition of decolonial theory, I argue that the term “Indigenous” must be retained to specify works that speak from epistemic locations within Indigenous African cultures. Such fiction does important remembering work by …
Pedagogical and decolonial affordances of group portfolio assessments for learning in South African universities
Our paper discusses our recent experiences with designing effective assessments for challenging local contexts by using group work portfolio projects. South African universities are experiencing ever-increasing student numbers, diverse student bodies which have different language and literacy skill levels, and limited resources. Simultaneously, the need to decolonise university curricula and teaching and learning practices is being actively inves…
Pedagogical and decolonial affordances of group portfolio assessments for learning in South African universities
Our paper discusses our recent experiences with designing effective assessments for challenging local contexts by using group work portfolio projects. South African universities are experiencing ever-increasing student numbers, diverse student bodies which have different language and literacy skill levels, and limited resources. Simultaneously, the need to decolonise university curricula and teaching and learning practices is being actively inves…
Epistemological Decolonization through a Relational Knowledge-Making Model
This article argues for epistemic decolonization by developing a relational model of knowledge, which we locate within indigenous knowledges. We live in a time of ongoing global, epistemic coloniality, embedded in and shaped by colonial ideas and practices. Epistemological decolonization requires taking nondominant knowledges and their epistemes seriously to open up the possibility of interrogating and dismantling the hegemony of the Western know…
The Multiliteracies Learning Environment as Decolonial Nexus: Designing for Decolonial Teaching in a Literacies Course at a South African University
In higher education institutions in South Africa, educators working in the fields of language and academic literacy need to be sensitive and responsive to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the student body, and traditional pedagogical approaches are often inappropriate to meet the needs of students and of the wider call to decolonise higher education. As a group of lecturers working at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Educat…
[S]inne Shalle be no Shame, but Wurshipe to Man”: The Role of Chivalry and Chivalric Romance in Julian of Norwich’s Soteriology
Julian of Norwich, fourteenth-century English visionary and vernacular theologian, asserts that “sinne shalle be no shame, but wurshipe to man”. These opposing concepts of “shame” and “wurshipe” have theological but also chivalric connotations, which I suggest inform the logic of Julian’s soteriology. She repeatedly discusses sin within the imaginary of late-medieval chivalry, and at important moments of her argument, Christ becomes a warrior lor…
Ethical leadership resources in southern Africa's Sesotho-speaking culture and in King Moshoeshoe I
The problem addressed in this paper is the need for fresh resources for enhanced ethical leadership in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa. To respond to that problem the paper uses two valuable but insufficiently known sources from the culture of the Sesotho-speaking people of southern Africa, now found in Lesotho and much of South Africa's Free State province. The first one is a set of concepts that pertain to sound human relationships. The se…
The Politics of Dwelling: Being White / Being South African
This paper explores the incongruence between white South Africans’ pre- and post-apartheid experiences of home and identity, of which a wave of emigration is arguably a result. Among the commonest reasons given for emigrating are crime and affirmative action; however, this paper uncovers a deeper motivation for emigration using Charles Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary and Martin Heidegger’s concept of dwelling. The skewed social imaginary…
Ethics in process perspective
Embedded in the thought of Whitehead is an extremely interesting but relatively neglected ethic which has relevance to current attempts to reflect creatively on the ethical dimension of human existence both in South Africa and the wider world. This paper notes the main features of the context in which such reflection is taking place, and then proceeds to give an account of process ethics. Thereafter it offers a critical discussion whose main conc…
South Africa Rediscovers Its past
Gandhi and South Africa: Principles and Politics
On Pietermaritzburg station in 1893, a young Indian lawyer, newly arrived in South Africa, was ejected from a train to Pretoria for insisting on his right to travel first class. It was to the cold night hours spent in the waiting-room that Gandhi himself traced the genesis of his great resolve - to fight injustice by non-violent means. Crucial as this episode was, it was but one of the manifold influences which shaped the Gandhi-to-be during his …
Living Faiths in South Africa
African traditional religions, J. Kiernan settler Christianity, J.W. de Gruchy mission Christianity, C. Villa-Vicencio the impact of white settlement on African traditional religions, J. Kiernan Christianity in the 20th-century, J.W. de Gruchy the African independent churches, J. Kiernan Islam, E. Moosa the Jewish community, J. Hellig Hinduism, Maxwell, Diesel and Naidoo Chinese religion in South Africa, A. Song Buddhism and Chinese religion in S…
Piet Beukes: The Religious Smuts
No abstract available
A Response To Jan Platvoet
A Response to Jan Platvoet
Explanations of Religion as a Part of and Problem for Religious Studies
In the present context the word ‘explanation’ is taken to mean an identification of the factors which would disclose to us why a phenomenon exists and/or functions as it does, and it is my purpose in this paper to do three things: firstly to argue that explanation as just defined is the supreme goal to which the academic study of religion should direct its investigations; secondly to offer what I consider the most illuminating method of explanati…
Religion and Ultimate Well-Being: An Explanatory Theory
The Emergence of Dutch Pietism
In general the term ‘Pietist’ signifies a type of dedicated, personal faith in which deep devotion to Christ and strict morality were prominent. Emphasising the emotions, rebirth, a changed life and religious experience, it often generated a sense of separation from the unredeemed world in its adherents, who typically made use of sermon, Scripture, devotional works and small gatherings of the devout to obtain spiritual edification, often also esp…
The Politics of Dwelling: Being White / Being South African
This paper explores the incongruence between white South Africans’ pre- and post-apartheid experiences of home and identity, of which a wave of emigration is arguably a result. Among the commonest reasons given for emigrating are crime and affirmative action; however, this paper uncovers a deeper motivation for emigration using Charles Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary and Martin Heidegger’s concept of dwelling. The skewed social imaginary…
Epistemological Decolonization through a Relational Knowledge-Making Model
This article argues for epistemic decolonization by developing a relational model of knowledge, which we locate within indigenous knowledges. We live in a time of ongoing global, epistemic coloniality, embedded in and shaped by colonial ideas and practices. Epistemological decolonization requires taking nondominant knowledges and their epistemes seriously to open up the possibility of interrogating and dismantling the hegemony of the Western know…
The Emergence of Dutch Pietism
In general the term ‘Pietist’ signifies a type of dedicated, personal faith in which deep devotion to Christ and strict morality were prominent. Emphasising the emotions, rebirth, a changed life and religious experience, it often generated a sense of separation from the unredeemed world in its adherents, who typically made use of sermon, Scripture, devotional works and small gatherings of the devout to obtain spiritual edification, often also esp…
The Emergence of Dutch Pietism
In general the term ‘Pietist’ signifies a type of dedicated, personal faith in which deep devotion to Christ and strict morality were prominent. Emphasising the emotions, rebirth, a changed life and religious experience, it often generated a sense of separation from the unredeemed world in its adherents, who typically made use of sermon, Scripture, devotional works and small gatherings of the devout to obtain spiritual edification, often also esp…
Religion and Ultimate Well-Being: An Explanatory Theory
Explanations of Religion as a Part of and Problem for Religious Studies
In the present context the word ‘explanation’ is taken to mean an identification of the factors which would disclose to us why a phenomenon exists and/or functions as it does, and it is my purpose in this paper to do three things: firstly to argue that explanation as just defined is the supreme goal to which the academic study of religion should direct its investigations; secondly to offer what I consider the most illuminating method of explanati…
A Response To Jan Platvoet
A Response to Jan Platvoet
Piet Beukes: The Religious Smuts
No abstract available
Living Faiths in South Africa
African traditional religions, J. Kiernan settler Christianity, J.W. de Gruchy mission Christianity, C. Villa-Vicencio the impact of white settlement on African traditional religions, J. Kiernan Christianity in the 20th-century, J.W. de Gruchy the African independent churches, J. Kiernan Islam, E. Moosa the Jewish community, J. Hellig Hinduism, Maxwell, Diesel and Naidoo Chinese religion in South Africa, A. Song Buddhism and Chinese religion in S…
Gandhi and South Africa: Principles and Politics
On Pietermaritzburg station in 1893, a young Indian lawyer, newly arrived in South Africa, was ejected from a train to Pretoria for insisting on his right to travel first class. It was to the cold night hours spent in the waiting-room that Gandhi himself traced the genesis of his great resolve - to fight injustice by non-violent means. Crucial as this episode was, it was but one of the manifold influences which shaped the Gandhi-to-be during his …
Ethics in process perspective
Embedded in the thought of Whitehead is an extremely interesting but relatively neglected ethic which has relevance to current attempts to reflect creatively on the ethical dimension of human existence both in South Africa and the wider world. This paper notes the main features of the context in which such reflection is taking place, and then proceeds to give an account of process ethics. Thereafter it offers a critical discussion whose main conc…
South Africa Rediscovers Its past
The Politics of Dwelling: Being White / Being South African
This paper explores the incongruence between white South Africans’ pre- and post-apartheid experiences of home and identity, of which a wave of emigration is arguably a result. Among the commonest reasons given for emigrating are crime and affirmative action; however, this paper uncovers a deeper motivation for emigration using Charles Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary and Martin Heidegger’s concept of dwelling. The skewed social imaginary…
Ethical leadership resources in southern Africa's Sesotho-speaking culture and in King Moshoeshoe I
The problem addressed in this paper is the need for fresh resources for enhanced ethical leadership in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa. To respond to that problem the paper uses two valuable but insufficiently known sources from the culture of the Sesotho-speaking people of southern Africa, now found in Lesotho and much of South Africa's Free State province. The first one is a set of concepts that pertain to sound human relationships. The se…
The Multiliteracies Learning Environment as Decolonial Nexus: Designing for Decolonial Teaching in a Literacies Course at a South African University
In higher education institutions in South Africa, educators working in the fields of language and academic literacy need to be sensitive and responsive to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the student body, and traditional pedagogical approaches are often inappropriate to meet the needs of students and of the wider call to decolonise higher education. As a group of lecturers working at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Educat…
[S]inne Shalle be no Shame, but Wurshipe to Man”: The Role of Chivalry and Chivalric Romance in Julian of Norwich’s Soteriology
Julian of Norwich, fourteenth-century English visionary and vernacular theologian, asserts that “sinne shalle be no shame, but wurshipe to man”. These opposing concepts of “shame” and “wurshipe” have theological but also chivalric connotations, which I suggest inform the logic of Julian’s soteriology. She repeatedly discusses sin within the imaginary of late-medieval chivalry, and at important moments of her argument, Christ becomes a warrior lor…
Pedagogical and decolonial affordances of group portfolio assessments for learning in South African universities
Our paper discusses our recent experiences with designing effective assessments for challenging local contexts by using group work portfolio projects. South African universities are experiencing ever-increasing student numbers, diverse student bodies which have different language and literacy skill levels, and limited resources. Simultaneously, the need to decolonise university curricula and teaching and learning practices is being actively inves…
Pedagogical and decolonial affordances of group portfolio assessments for learning in South African universities
Our paper discusses our recent experiences with designing effective assessments for challenging local contexts by using group work portfolio projects. South African universities are experiencing ever-increasing student numbers, diverse student bodies which have different language and literacy skill levels, and limited resources. Simultaneously, the need to decolonise university curricula and teaching and learning practices is being actively inves…
Epistemological Decolonization through a Relational Knowledge-Making Model
This article argues for epistemic decolonization by developing a relational model of knowledge, which we locate within indigenous knowledges. We live in a time of ongoing global, epistemic coloniality, embedded in and shaped by colonial ideas and practices. Epistemological decolonization requires taking nondominant knowledges and their epistemes seriously to open up the possibility of interrogating and dismantling the hegemony of the Western know…
African speculative fiction as Indigenous remembering: Contrasting stories by Jonathan Dotse and Masima Musodza
How to understand what uniquely African contribution speculative fiction created by African authors makes is a vexed question. Drawing on concepts of the geopolitics of knowledge and locus of enunciation, from the South American tradition of decolonial theory, I argue that the term “Indigenous” must be retained to specify works that speak from epistemic locations within Indigenous African cultures. Such fiction does important remembering work by …
Literary reading as a web of relationships: Implications for pedagogy at a South African university
We teach English literature in South Africa, to third- or fourth-language English speakers. Increasingly dissatisfied with the effectiveness of our pedagogy under conditions of massification, we seek to agitate propositions about our students’ reading and what these propositions means for our pedagogy. Drawing on narrative theory we analyse our students’ written responses to a portfolio assessment designed to scaffold their reading of a setwork n…
Thirty Years of Literacies Testing at the University of Cape Town: A Critical Reflection on the Work and its Impact
In this deeply considered and carefully argued book, Cliff reviews three decades of work into academic literacies testing begun at UCT. His account gives the wider academic community insight into how the testing project evolved at the intersection of localcommitments in South Africa to redress and ensuring epistemological access to higher education (HE), and international trends in sociocultural literacy theory and student support. The book’s cen…
Literary reading as a socially responsive practice: Implications for literature pedagogy at higher education
As university teachers of literature, we tend to accept the rhetoric that students lack the capacity to interpret texts meaningfully, without questioning our own biases about the kinds of meaning we expect them to elicit from texts. Often, these are meanings that have little relevance to students' own social or professional lives. In this article, we report on a research project on literary reading at a South African university in which we set ou…
Sociology (15 works) · Political science (12 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · History (8 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Geography (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Pedagogy (5 works)