Monique Marks
I am initially trained as a social worker. While I see social work as foundational to who I am as a person and as a professional, I have not practiced for a very long time.
I have been writing and researching in the field of criminology for the past 15 years. Presently, I head up the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment. The UFC@DUT is a dynamic team. We are committed to engaged research and our projects are guided as much by evidence as by imagination.
I am also trained as a life coach and hope that someday I will have the time to do life coach work more regularly.
Phone: 0027844033934
Address: South Africa
I have been writing and researching in the field of criminology for the past 15 years. Presently, I head up the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment. The UFC@DUT is a dynamic team. We are committed to engaged research and our projects are guided as much by evidence as by imagination.
I am also trained as a life coach and hope that someday I will have the time to do life coach work more regularly.
Phone: 0027844033934
Address: South Africa
less
InterestsView All (15)
Uploads
Papers
initiatives within a particular South African context, which of Kenneth
Gardens, a low-income housing estate in Durban. The interface
between community development, state politics (at a local and national
level) and networked arrangements are discussed through the experiences
of working on the Kenneth Gardens Community Project.
The negative impact of political interference within local community
development projects such as this one can lead to apathy and paralysis.
We argue that this frequent interference in South Africa narrows
spaces for meaningfully practicing democracy at a grass-roots level.
However, local community dynamics and networks are also important
factors to consider. As in the case examined in this article, these dynamics
and networks ensure that development partnerships outside of the
state are not completely immobilised or derailed.
This article presents an ethnographic exploration of the policing of illegal substances in a city in South Africa. Situated contextually, we show how specific illegal drug policing practices are reinforced both institutionally and in the daily practices and activities of law enforcement officials. We explore the tension resulting from the demand for police officers to enforce punitive forms of regulation, despite their own awareness of the ineffectiveness of such strategies. Drawing on the experiences of the officers we engaged with, we show that policing aimed more at harm reduction than tough enforcement is possible. This, we argue, is the result of shifts in the structural field of policing (particularly at the policy level) and contradictions in the basic assumptions that police officers have about drug users, drug markets and what constitutes ‘real’ police work.
initiatives within a particular South African context, which of Kenneth
Gardens, a low-income housing estate in Durban. The interface
between community development, state politics (at a local and national
level) and networked arrangements are discussed through the experiences
of working on the Kenneth Gardens Community Project.
The negative impact of political interference within local community
development projects such as this one can lead to apathy and paralysis.
We argue that this frequent interference in South Africa narrows
spaces for meaningfully practicing democracy at a grass-roots level.
However, local community dynamics and networks are also important
factors to consider. As in the case examined in this article, these dynamics
and networks ensure that development partnerships outside of the
state are not completely immobilised or derailed.
This article presents an ethnographic exploration of the policing of illegal substances in a city in South Africa. Situated contextually, we show how specific illegal drug policing practices are reinforced both institutionally and in the daily practices and activities of law enforcement officials. We explore the tension resulting from the demand for police officers to enforce punitive forms of regulation, despite their own awareness of the ineffectiveness of such strategies. Drawing on the experiences of the officers we engaged with, we show that policing aimed more at harm reduction than tough enforcement is possible. This, we argue, is the result of shifts in the structural field of policing (particularly at the policy level) and contradictions in the basic assumptions that police officers have about drug users, drug markets and what constitutes ‘real’ police work.