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The postquarantine reopening of public libraries presents an opportunity for resetting the way libraries welcome patrons. Unfortunately, vestiges of inhospitable, white supremacist practices experienced in public libraries may accompany the “return to normal.” In addition to emphasizing policies and practices that are unwelcoming to patrons and staff from historically marginalized backgrounds, this article presents actions to be employed in an effort to transition the library to a place of belonging and hospitality for marginalized staff and community members.

This paper draws on a synthesis of the literature on hospitality in libraries and antiracism as well as the author's experience from professional practice to critique the host-and-guest concept of hospitality, which results in us versus them actions that uphold racism, white supremacy and white privilege.

Barriers and institutional practices that negatively impact patrons and library workers are illuminated. Recommendations for creating an antiracist “new normal” in public libraries are proposed.

In addition to contributing to the literature on hospitality in libraries, this paper expands the capacity and knowledge base of library staff to call attention to and dismantle barriers and uninviting practices in their own libraries. The paper further advances mutual hospitality as a supplement to antiracism principles as libraries work to eradicate white supremacy.

This paper aims to present research on the assets of first-generation college students and offer asset-based practices that can be implemented to support students during emergency transitions.

This paper reviews the literature related to first-generation college students and cultural wealth and then details practices for implementation by librarians working to enhance the transition to online learning for this student group.

The author identified in the literature six assets of first-generation college students: reflexivity, optimism, academic resilience, goal-orientation, civic-mindedness and proactivity. These assets coupled with Yosso’s concept of community cultural wealth provide a frame of reference for examining and implementing services and programs to enhance the educational experience of first-generation college students during emergency transitions.

Whereas existing literature on first-generation college students assumes a deficit lens, this paper puts forth the cultural assets of this population that may be leveraged by librarians. Student assets are positioned alongside forms of capital that also may be utilized to guide the work of librarians.

Rural education research has historically been cast in a deficit lens, with rural places characterized by their problems or shortcomings, as if the way of understanding rural itself is to compare it to nonrural locales. These intransigent and narrow perceptions of rurality hinders recognition of the assets and possibilities of rural places. The purpose of this paper is to apply community-empowering, transgressive knowledge to analyses of rural communities to advance rural education research and practice.

In this conceptual paper, the authors propose an asset-based, conceptual framework to ground rural research and education practices: rural cultural wealth.

The authors describe and explore the concept of rural cultural wealth within the context of education. Furthermore, the authors discuss the dynamics of rurality and propose four constructs that comprise the rural cultural wealth framework, rural resourcefulness, rural ingenuity, rural familism and rural community unity, and consider implications for future research and practice.

The goal of this paper is to advance a rural cultural wealth framework aimed to interrupt social reproduction of educational inequities that impact rural students.

The author outlines the recent career of Phyllis Hands, the South African born founder of the Cape Wine Academy. He shows how, since a chance association with a small vineyard in the early days, she has steadily increased her involvement with the South African wine industry. She has now developed the twin roles of a public relations officer for South African wine and a leading educator on the subject.

Three case studies demonstrate areas in which management development programmes are successfully carried out. Management development of Kenyan building contractors through seminars and practical remedial assignments; management development of Ethiopian consultant‐managers involving all group levels in the firm or factory; and development of black entrepreneurs in South Africa by hands‐on training in regional and vernacular languages. Thirteen postulated attributes of success have been distilled from this research, and from an examination of the cultural and environmental factors affecting black managers as trainees, consultants, and businessmen. They include a discussion, of concern for immediate improvement, of in‐house supportive groups, integrating experienced managers into the programme, a system of rewards and penalties, learning‐by‐doing, total commitment and enthusiasm, an expanded range of visual aids, follow‐up coaching on the job, team work, outside evaluation, etc.

Prejudice against Jews was part of the landscape in the Union of South Africa long before Nazism made inroads into the country during the 1930s, at which stage Jews constituted approximately 4.6% of the country’s white (or European) population. Aggressive Afrikaner nationalism was marked by fervent attempts to proscribe Jewish immigration. By 1939, Jewish immigration was included as an official plank in the political platform of the opposition Purified National Party led by Dr D.F. Malan, along with a ban on party membership for Jews residents in the Transvaal province. Racial discrimination, in a country with diversified ethnic elements and intense political complexities, was synonymous with life in the Union long before the Apartheid system, with its official policy of enforced legal, political and economic segregation, became law in May 1948 under Dr Malan’s prime ministership. Although the Jews, while maintaining their own subcultural identity, were classified within South Africa’s racial hierarchy as part of the privileged white minority, the emergence of recurrent anti-Jewish stereotypes and themes became manifest in a country permeated by the ideology of race and white superiority. This was exacerbated by the growth of a powerful Afrikaner nationalist movement, underpinned by conservative Calvinist theology. This chapter focusses on measures taken in South Africa by organisational structures within the political sphere to restrict Jewish immigration between 1930 and 1939 and to do so on ethnic grounds. These measures were underscored by radical Afrikaner nationalism, which flew in the face of the principles of ethics and moral judgement.

The world faces a catastrophic Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, where almost all countries have reported positive cases with a global number of more than 262 million cases and the death toll of nearly 5 million people (Johns Hopkins University, 30 November 2021). This pandemic affects not only the health sector but also other sectors, particularly the economic and cultural sectors. East African Community (EAC) and Indonesia are among the countries affected by COVID-19. The objectives of this study are to discuss the strategy employed by the EAC and the Indonesian Governments in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, the needs to be done to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the mitigation measures to minimise the adverse outcomes of this COVID-19 disaster in their particular communities. The study’s academic survey and data were obtained from scientific literature (Ministry of Health from EAC and Indonesia), World Health Organization (WHO), mass media reports and research institutions. The results of the study show that the strategies used by East Africa Community and Indonesia to manage and mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 in their areas have been successful. The number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in 2021 decreased compared to 2020, and the number of recovered people is increasing. The author advises the governments of all countries to continue to educate the society on preventive and mitigation measures for the COVID-19 outbreak, ensuring that the steps for handling the spread of this pandemic are widely known by the public, and encouraging the public to take preventative measures in facing the COVID-19 outbreak.

Africa and Asia are the two most populous continents in the world and are projected to increase further in the near future and this puts the governments under great stress in terms of increased public expenditure and dealing with a low revenue generation. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the influence of population age structure on the size of government expenditure in Africa and Asia covering the period 1990–2018.

The study employed panel fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) estimation in estimating the relevant relationship between the variables in the model.

The key findings revealed that the major population age structures that influence the size of government expenditure in Africa are population aged 0–14 years and population aged 15–64 years, while that of Asia are population aged 15–64 years and population aged 65 years and above. The findings provided strong support for the Population Reference Bureau report (2019) that countries in Africa are home to some of the world's youngest population, that is, those aged 15 years or below, while Asia is home to some of the world's oldest population, that is, those aged 65 years and above.

While generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation is beneficial in the presence of endogeneity, it is only designed for situations with a small time period (T) and a large number of cross sections (N). Hence, the estimation technique was limited only to FMOLS as the number of the cross sections or countries which is ten for Africa and ten for Asia is lower than the time period which is 29 years (1990–2018).

Empirical literature investigating the influence of population age structure on the size of government expenditure has focussed mainly on one aspect of the population age structure and government expenditure, which is the influence of ageing population on government expenditure on health. Hence, this study focussed on assessing the influence of population age structure on the size of government expenditure. The study is unique as it compared the two most populous continents in the world, which are Africa and Asia to determine which of the population age structures have the most significant influence on the size of government expenditure.

Culture (traditional or organisational) has tended to be either a resource or an impediment to socio-economic development (SED) because culture plays an important role in the socio-economic sphere. This study investigates traditional culture that influences SED in light of the prevailing socio-economic situation in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Previously known as the Kingdom of Swaziland). Based on the existing demographics and political state, most people of the Kingdom live in rural areas, where traditional culture is predominant, and poverty is prevalent. That justifies their advocacy for SED influenced by cultural and traditional structures as opposed to one influenced by the internationally inclined modern democratic structures. This study used quantitative approaches and collected data from 30 ‘SED initiatives’. Results of the study indicate that traditional cultural influence is most prevalent in rural communities, while the adoption of the new national constitution in 2005 brought an insignificant change in the way culture influences SED. It was also noted that cultural governance, cultural tourism, customs and traditions, gender discrimination and marginalisation of people living with disabilities are the main existing components relating to the area of the central phenomenon. Further findings indicate that Eswatini culture is largely epitomised by the existence of the Monarchy authority, as a wide range of beliefs, customs and traditions are entrenched in the core values of the same. This infers that the Kingdom of Eswatini is predominated by socio-cultural values, which necessitates a telling influence on SED issues.