Culture-Led Smart Villages: A Critical Cultural Policy Analysis in South Africa

AbstractSouth Africa is rapidly obliterating its cultural resources and indigenous values. Particularly, this is the case in rural South Africa where manifestations of socio-economic declensions are evident. However, a number of the policies that are meant to enhance rural development lack a cohesive strategy that is based on culture-based theoretical frameworks. The paper argues that the conspicuous disregard to address rural development and its concomitant socio-economic challenges in the Revised White Paper on Arts, Culture, and Heritage, 2017, by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), now (DSAC); poses a great threat to sustainable rural developmentKeywords: Smart Villageculturecultural policyindigenous knowledgetop-down approachco-creation theorysustainable rural development AcknowledgmentsThe author is grateful to Prof. Godfrey Anyumba and Dr Sibusiso Ndlangamandla for their comments and insightful reviews.Author contributionsThis is a sole authored article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.