“I am an African”: A Philosophical Enquiry of Identity and Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 002193472110478
Author(s):  
Joel Mokhoathi
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
African Identity ◽  
The Public ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Subject

With the public frenzy over Thabo Mbeki’s speech, “I am an African” that was delivered in 1996, South Africa has since become a subject of debate as to who is an African and what constitutes as African. This has been going on for almost two decades and a half now. Mbeki’s speech appears to have evoked solemn questions relating to the issues of identity and culture. Subsequent to that speech, the South African public began to question what it meant to be African. The central point of enquiry was: what makes one an African? Is it the color of their skin? Their citizenship? Or is one merely an African because others regard him or her as such? These and many other questions arise when one touches upon the subject of Africans. These perplexing questions, however, are not only unique to the South African context; they apply, to some extent, to the general continent of Africa. With talks and debates about African renaissance, decoloniality, and indigenization, the question of African identity and culture resurfaces. Here, the discussion hubs around the issue of African persona and what it means to be authentically African. By means of document analysis, this paper critically employs a philosophical approach in order to grapple with the subject of identity and culture. This is done through a systematic discussion of the following facets: (a) history, (b) identity, and (c) culture. These three facets are therefore critically engaged in order to establish what constitute an African and what can be characterized as an African identity.

scholarly journals Konkrete uitdagings vir die kerk vandag

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-123
Author(s):  
J J Kritzinger
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
The Other ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
African Context ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

In a recent publication No Quick Fixes a number of knowledgeable people dealt with some contemporary  challenges to the church in its mission in the South African context. In this article the reader is introduced to these, but  the focus is on those aspects of the challenge which arise from the two main influences in the spiritual sphere: on the one hand the overwhelming secularising influence of the modern western worldview, and on the other hand the increasing emphasis on the return to the values of traditional Africa, as formulated in the movement for the African Renaissance.

scholarly journals Political Theology as critical theology

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
South African Context ◽  
African Continent ◽  
The South ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The World ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Critical Theology

This article attempts to draw the scope and content of contemporary Political Theology, based on a review of the 2013 publication titled, Political Theology: Contemporary challenges and future directions, edited by Francis Schüssler Fiorenza, Klaus Tanner and Michael Welker. The book is a collection of contributions which explore the contemporary content and potential future of the subject discipline. ‘Political Theology’ as critical theology and as a ‘theology with its face towards the world’ is committed to ‘justice, peace and the integrity of creation’ and is multifaceted. It represents a discipline with which theologians reflect on political-theological objectives across continents and paradigms. The article concludes with a brief investigation of the implications of insights offered in the book for the South African context (as part of the African continent).

Exploring recidivism in the South African context.

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Bedell ◽  
Nicholas Challis ◽  
Charl Cilliers ◽  
Joy Cole ◽  
Wendy Corry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
African Context

Asad on the Secular

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Auwais Rafudeen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
The South ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
African Context

This paper examines a South African debate on legislating Muslim marriages in the light of anthropologist Talal Asad’s critique developed in his Formations of the Secular (2003). It probes aspects of the debate under four Asadian themes: (1) the historicity of the secular, secularism, and secularization; (2) the place of power and the new articulations of discourses it creates; (3) the state as the arm of that power; and (4) the interconnections (or dislocations) among law, ethics, and the organic environment (habitus). I argue that Asad illumines the debate in the following ways: (1) by providing a deeper historical and philosophical appreciation of its terms of reference, given that the proposed legislation will be subject to South Africa’s secular Bill of Rights and constitution; (2) by requiring us to examine and interrogate the genealogies of such particular hegemonic discourses as human rights, which some participants appear to present as ahistorical and privileged; and (3) by showing, through the concept of habitus, why this debate needs to go beyond its present piecemeal legal nature and develop an appreciation of the organic linkages among the Shari‘ah, morality, community, and self. Yet inevitable nuances are produced when applying Asad’s ideas to the South African context.

scholarly journals Testing the value and life-style model (VALS) of psychographic market segmentation

1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Rousseau ◽  
J. Kruger
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Life Style ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
African Context

This article describes the development of a psychographic inventory suitable for testing the VALS model of market segmentation within the South African context. Hypotheses relating to value and life-style traits, suggested by prior research, are tested, utilising a sample of white and black respondents in the Johannesburg/Soweto metropolitan area. Results imply that the instrument developed has moderate reliability and can be administered bilingually. The VALS model tested by the instrument suggests that most respondents hold need-driven and outer-directed values. Impllications for value and lifestyle segmentation within the South African context are discussed. Opsomming Hierdie artikel beskryfdie ontwikkeling van 'n psigografiese inventaris geskik vir die toetsing van die VALS-model van marksegmentasie binne Suid-Afrikaanse verband. Hipoteses met betrekking tot waarde- en lewenstyltrekke, voortspruitend uit vorige navorsing, word getoets op 'n steekproef van wit en swart respondente in die Johannesburg/Soweto metropolitaanse gebied. Resultate toon dat die instrument gemiddelde betroubaarheid openbaar en toepasbaar is op 'n tweetalige grondslag. Die VALS-model soos getoets deur die instrument toon dat die meeste respondente behoefte-gedrewe en na buite gerigte waardes openbaar. Implikasies vir waarde- en lewenstylsegmentasie binne Suid-Afrikaanse verband word ook bespreek.

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