Canon Collins Review

Over the last four decades, the Canon Collins Trust has supported academics and scholars from southern Africa. It has done so to provide opportunities to young scholars in the development of their scholarly capabilities and build the corpus of intellectual work, disseminate knowledge and ideas and such related purposes.

In doing so the Trust seeks to build on the creation of knowledge about some of the most important contemporary crises facing society. These include catastrophic climate change and loss of biodiversity, conflict and genocidal war, food and hunger, inequality, poverty, unemployment and the threats to human rights, justice, freedom and democracy. The Trust hopes that this work will continue to stimulate the development of theories, concepts, ideas and practices which explore and exemplify the policies, strategies and actions which may be useful for overcoming wide-ranging political, socio-economic, educational, environmental and other challenges facing societies.

The orientation of the Trust has always been that of supporting scholarship towards the development of democratic societies built on the principles of social justice, human rights, freedom and sustainable peace, ethical leadership and public accountability. The Trust further recognises the contributions of our scholars to an incredible body of knowledge that spans several disciplines. Thus, the Review is being created specifically as a space for publishing ideas, sharing and dissemination to a broader audience.

1. The 1^st issue of the Review invites scholars to engage with and share writings which examine the concepts, theories, ideas, practices and processes relating to the activities of social movements and community organisations, engaged in collective and solidaristic interventions to address the structural and systemic challenges referred to above. These interventions relate to a range of activities pursued by social movements and communities around environmental, health, food, energy, safety, livelihood, cultural, infrastructural, educational and other related initiatives.
2. These interventions can be studied through the practices of a wide range of local, regional and global social, cultural, educational, scientific and other social movements and organisations. Their interventions can be examined particularly for the processes of learning, knowledge and innovation they produce and the strategies that can be employed to leverage and support social change against the enormous power of the structural limitations and impediments to change.
3. Articles submitted to the Review could examine both the actual practices of social movements and communities or the literature related to it. Submissions could refer to, amongst others, the debates and discussions taking place in conferences, colloquia, workshop and other places by examining them critically. In other words, submissions to the Review could be based on researching and analysing the ideas, practices and the activist orientations to understand what could be learn from the activities of social movements and communities or the literature that this has spawned, given especially that there is now a significant body of writing (academic and otherwise) about this issue. Regarding this, particular attention should be paid to the development by such social movements and communities of the alternative solidaristic, collective and transformative practices for building sustaining livelihoods and environments by:
   1. Examining and researching the literature and writing now increasingly available on these issues – especially as these refer to the alternative forms of organisation and their constituencies, their practices for building democratic systems, the relationship of their themes to the social challenges confronting such communities and the aims and purposes which they aspire to in building an alternative to the prevailing crises.
   2. Engaging with practitioners and participants involved in the work of these social movements and communities including members of such community organisations, their partners, intellectuals and academics involved in networks of collaboration with them.
   3. Contributions to the review could, in response to the focus of this issue, draw from and re-examine extant writings by contributors to shed new light and analysis of these issues.
   4. Contributions could also provide critical book reviews and interviews with thinkers and practitioners on the issues relevant to the above.
   5. The Review would pay attention to interpretations which examine critically the socially fragmenting effects of gendered, racialized, geographic, class-based and other regimes of social and environmental control.

The following guidelines are intended to assist authors in preparing their contributions.

The Review welcomes contributions from scholars, activists, researchers, policy makers, professionals, educators, and organisations interested in and concerned about advancing social justice. Submissions should contribute to developing new thinking and fresh debates on social justice in southern Africa.

The Review would like to encourage submissions that could stimulate the process of democratising knowledge through debate and discussion by engaging more directly with communities most affected by the intractable challenges confronting society, the collective learning happening in community spaces and the promotion of a community of learners.

It is hoped that especially emerging researchers will find a useful avenue to express their ideas and share their intellectual work in an environment which is supportive of their development and that of a wider community of emergent and established scholars, intellectuals and activists. Ultimately, the objective of the Review is to produce knowledge which has social value, contributes to our collective understanding and provides pathways and solidaristic approaches to substantive social change.

The Trust does not intend to publish an academically accredited Journal and the Review will not  follow all the conventions of academic writing. The language and writing must be accessible to a wider than academic audience and will not adhere to the requirements of conventional academic scholarship regarding sources, styles and referencing and the other established academic publication rules and criteria. Its purpose is to solicit thoughtful pieces of writing on the issues referred to above, construed broadly. It must thus adopt a style of writing for a general readership, set out a coherent explanation of the issue on which it is focussed, pay attention to factual data or information and how these are analysed and interpreted, provide referencing where that is necessary (such as in the use of quoted text or reference to a particular pre-exiting body of ideas taken from a source) and pay attention to the rules of grammar and punctuation, showing a reasonable command of the language used.

Contributors need to:

• Write in an accessible language (English or French);
• Use an understandable style;
• Inform, educate and/or raise debate;
• Provide analysis and an argument; and
• Ensure that the contents of the article attract the readers’ attention and provoke new insight on the topic.

The Trust will support this endeavour through a process of mentoring and guidance, drawing on a network of experienced friends and colleagues of the Trust.

In the three months that the call is open, we will hold three monthly 45-minute Lunchtime QnAs. Guest editors and members of the Editorial board will:

1. Talk about one aspect of writing and the writing process for 15 minutes.
2. Take your questions for 30 minutes.

Here are the dates for those events:

• Canon Collins Review Lunchtime QnA 1pm July 24. Register for the event here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
• Canon Collins Review Lunchtime QnA 1pm August 21 Register for the event here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
• Canon Collins Review Lunchtime QnA 1pm September 25 Register for the event here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

You are invited to submit your abstract by 20 July 2025 and your final contribution by 30 October 2025. Send submissions and any queries to editor@canoncollins.org

We will compile the first review by the end of November and officially launch the Canon Collins Review by December 4.