From Hope To Action Through Knowledge

Its November 2001. A university in dire straits, financially bankrupt burdening a debt in excess of R100-million, a disillusioned and demoralised staff complement still reeling from the trauma of retrenchments, coupled with an academic project facing collapse as student numbers dwindle by a third to less than 10 000. Is there a future for such an institution, described by some as a ‘basket case’ with very bleak prospects of survival? This was the landscape that confronted the newly-appointed Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the University of the Western Cape. Fast forward to December 2014. The CEO retires from office, bestowing upon his successor a financially sound institution with a flourishing academic project, recording unprecedented achievements, enriching the lives of more than 20 000 students, and widely acknowledged as a research-led university. This book narrates how visionary leadership with the steadfast belief that your past does not determine your future, galvanised an entire organisation into believing that a better outcome was indeed achievable, and the will to move forward as a collective with a redefined purpose and commitment to achieve that which was once deemed impossible.

“[A] landmark book . . . Solnit illustrates how the uprisings that begin on the streets can upend the status quo and topple authoritarian regimes” (Vice). A book as powerful and influential as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, her Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of activists at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them—and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of our times in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book. “One of the best books of the 21st century.” —The Guardian “No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that’s marked this new millennium.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter “An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways.” —The New Yorker

Calling on history, cutting-edge research, complexity science and even The Lord of the Rings, renowned thought leader Thomas Homer-Dixon lays out the tools we can command to rescue a world on the brink. For three decades, Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Ingenuity Gap and The Upside of Down, has examined the threats to our future security—predicting a deteriorating global environment, extreme economic stresses, mass migrations, social instability and wide political violence if humankind continued on its current course. He was called The Doom Meister, but we now see how prescient he was. Today, just about everything we've known and relied on (our natural environment, economy, societies, cultures and institutions) is changing dramatically—too often for the worse. Without radical new approaches, our planet will become unrecognizable as well as poorer, more violent and more authoritarian. In his latest work (dedicated to his young children), he calls on his extraordinary knowledge of complexity science, of how societies work and can evolve, and of our capacity to handle threats, to show that we can shift human civilization onto a decisively new path if we mobilize our minds, spirits, imaginations and collective values. Commanding Hope marshals a fascinating, accessible argument for reinvigorating our cognitive strengths and belief systems to affect urgent systemic change, strengthen our economies and cultures, and renew our hope in a positive future for everyone on Earth.

Introducing the 7 principles for practicing critical hope--because hope isn’t something you have; it’s something you do. Each person has a unique, ever-changing relationship to hope. Hope alone can be transformational--but in moments of despair, or when you’re up against profound injustice, it isn’t enough on its own. Hope without action is, at best, naive. At its worst, it tricks you into giving up the power and agency you have to change systems that cause suffering. Enter critical hope: a spark of passion, an abiding belief that transformation is not just possible, but vital. This is hope in action: a vibrant, engaged practice and a commitment to honoring transformative potential across a vast spectrum of experience. Dr. Kari Grain, PhD, offers 7 principles for practicing critical hope: Hope is necessary, but hope alone is not enough Critical hope is not something you have; it’s something you practice. Critical hope is messy, uncomfortable, and full of contradictions. Critical hope is intimately entangled with the body and the land Critical hope requires bearing witness to social and historical trauma Critical hope requires interruptions and invitations Anger and grief have a seat at the table The principles for practicing critical hope are not what you might think: they confront toxic positivity and take up discomfort, social injustices, and an ethos of hospitality toward anger and grief. But held in this same space is a love for connection–and an honoring of what makes you feel alive. Inspired by her global research, teaching experiences, and education curriculum taught at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Grain shows that to cultivate critical hope--and combat despair--you need to show up with your whole self, in all its messy, passionate, vibrant complexity.

A scientist friend asked Bruno Latour point-blank: “Do you believe in reality?” Taken aback by this strange query, Latour offers his meticulous response in Pandora’s Hope. It is a remarkable argument for understanding the reality of science in practical terms. In this book, Latour, identified by Richard Rorty as the new “bête noire of the science worshipers,” gives us his most philosophically informed book since Science in Action. Through case studies of scientists in the Amazon analyzing soil and in Pasteur’s lab studying the fermentation of lactic acid, he shows us the myriad steps by which events in the material world are transformed into items of scientific knowledge. Through many examples in the world of technology, we see how the material and human worlds come together and are reciprocally transformed in this process. Why, Latour asks, did the idea of an independent reality, free of human interaction, emerge in the first place? His answer to this question, harking back to the debates between Might and Right narrated by Plato, points to the real stakes in the so-called science wars: the perplexed submission of ordinary people before the warring forces of claimants to the ultimate truth.

Three complete Drucker management books in one volume — Managing for Results, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and The Effective Executive with a new preface by the author. In his preface, Peter F. Drucker says: "These three books should enable executives — whether high up in the organization or just beginning their career — to know the right things to do; — to know how to do them; and — to do them effectively.Together, these three books provide The Toolkit for Executive Action." Drucker identifies and explains the practices, decisions and priorities for achieving business performance and executive effectiveness. These books cover "the three dimensions of the successful practice of management." Managing for Results was the first book to explain business strategy. Drucker shows how the existing business has to focus on opportunities rather than problems to be effective, for it is the opportunities that will bring growth and performance. Innovation and Entrepreneurship analyzes the challenges and opportunities of America's new entrepreneurial economy. It is a superbly practical book that explains what established businesses, public service institutions and new ventures have to know, learn and do to prepare and create the successful businesses of tomorrow. In The Effective Executive, Drucker discusses the five practices and habits that must be learned for executive effectiveness. Ranging widely through business and government, he demonstrates the distinctive skill of the executive and offers fresh insights into old and seemingly obvious situations. Together, these three books have sold more than a million copies; they have been published throughout the world and continue to sell actively. These are essential works for the executive and manager by "the dean of this country's business and management philosophers." —Wall Street Journal

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its Calls to Action in June 2015, governments, churches, non-profit, professional and community organizations, corporations, schools and universities, clubs and individuals have asked: “How can I/we participate in reconciliation?” Recognizing that reconciliation is not only an ultimate goal, but a decolonizing process of journeying in ways that embody everyday acts of resistance, resurgence, and solidarity, coupled with renewed commitments to justice, dialogue, and relationship-building, Pathways of Reconciliation helps readers find their way forward. The essays in Pathways of Reconciliation address the themes of reframing, learning and healing, researching, and living. They engage with different approaches to reconciliation (within a variety of reconciliation frameworks, either explicit or implicit) and illustrate the complexities of the reconciliation process itself. They canvass multiple and varied pathways of reconciliation, from Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, reflecting a diversity of approaches to the mandate given to all Canadians by the TRC with its Calls to Action. Together the authors — academics, practitioners, students and ordinary citizens — demonstrate the importance of trying and learning from new and creative approaches to thinking about and practicing reconciliation and reflect on what they have learned from their attempts (both successful and less successful) in the process.