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Abstract: Submission #55

Submission Number: 55
Submission ID: 812
Submission UUID: 52407d8c-3db3-4a07-b027-a6d53bd0cf1d
Submission URI: /2025/abstracts

Created: Wed, 04/23/2025 - 12:29
Completed: Wed, 04/23/2025 - 12:37
Changed: Sun, 08/03/2025 - 13:08

Remote IP address: 146.230.0.1
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Current page: Complete
Webform: Abstract
Presenters
Dr.
Motloung
Siphiwe
0835195385
University of kwazulu-natal
Dr Siphiwe Motloung is a Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in the Social Work Department at the School of Applied Human Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research interests include mental health, addiction, race and gender-based violence. Before joining academia, Dr Motloung practiced as a Clinical Social Worker for nearly two decades in the public health sector. She worked in the hospital outpatients as well as inpatients providing therapy to patients. She also worked in inpatient rehabilitation with individuals battling with substance and gambling addiction.
She obtained her Bachelor of Social Science in Social work from the University of Cape Town, Masters in Social Work (Clinical Practice) from the University of KwaZulu Natal and a PhD in Psychology from the same institution. Her research focus was on academics’ discourse on race and racism in post-Apartheid higher education. Of interest in her research on race and racism is the state of academics as disseminators of knowledge in the era of decoloniality discourse.
Yes
Mr.
Mzinyane
Bongane
MzinyaneB@ukzn.ac.za
0839950853
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Bongane Mzinyane is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Social Work at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he has taught Social Policy and Social Work Practice in the past 5 years. Before joining academia Bongane has eight years of experience in Department of Social Development and Department of Justice. He holds Master of Social Sciences, Bachelor of Social Work and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration. He has submitted his PhD thesis for examination. He now supervises master's students, coordinates BSW programme, and actively publishes and reviews for local and international social work journals. His research interests include disaster management, green social work and criminal justice social work, this is evidenced by publications and conference presentations in the past few years. In 2024, he also facilitated a training course for the South African Police Service on crowd psychology.
No
Abstract
The Black Man's Environment: The Relevance of Steve Biko’s Ideas in Analysing the Interlocking Struggles for Racial, Decolonial, and Environmental Justice in South Africa
THEME 3: Policy and Advocacy for Peace building, Environmental and Social Justice
Sub 3.5 Strategies for promoting environmental activism within the profession.
Oral Presentation
This conceptual paper argues for the enduring relevance of Steve Biko's philosophy of Black Consciousness for understanding and addressing environmental injustice in South Africa. Positioned within a social work lens, the paper posits that Biko's analysis of systemic racism, psychological oppression, and the imperative for decolonization provides a crucial framework for recognizing the deeply intertwined nature of racial, colonial, and environmental marginalization. By examining how apartheid's spatial planning and resource exploitation patterns continue to disproportionately burden Black communities with environmental degradation, this paper demonstrates how Biko's call for psychological liberation and self-determination is essential for achieving genuine environmental justice. It argues that a Biko-inspired approach necessitates a radical reimagining of environmentalism that centers the experiences and agency of Black South Africans in the struggle for ecological and social liberation.
Reviewer ONE Feedback
DR
SANDILE
DHLUDHLU
Yes
Empirical Research
Accepted
Reviewer TWO Feedback
Mr
Jean-Paul
Pophaim
Yes
Empirical Research
Accepted
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