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Current Awareness 2022: May

This monthly post, compiled by the Information Search Librarians Team, will note special dates and themes, and draw your attention to possibly interesting cross-disciplinary topical references intended to inform and to inspire ideas for research.

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What is current awareness

Current awareness is the term used to describe staying informed by keeping up to date with the latest publications, research and news in your field.

The perspective of current awareness is the present and the forthcoming, as opposed to the retrospective. 

Current awareness ranges from looking for information on specific topics on a regular basis (and this usually involves the assistance of your Personal Librarian to help you set up a search profile matched to your research interests) to embracing a wider, more general, and cross-disciplinary view that brings an element of serendipity into your search for the latest information.

Informally, researchers remain alert in all contexts for useful information and insights that will inform their daily practice, their research, and spark off innovative and creative ideas for new avenues of research.

Websites of the month

SA History Online

South African History Online (SAHO) is a not for profit Section 21 organisation with over two decades experience in becoming the largest and most comprehensive online website on South African and African history and culture.  

The material on the website is added to daily across all major subject areas by their research team, plus local and international academics and students from across the world.

Timeline: What Happened in History
A general chronology of events listing South African history and culture that covers politics, culture, sport and science.

People in History: A Who’s Who Lives of Courage 
The SAHO website hosts 7,000 biographies, which makes this the largest biography project in South Africa. 

Politics and Governance
This is the hub of the country’s political history, with detailed features on political movements and organisations, with particular focus on South Africa’s liberation struggle history and the countries road to democracy.

National Oral History Project
This is a national oral history project, which invites learners and educators to undertake oral history projects on people who fought for freedom and those who are promoting democracy in their communities. The material produced by the students is published on our website. 

African History
This is a fairly new but growing project, building a country by country history but also presenting broad themes that influenced African History.  Our aim is to work towards building a partnership with academics from across Africa and internationally to establish a separate African History website. 

 

About the monthly awareness page

The year is marked with many special days, weeks, and months dedicated and devoted to raising awareness about important issues.

This monthly post, compiled by the Information Search Librarians Team, will note special dates and themes, and draw your attention to possibly interesting cross-disciplinary topical references intended to inform and to inspire ideas for research.

May Day history in South Africa

1 May 2022  

Workers' Day 2022

Originally born from the protracted struggle for workers’ rights and social justice of the late 1800s, Workers’ Day has been an international holiday in many countries since 1891. In South Africa, a country with its own long and sordid history of labour and social conflicts.

Workers’ Day has been officially recognised and observed since the first democratic elections in 1994.

Read more about the history of Worker's Day in South Africa on the SA History Online's website.

3 May 2022

World Press Freedom Day Theme Journalism under digital siege

World Press Freedom Day 2022         

On 2-5 May 2022, UNESCO and the Republic of Uruguay will host the annual World Press Freedom Day Global Conference in a hybrid format in Punta Del Este, Uruguay. Under the theme “Journalism under Digital Siege”, the digital era’s impact on freedom of expression, the safety of journalists, access to information and privacy will be discussed.                         

15 May 2022

international day of famillies logog

International Day of Families 2022

International Day of Families falls on 15 May every year and highlights the importance of families as basic units of society.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that 15 May of every year shall be observed as the International Day of Families. The day reflects the importance that the international community attaches to families as basic units of society as well as its concern regarding their situation around the world.

17 May 2022

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022               

  The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD)(link is external) is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide

21 May 2022

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2022

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2022

The day provides us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to advance the four goals of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions adopted on 20 October 2005

Themes for the month

Africa Month 2022

The month of May is recognised as Africa month – a time when the continent of Africa commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Africa Month also seeks to increase the appreciation and demand for arts and culture goods and services, and to stimulate competitive markets for trade among African countries. 

Energy Month 2022

May is National Energy Month in South Africa. 

In the media

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Archive

Should you wish to read Current Awareness guides of previous years, please visit the archive:

2014-2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Looking for upcoming conferences?

If you are looking for forthcoming conferences, the following websites are helpful:

Golden oldies

May Day, The Worker's Day, born in the struggle for the eight-hour day

The ConstitutionVol. 3, No. 4, pp 92-10001 June 2003

 

The first of May : do workers have anything to celebrate in South Africa twenty years into democracy?

Fundamina : A Journal of Legal HistoryVol. 24, No. 2, pp 100-11901 November 2018PDF

Abstract

The fight for workers’ rights and other conditions of service in employment has been an on-going process for a number of decades. Unions have been at the forefront of driving this fight against stiff resistance from employers, especially prior ...