The Struggle for African Identity: Thabo Mbeki's African Renaissance

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-277
Author(s):  
PAL AHLUWALIA
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African Identity ◽  
The Past ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Pan Africanism ◽  
The Many

ABSTRACT This paper examines South African President Thabo Mbeki's notion of the African Renaissance. Representations of Africa have been challenged in the past by movements such as negritude and pan-Africanism. Thabo Mbeki's proclamation of the African Renaissance can be seen as another attempt to fight and challenge prevailing representations of Africa. An African Renaissance that does not degenerate into essentialism (particularlism) has the potential to transform the lives of the many Africans who have been ravaged by the continuing legacy of colonialism. The author argues that if the call for an African Renaissance is to have any lasting impact on the African condition, it must be careful to avoid taking the essentialist positions advocated by earlier ideological movements such as negritude. The essay contends that the call for an African Renaissance is an important effort which needs to be adopted by Africans beyond the borders of South Africa.

Epistemic Ruptures in South African Standpoint Knowledge-Making: Academic Feminism and the #FeesMustFall Movement

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Desiree Lewis ◽  
Cheryl Margaret Hendricks
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Academic Feminism ◽  
The Many ◽  
Radical Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Activism

Alongside the many structural and political processes generated by the #FeesMustFall student protests between 2015 and 2016 were narratives and discourses about revitalising the transformation of universities throughout South Africa. It was the very notion of “transformation,” diluted by neo-liberal macro-economic restructuring from the late 1990s, that students jettisoned as they increasingly embraced the importance of “decolonisation.” By exploring some of the key debates and interventions driven by the #FeesMustFall movement, we consider how earlier trajectories of feminist knowledge-making resonate with these. The article also reflects on how aspects of intellectual activism within the student protests can deepen and push back the frontiers of contemporary South African academic feminism. In so doing, it explores how radical knowledge-making at, and about, universities, has contributed to radical political thought in South Africa.

A Review of Medical Waste Management in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaniyi FC ◽  
Ogola JS ◽  
Tshitangano TG
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
African Government ◽  
The Past ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Medical Waste Management

Background:Poor medical waste management has been implicated in an increase in the number of epidemics and waste-related diseases in the past years. South Africa is resource-constrained in the management of medical waste.Objectives:A review of studies regarding medical waste management in South Africa in the past decade was undertaken to explore the practices of medical waste management and the challenges being faced by stakeholders.Method:Published articles, South African government documents, reports of hospital surveys, unpublished theses and dissertations were consulted, analysed and synthesised. The studies employed quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods and documented comparable results from all provinces.Results:The absence of a national policy to guide the medical waste management practice in the provinces was identified as the principal problem. Poor practices were reported across the country from the point of medical waste generation to disposal, as well as non-enforcement of guidelines in the provinces where they exit. The authorized disposal sites nationally are currently unable to cope with the enormous amount of the medical waste being generated and illegal dumping of the waste in unapproved sites have been reported. The challenges range from lack of adequate facilities for temporary storage of waste to final disposal.Conclusion:These challenges must be addressed and the practices corrected to forestall the adverse effects of poorly managed medical waste on the country. There is a need to develop a medical waste policy to assist in the management of such waste.

“Traditional” Venḓa Women’s Beadwork Accessing the Contemporary Tourist Market in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-224
Author(s):  
Mathodi F. Motsamayi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
The Past ◽  
African Heritage ◽  
Trading Networks

Beads and beadwork have played a role in South Africa’s Limpopo Province dating back to the pre-colonial times. Whether the beads were produced locally or imported via trading networks, the region already had a rich tradition of constructing beadwork before the arrival of Europeans. Today, this tradition is continued by new generations of women beaders. It has been found that literature on contemporary Limpopo beadwork produced by Vhavenḓa women is scarce. This article addressed this imbalance. It is vital to state that, during the last decade and in the context of South African heritage and tourism, there has been a steadily increasing number of scholarly studies on Nguni beadwork. This study offered new insights into contemporary beadwork traditions. It also contributed to an understanding of Vhavenḓa beading by drawing on the knowledge and experience of beadworkers, identifying influences from the past, and countering some stereotypical perceptions of beadwork production.

scholarly journals Peace parks in Southern Africa: bringers of an African Renaissance?

2005 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marloes van Amerom ◽  
Bram Büscher
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Utmost Care ◽  
Peace Parks

The pursuit of an African Renaissance has become an important aspect of regional cooperation between South Africa and its neighbours. Transfrontier conservation areas, or ‘Peace Parks’ as they are popularly called, have been identified as key instruments to promote the African Renaissance dream, and are increasingly advocated and justified on this basis. By fostering joint conservation (and tourism) development in Southern Africa's marginalised border regions, Peace Parks are claimed to further international peace, regional cooperation and poverty reduction, and thus serve basic ideals of the African Renaissance. This article critically explores this assumption. Using the joint South African-Mozambican-Zimbabwean Great Limpopo Park as a case study, it argues that in reality the creation of Peace Parks hardly stimulates and possibly even undermines the realisation of the African Renaissance ideals of regional cooperation, emancipation, cultural reaffirmation, sustainable economic development and democratisation. So far, their achievement has been severely hindered by domination of national interests, insufficient community consultation, and sensitive border issues such as the illegal flows of goods and migrants between South Africa and neighbouring countries. Furthermore, exacerbation of inter-state differences induced by power imbalances in the region, and harmonisation of land use and legal systems across boundaries, are increasingly becoming sources of conflict and controversy. Some of these problems are so severe, we conclude, that they might eventually even undermine support for African Renaissance as a whole. Utmost care is thus required to optimally use the chances that Peace Parks do offer in furthering an African Renaissance.

scholarly journals Challenges South African youth face in education and their quest to eradicate issues of the past

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Kim Barnes
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Past ◽  
African Youth ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Unequal Opportunities

The youth of South Africa today face many challenges in their daily lives. The majority of South Africa's population is made up of youth- people aged between 15 and 35 years old. The youth in South Africa face challenges such as crime, unemployment, poverty, and most importantly unequal opportunities in education. These challenges should not be present in the daily lives of South African youth, especially since it has been over two decades since South Africa’s first democratic elections. The challenges that are faced in the education system is explored and solutions are suggested to help end the chain of poverty.

scholarly journals BARGAINING IN BAD FAITH IN SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR LAW: AN ANTIDOTE?

Obiter ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Leppan ◽  
Avinash Govindjee ◽  
Ben Cripps
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
South African ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Bad Faith ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
The Many ◽  
Labour Organisation

While good-faith bargaining is recognized in many overseas jurisdictions and by the International Labour Organisation, such a duty has not been incorporated in South African labour legislation. Given the many recent examples of labour unrest in South Africa, it is time to consider whether there should be a duty to bargain in good faith when taking part in collective bargaining. Recognizing such a duty would arguably benefit both employers and employees and South Africa as a whole.

The birth of educational archaeology in South Africa

Antiquity ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (283) ◽  
pp. 159-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda B. Esterhuysen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
South African Education

Archaeology in education has been introduced in South Africa only recently as the politics of the past precluded the application of archaeology in the classroom. This paper presents the background to South African education and educational archaeology and discusses some of the issues and studies undertaken in South Africa. It also offers comment on the factors which determine and shape educational archaeology of the present and those that may affect the discipline of archaeology in the future.

Soviet Freedom in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-103
Author(s):  
David Johnson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
William Morris ◽  
Olive Schreiner ◽  
Political Journalism ◽  
Political Freedoms ◽  
The Many

The reception in South Africa of the utopian tradition initiated by Marx, Engels and Lenin is analysed, focusing on the period from 1910 to 1930. The chapter examines the early South African dreams of freedom derived from or influenced by classical Marxism: the political journalism of Olive Schreiner from the 1880s to 1920; the novel 1960 (A Retrospect) by James and Margaret Scott Marshall; the Christian-influenced dreams of David Ivon Jones and Josiah Gumede; the 1928 Native Republic Thesis prescribed for South Africa by the Soviet Union’s Comintern; the literary visions of freedom of Edward Roux (inspired by Swinburne) and J. T. Bain (inspired by William Morris), as well as the many dreams expressed in literary form in the pages of The International and successor CPSA newspapers The South African Worker and Umsebenzi; J. M. Gibson’s ideal of an economic freedom that supersedes the political freedoms of liberalism; and the Stalinist telos driven by ‘the deepening economic crisis’ and culminating in the dictatorship of the proletariat. Roux’s political cartoons envisioning freedom and published in Umsebenzi are analysed.

(Un)Liberated and Contested Narratives

2019 ◽  
pp. 334-347
Author(s):  
Bongani C Ndhlovu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Many ◽  
Contested Narratives

This chapter analyses the influence of the state in shaping museum narratives, especially in a liberated society such as South Africa. It argues that while the notion of social cohesion and nation building is an ideal that many South African museums should strive for, the technocratisation of museum processes has to a degree led to a disregard of the public sphere as a space of open engagement. Secondly, the chapter also looks at the net-effect of museums professionals and boards in the development of their narrative. It argues that due to the nature of their expertise and interests, and the focus on their areas of specialisation, museums may hardly claim to be representative of the many voices they ought to represent. As such, the chapter explores contestations in museum spaces. It partly does so by exploring the notion “free-spokenness” and its limits in museum spaces. To amplify its argument, the chapter uses some exhibitions that generated critical engagements from Iziko Museums of South Africa.

Performing Theatre and Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Leila Henriques
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Performance Ethnography ◽  
Theatre History ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Perspective

This collection of performances that is linked to this chapter was created as part of the MA exchange project between NTNU and DFL (Drama for Life). Students used performance ethnography as a method for generating performance material in answer to the challenge of building democracy through theatre. South Africa has a rich theatre history that has always engaged with the South African political narrative. Through developing an understanding of the many theatre-making processes that created this unique history, as well as through exploring other contemporary South African performances, students created and tracked their own research methodology so that they were able to hold up a mirror to the world around them. While each performance captured the individual perspective of the performer, they also engaged directly and indirectly with broader South African realities. The course consisted of four components, each shaped by the individual’s journey into their own research methodology. These were: generating material, interpreting the material, rehearsing the material and performing the material. This submission consists of a framing statement written by the lecturer as well as a collection of ten performances that include a short framing statement from each performer. Permission was obtained from all the students to showcase their work apart from one student who has submitted it under a pseudonym. Out of this exploration and through a practical laboratory, students created an embodied experience that addressed the notion of democracy. The value of the work was to gain a fresh embodied perspective of democracy in South Africa. It spoke to our unique South African theatre-making legacy, but also challenged and disrupted our understanding of what democracy is and how it might be performed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document