Outsiders, fairy tales and rainbowism in South African comedies: Soweto Green: This is a ‘Tree’ Story (Lister, 1995) and Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (Pretorius, 2013)

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-29
Author(s):  
Norita Mdege
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Social Perceptions ◽  
African Society ◽  
Hybrid Identities ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Broad Category ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Social

This article uses a sociological approach to analyse David Lister’s Soweto Green: This is a ‘Tree’ Story (1995) and Henk Pretorius’ Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (2013). Although both films, made nearly twenty years apart, fall under the broad category of ‘rainbow nation’ comedies, they indicate a shift in the representations and understanding of South African identities from the highly politicized identities of the 1990s to the emergence of hybrid identities. This shift provides insights into the ways in which post-apartheid South African society has evolved, while at the same time maintaining some continuities. Analysing comedies is particularly useful because the success of comedy depends highly on the social perceptions and world-views of the audience. Thus, comedies can provide great insights into the economic and sociopolitical conditions of the societies within which they emerge. The article will also explore the ideological implications of embedding rainbowism within fairy-tale romances.

scholarly journals Kuyper and Apartheid: A revisiting

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Baskwell
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
African Society ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Vertical Partitioning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Government Involvement

Was Abraham Kuyper, scholar, statesman, and university founder, the ideological father of Apartheid in South Africa? Many belief so. But, there are others, amongst them George Harinck of the Free University in Amsterdam, who don’t think so. The article argues that there is an element of truth in both opinions. Kuyper did exhibit the casual racism so characteristic of the Victorian era, with its emphasis on empire building and all that it entailed. Kuyper was also directly responsible, ideologically, for the social structure in the Netherlands known as “verzuiling” or “pillarization” in terms of which members of the Catholic, Protestant, or Socialist segments of society had their own social institutions. This pillarizing, or segmenting, of society was, however, always voluntary. This is not true of the pillarizing or segmenting of South African society known as Apartheid. While there are similarities between Apartheid and “verzuiling”, especially in their vertical partitioning of the individual’s entire life, the South African historical context, the mediation of Kuyper’s ideas through South African scholars, the total government involvement, and therefore, the involuntary nature of Apartheid, point to their inherent dissimilarity. Apartheid was simply not pure Kuyper. Hence, while the effects of Kuyper’s ideas are clearly discernable in Apartheid policy, the article aims at arguing that Kuyper cannot be considered the father of Apartheid in any direct way.

scholarly journals The skewed social image of white South Africans in Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist

2020 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 03031
Author(s):  
Xiangting Chen
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
White Identity ◽  
African Society ◽  
White People ◽  
Social Image ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South African ◽  
The Social

-In this article he examines the social identity crisis of White South Africans in Nadine Gordimer’s “The Conservationist”. Gordimer describes the psychology, social deformities and human distortions of the repressed white people in post-colonial South Africa. At that time, white South Africans were tortured by colonial guilt and racial contradictions. While recognizing the culture of their European ancestors, they wanted to integrate into the black South African society. This paper analyzes the decline of South African white identity and the phenomenon of white exodus from the perspective of the protagonist’s thoughts and behaviors, and combines the political and social problems during those days.

scholarly journals The leadership role of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the social development of the South African society

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 263-297
Author(s):  
KJ Pali
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Desmond Tutu

Leadership of the ministers of the Word is often restricted to within church boundaries, on the pretext that ministers should be religious and not too involved in the “world”. On the other hand, ministers are involved in social issues mostly to address immediate needs, often at the expense of  transforming the unjust system that perpetuates social injustices. Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu practised his leadership ministry within and beyond the church boundaries. In the South African society, his leadership ministry contributed towards social development and transformation. This article aims to analyse the contribution of the leadership role of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the social development of the South African society. The main research question is to what extent is or was the leadership of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu involved in the social development of the South African society?

The social and political construction of identities in the new South Africa: an analysis of the Western Cape Province

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scarlett Cornelissen ◽  
Steffen Horstmeier
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
African Society ◽  
Western Cape Province ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Parallel Flows ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One

In apartheid South African society, racial and ethnic identities were institutionally imposed. The end of apartheid has brought about the need for new identities to be created among South Africans, and for South Africans to forge a new relationship with their society and country. With this objective in mind, the national government is engaged in a process of nation-building. But in post-apartheid South African society, sub-national identities are also strongly coming to the fore. This is an empirical study of established and emerging identities in the Western Cape province, and the processes whereby these are constructed. The investigation shows two parallel flows of identity construction in the Western Cape: on the one hand, political leaders in the province attempt to foster an autonomous provincial identity; on the other, residents of the province show little evidence of strong political identities linked to the Western Cape. Instead, social identities are being constructed around residents’ local neighbourhoods and long-existing ethnic, class and racial identities. Rather than the social cohesion sought by the post-apartheid South African government, these identities point to persistent social polarisation.

scholarly journals Realising a socially sustainable South African society through cooperative learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
K LG Teise
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Human Life ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Practical Strategy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members

Education conceptualised in terms of the broader project of socially sustainable development (SSD) makes cooperative learning (CL) valuable in realising the former. Cooperative learning emphasises cooperation as integral to learner success, and because of this CL strategies have been found to be successful in fostering positive intergroup attitudes in classrooms, multicultural and otherwise. Social sustainable development concerns those aspects of human life and human relations which are necessary for the survival of society. Apart from it being particularly instrumental in improving learners’ academic performance, CL is equally valuable in promoting positive social relations amongst group members. Such relations are important for achieving social sustainable development. Therefore, CL could particularly be valuable to develop in learners, and the broader society, the social dispositions required for a socially sustainable South African society. My argument centres on the potential of CL as a practical strategy towards the development of a social sustainable South African society. In an attempt to demonstrate that CL holds the potential to contribute towards a social sustainable South African society, I’ll be focusing on the core tenets of SSD. These tenets are explored in relation to the principles and social outcomes of CL in order to establish the extent the latter could be instrumental in promoting SSD.

Decolonisation Versus Hegemony: Making History Compulsory in Basic Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mavhungu Elias Musitha ◽  
Mavhungu Abel Mafukata
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Curriculum ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compulsory Subject ◽  
Curriculum Committee

This study investigates the possibility of making History a compulsory subject up to Grade 10 in South African schools. At present, History is part of the Social Sciences learning area taught from Grade 4 to Grade 9. History is not a compulsory subject from Grade 10. In a quest to promote social cohesion and unity in the South African society that was fragmented along racial and ethnic lines, the democratic government has sought to introduce History as a compulsory subject as it is seen as a tool to unite the nation and to promote decolonisation, nation-building and social cohesion. The study reported on in this article was an anti-positivist study based on a literature review. The researchers found that there was a general consensus among scholars and politicians that History should be made a compulsory subject. Yet they also found that there were those who were sceptical about its introduction as a compulsory subject for they feared the intention might be to use it as a political tool and that it might discourage those who intended studying it. Therefore, the researchers recommend that in order to pave the way for making History a compulsory subject at schools, a democratic curriculum committee should be established to design a History curriculum that accommodates all the population groups in the country. Furthermore, the public should be given the opportunity to participate by giving their input into the proposed curriculum.

scholarly journals Socio-cultural and socio-economic features of second homes in Rosendal, South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (26) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anette Hay ◽  
Gustav Visser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Second Homes ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
The Social ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Abstract Second homes have seen increased research interest over the last decade. On the whole, these investigations have mainly been understood in the spatial context of the developed North. Second homes have only recently been seen as a role player in the changing economic spatialities of small town geographies in South Africa. This growing scholarship on second homes has, however, been less concerned with the social impacts of the phenomenon. The investigation is set against the argument that second homes have social impacts on the immediate and surrounding areas in which they are situated. This investigation also demonstrates that second homes are phenomena with which not only the elite engage but a range of different socio-economic cohorts, including the poor. The social impacts of second homes in this investigation are shown to vary along race and class lines. Against the backdrop that second homes are relevant to very large parts of South African society, the social impacts associated with second homes need to be taken into account in future development planning in South Africa.

scholarly journals Colonial Institutionalisation of Poverty among Blacks in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tshepo Lephakga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Black People ◽  
African Society ◽  
Social Death ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Epistemological Foundation ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

This article examines colonial institutionalisation of poverty amongst colonised and conquered blacks in South Africa. Colonialism divided the world in two:  the centre, which is occupied by Europeans, and the periphery, which is occupied by non-Europeans. This division institutionalised poverty amongst the colonised to maintain the supremacist status of the coloniser and the colonial status of the colonised as non-beings. Colonial apartheid, following the colonial epistemological foundation(s) and justification(s) of the centre imposing itself on the periphery, strived to make black people go through social death, which became a necessity fed into the colonial thinking that those in the periphery are lesser beings. Social death was engineered and maintained through the impoverishment of black people. Poverty and colonial dependency syndrome were institutionalised following the systematic institutionalisation of the social creation of race. A number of scholars have noted that race is a social creation with real consequences. It is thus not surprising that the painful history of South Africa resulted in the impoverishment of the majority of the people in the country. Following its long historical institutionalisation, poverty resulted in poor black people internalising oppression and doubting their humanness. This paper contends that colonial apartheid is the cause of a vast inequality in the South African society, including social institutionalised poverty among the blacks in South Africa.

The Alluring Nature of Children's Culture: Fairy Tales, the Carnival and the World Wide Web

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
Željka Flegar
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Time Out ◽  
The Social ◽  
Children's Culture ◽  
Language And Ideology

This article discusses the implied ‘vulgarity’ and playfulness of children's literature within the broader concept of the carnivalesque as defined by Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World (1965) and further contextualised by John Stephens in Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction (1992). Carnivalesque adaptations of fairy tales are examined by situating them within Cristina Bacchilega's contemporary construct of the ‘fairy-tale web’, focusing on the arenas of parody and intertextuality for the purpose of detecting crucial changes in children's culture in relation to the social construct and ideology of adulthood from the Golden Age of children's literature onward. The analysis is primarily concerned with Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes (1982) and J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2007/2008) as representative examples of the historically conditioned empowerment of the child consumer. Marked by ambivalent laughter, mockery and the degradation of ‘high culture’, the interrogative, subversive and ‘time out’ nature of the carnivalesque adaptations of fairy tales reveals the striking allure of contemporary children's culture, which not only accommodates children's needs and preferences, but also is evidently desirable to everybody.

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