Date/Time
Date(s) - Wed - 17 Feb
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Categories
Dear friends of the Urban Futures Centre @ Durban University of Technology (UFC@DUT)
UFC@DUT will be running its 2nd seminar for the year, join us in the series of interesting learning debates and discussions concerning our city.
Please note that UFC seminars are held on Wednesday for this year in order to encourage more and more students to attend these informative sessions.
Topic : Drugs, Police and the City of Durban
Presenter: PROF MONIQUE MARKS
Date: Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Time: 12:00 to 13:30
Venue: BS2103 L1, S2 Block, Steve Biko Campus- Entrance from gate 1 and 2.
About the Presentation
There has been a huge moral panic in recent years about the growing number of street level drug users in Durban. As ‘whoonga’ has become more present in the Durban CBD, the public and municipal government have come out in condemnation of drug users and of drug use. Attempts have been made to try to create a ‘drug free’ city through a war against drugs, led by the police. Yet a number of questions remain unanswered and without answers to them the city of Durban is likely to find that nothing has changed in regard to drug use and criminality. In fact, current approaches to drug use might in fact be worsening the harm of drug use. The seminar aims to bring a bit of clarity to these questions: Why do we problematize drug use? Why has street level drug use grown in Durban? Is it possible to eradicate drug use? How have the police responded to drug use in Durban, and with what impact? Are there alternative and perhaps smarter ways of reducing the harm that drug use causes to individuals, their families and to the city?
About the Presenter
Prof. Monique Marks currently heads up the newly established Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology (UFC@DUT). Initially trained as a social worker, she has a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Natal, and writes predominantly in the field of criminology. She has published widely in the areas of youth social movements, ethnographic research methods, police labour relations, police organizational change and security governance. She has published four books: Young Warriors: Youth Identity, Politics and Violence in South Africa; Transforming the Robocops: Changing Police in South Africa; and Police Occupational Culture: New Debates and Directions (edited with Anne-Marie Singh and Megan O’Neill) and Police Reform from the Bottom Up (edited with David Sklansky). She has also published over 45 peer reviewed articles and numerous reports. She sits on a number of journal editorial boards as well as the Board of Trustees of the Safer South Africa Foundation. In her research work on security governance she has forged close relations with government, both local and national. In recent years Monique has become interested in the policing of drug use and views herself as part of the harm reduction movement.
Kindly RSVP to confirm your attendance to ufcadmin@dut.ac.za
Looking forward to seeing you at this seminar.
Please feel free to send this on to others who might be interested.