UKZN Press is delighted to announce that the book, Peace vs Justice? The Dilemma of Transitional Justice in Africa edited by Chandra Lekha Sriram and Suren Pillay, which we co-published with James Currey, has just won a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year award. Choice, from the American Library Association, is a US reviewer of academic books, and the award is highly regarded.
Here is the letter that was sent to our co-publisher from Choice:
This is indeed an honour, and we are proud of this publishing distinction.
About the book
This book offers fresh insights on the so-called ‘justice versus peace’ dilemma, examining the challenges and prospects for promoting both peace and accountability, specifically in African countries affected by conflict or political violence. Peace versus Justice? draws on the expertise of many insiders analysts, individuals who are not only authorities on transitional accountability processes, but who have participated in them, whether as legal practitioners or commissioners. While the primary focus is on processes in Africa, many of the contributors also draw on lessons from earlier processes elsewhere in the world, particularly Latin America.
The chapters in this volume consider a wide range of approaches to accountability and peacebuilding. These include not only domestic courts and tribunals, hybrid tribunals, or the International Criminal Court, but also truth commissions and informal or non-state justice and conflict resolution processes. Taken together, they demonstrate the wealth of experiences and experimentation in transitional justice processes on the continent.
Contributors: Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah; Alex Boraine; Thelma Ekiyor; John L. Hirsch; Victor Igreja; Matthew Kukah; Abdul Rahman Lamin; Sheila Meintjes; Mireille Affa’a Mindzie; Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu; Nompumelelo Motlafi; Wambui Mwangi; Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza; Suren Pillay; Helen Scanlon; Chandra Lekha Sriram; Yasmin Louise Sooka; Abdul Tejan-Cole; Charles Villa-Vicencio
About the editors
Chandra Lekha Sriram is Professor of Human Rights at the School of Law, University of East London, United Kingdom. She is also the Chair of the International Studies Association Human Rights Section and consults on issues of governance and conflict prevention for the United Nations Development Programme.
UKZN Press would like to congratulate Paddy Kearney on winning the 2010 Andrew Murray Desmond Tutu Prize for the best Christian/theological book in English. Dr Kearney won the award for Guardian of the Light, his biography of Denis Hurley – the late Archbishop of Durban.
Here’s the press release from the prize’s organisers:
WINNER OF ANDREW MURRAY-DESMOND TUTU PRIZE ANNOUNCED
This year’s winner of the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize for the best Christian/theological book in an official language of South Africa, is dr Paddy Kearney for his biography on the late Archbishop of Durban, Denis Hurley – Guardian of the Light, published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press (locally) and Continuum Books (internationally).
The judges of this year’s award were Rowan Smith, the dean of St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, Spiwo Xapile of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Guguletu, and Amanda Botha, journalist and writer. They wrote about Guardian of the Light: “There is something powerful about Paddy Kearney’s biography of Archbishop Denis Hurley which speaks to our present times because in highlighting the role of Hurley in the struggle against apartheid, Kearney is equally concerned to shine a light on the Church and especially his own Roman Catholic Church. He shows that both Church and State must be open to the light of Christ and that the prophetic role of the Church cannot be compromised by seeking to please either ecclesiastical or secular powers, We are also powerfully reminded of the role of the Church as servant and that the ‘first must be the servant of all.”
The award of the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize to Kearney, must be something of an ecumenical breakthrough: an award named after a 19th century Dutch Reformed dominee and an Anglican archbishop-emeritus, is awarded to a Roman Catholic writing about a Roman Catholic archbishop!
Paddy Kearney had been director of the Diakonia Council of Churches in Durban for many years and played a significant role to mobilise the ecumenical movement in Natal during the apartheid years. He was a close friend of Denis Hurley, and was recently awarded a honorary doctorate by the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
This will be the fourth time that the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize is awarded. The prize consists of R12 000, a trophy and an the chance to give an address on the book.
The winner this year of the Andrew Murray Prize especially for Afrikaans Christian books, is Dr Stephan Joubert for his book Jesus, ‘n radikale sprong, published by CUM. The Andrew Murray Prize for Afrikaans books was established in 1980.
The award winning ceremony will take place in Cape Town during May.
DR FRITS GAUM
Chairman: Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize Fund
The Andrew Murray prizes are administered by the the Andrew Murray Prize Fund, Bible Media, based in Wellington. Congratulations, once again, to Kearney!
The second audio edition of this wonderful CD collection of stories, narrated by South Africa’s most popular performance storyteller, in her inimitable style, is drawn from her well known book Stories of Africa. In addition, there are a number of songs, most of them written by Gcina Mhlophe (with the exception of “Imfene emthini – Baboon in the tree”, a well known traditional children’s song).
For some of the vocals on this CD, Gcina is joined by her daughter, Nomakhwezi Becker, as well as members of the Children’s Choir from Entakemazolo H.P. School in Hammarsdale (a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal).
In Gcina’s words: “I love sharing my songs and stories with others. But my favourite way of relating them is the ancient way of my people – telling them face to face, in front of a live audience. Oh the thrill of seeing faces reacting to what you are saying, of feeling the energy go from the storyteller and back again! I hope that this CD will carry some of that thrill to you, the listener, and that you, too, will feel a story or a song awaken inside you and find yourself wishing to tell it to others. Yes you! Because every living being has a story to tell. So let’s keep passing on the magic.”
More from the Daily Dispatch and The Herald (plus: watch a video of Nyezwa reading at the second link):
MXOLISI Nyezwa, of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth, won the 2009 Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry.
The announcement was made by Pringle Award chief adjudicator Dr Amitabh Mitra, of the East London Hospital Complex, at the Book SA Ban’quet last Saturday.
Nyezwa, author of New Country, was awarded R2 000.
“I am very grateful for the recognition of my work,” said Nyezwa, who also received an award from Rhodes University this year.
The interior of his tidy office in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth contrasts sharply with its appearance from the outside – a blue container among the shacks which dominate the area.
“From here I am fighting for the preservation of black poetry”, said Nyezwa, who has devoted his life to poetry, writing and teaching other people how to do so.
“Writing is a way to come to terms with contradictions people experience in every day life,” he said, pointing to the children playing with refuse bags outside.
UKZN Press is delighted to announce that the book, Peace vs Justice? The Dilemma of Transitional Justice in Africa edited by Chandra Lekha Sriram and Suren Pillay, which we co-published with James Currey, has just won a Choice Outstanding Academic Book of the Year award. Choice, from the American Library Association, is a US reviewer of academic books, and the award is highly regarded.
