Apartheid Aesthetics and Insignificant Art

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Stephanus Muller
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
South African ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Art Songs ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Small House ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Selection Of

Stephanus Le Roux Marais (1896−1979) lived in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, for nearly a quarter of a century. He taught music at the local secondary school, composed most of his extended output of Afrikaans art songs, and painted a number of small landscapes in the garden of his small house, nestled in the bend of the Sunday’s River. Marais’s music earned him a position of cultural significance in the decades of Afrikaner dominance of South Africa. His best-known songs (“Heimwee,” “Kom dans, Klaradyn,” and “Oktobermaand”) earned him the local appellation of “the Afrikaans Schubert” and were famously sung all over the world by the soprano Mimi Coertse. The role his ouevre played in the construction of a so-called European culture in Africa is uncontested. Yet surprisingly little attention has been paid to the rich evocations of landscape encountered in Marais’s work. Contextualized by a selection of Marais’s paintings, this article glosses the index of landscape in this body of cultural production. The prevalence of landscape in Marais’s work and the range of its expression contribute novel perspectives to understanding colonial constructions of the twentieth-century South African landscape. Like the vast, empty, and ancient landscape of the Karoo, where Marais lived during the last decades of his life, his music assumes specificity not through efforts to prioritize individual expression, but through the distinct absence of such efforts. Listening for landscape in Marais’s songs, one encounters the embrace of generic musical conventions as a condition for the construction of a particular national identity. Colonial white landscape, Marais’s work seems to suggest, is deprived of a compelling musical aesthetic by its very embrace and desired possession of that landscape.

YOUTH WELLBEING IN SOUTH AFRICA: WHAT DIMENSIONS SHOULD WE MEASURE?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
South African ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
African Cities ◽  
South African Cities ◽  
Selection Of

There is growing interest in the development of measures and indexes of youth wellbeing. However, there has been a limited discussion on indicators to measure and select them. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study on the selection of indicators to measure the wellbeing of young people in South Africa, and reflects on the relevance of the content of their values in choosing indicators for measuring their wellbeing. The data used in this analysis is based on telephone (9) and email (6) interviews conducted with 15 young people (male=5, female=10) aged 22 to 32 from five South African cities during July 2010. In the interviews, participants were asked to identify five issues they considered important to their lives, after which they were asked to rank them in order of importance. The issues indicated by the participants are described and discussed in six dimensions: economic, relationships, spiritual and health, education, time use and material. The indicators developed from this study are discussed in terms of their relevance for use in a measure of youth wellbeing in South Africa.

scholarly journals Legitimation of Poverty in School Economics Textbooks in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jugathambal Ramdhani ◽  
Suriamurthee Maistry
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Selection Of

In South Africa, the school textbook remains a powerful source of content knowledge to both teachers and learners. Such knowledge is often engaged uncritically by textbook users. As such, the worldviews and value systems in the knowledge selected for consumption remain embedded and are likely to do powerful ideological work. In this article, we present an account of the ideological orientations of knowledge in a corpus of school economics textbooks. We engage the tenets of critical discourse analysis to examine the representations of the construct “poverty” as a taught topic in the Further Education and Training Economics curriculum. Using Thompson’s legitimation as a strategy and form-function analysis as specific analytical tools, we unearth the subtext of curriculum content in a selection of Grade 12 Economics textbooks. The study reveals how power and domination are normalised through a strategy of economic legitimation, thereby offering a “legitimate” rationale for the existence of poverty in the world. The article concludes with implications for curriculum and a humanising pedagogy, and a call for embracing critical knowledge on poverty in the South African curriculum.

scholarly journals Die Afrikaanse prosa, 1918 - 1926: brandpunt van die geboorte van ’n nuwe bewussyn

Literator ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. John
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Political Power ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Massive Intervention ◽  
The Way

This study looks at a selection of Afrikaans prose texts from the period 1918 to 1926 in an attempt to establish a relation between the rapid industrialisation which South Africa was being subjected to and the literature produced during this time. Georg Lukács’ argument that "nature is a social category" is used to show that a preoccupation with certain desires and emotions with which these texts are marked is an indication that a massive intervention into ‘nature’, in the form of the emotional lives of especially white Afrikaans workers, was either on the way or being proposed through the medium of literature during this time. This intervention is seen as part of an attempt by the white Afrikaans ruling class to draw Afrikaans workers into its fold in its struggle for political power. A contiguous concern of the study is to propose this kind of approach as a basis for the study of South African literature as a whole.

“Freedom through this strange kind of love”: Impersonal be(com)ing and Barbara Adair’s In Tangier We Killed the Blue Parrot

2019 ◽  
pp. 002198941986942
Author(s):  
Yuan-Chih Yen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Same Sex

Barbara Adair’s first novel In Tangier We Killed the Blue Parrot, published in South Africa in 2004, draws on the American writers Paul and Jane Bowles’s time in Tangier, Morocco, and fictionalizes their struggles to write as well as their efforts to love, not only each other but also their same-sex Moroccan lovers. In this article, I take seriously the notion of impersonal intimacy as articulated by Leo Bersani to explore the potentialities of realizing and sustaining an indeterminate in-between space of be(com)ing that In Tangier articulates. I further suggest in this article that the impersonal be(com)ing opened by In Tangier offers a response to the obsession with known and knowable categories of identification that Ashraf Jamal provocatively diagnosed over a decade ago as the predicament in South African cultural production and reception as well as his insistence on “rethink[ing] the human in South Africa and how, as a constitutive part of the process, [to] restore the capacity for love” (2005: 20).

Aligning the ideals of free software and free knowledge with the South African Freedom Charter

First Monday ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Jolliffe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Free Software ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
The South ◽  
The People ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
African Soil ◽  
The Rich

When Amartya Sen visited South Africa in 2004 he made the observation that Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom began on African soil. He implicitly recognised that we have in South Africa a long tradition of interpreting, articulating and striving for an ideal of freedom, which reflects the aspiration of the broad masses of our people. The clearest articulation of this struggle was the Freedom Charter, adopted by the congress of the people in Kliptown in 1955. The free software movement (and related efforts in the fields of science and culture) draws upon a tradition of freedom rooted in an American libertarian tradition. In this short paper, I underline the importance of aligning efforts to promote free software and free culture with the rich existing tradition embodied in the South African Freedom Charter. Doing so may require a reinterpretation, re–imagining and even perhaps a re–vocabularising of the digital commons if it is to succeed as as a social, technical and political project in South Africa.

scholarly journals Can the augmented reality sandbox help learners overcome difficulties with 3-D visualisation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Evans ◽  
Bridget Fleming ◽  
Gillian Drennan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
South African ◽  
Topographic Maps ◽  
Dimensional Representation ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Topographical Maps

Research has shown that students have difficulties in understanding topographic maps and landforms associated with contour patterns and therefore have problems in reading and interpreting topographic maps and relating these 2-dimensional representa-tions to a real 3-dimensional environment. However, maps are a fundamental tool for understanding geographical concepts and solving geographical problems. Current research indicates that this is not uniquely a South African problem and various at-tempts have been made to address this problem such as the use of videos, models and fieldtrips – each with their own limita-tions and difficulties. Nevertheless, the ability to visualize in 3-dimensions from a 2-dimensional representation is an essential skill in understanding and interpreting topographical maps. To address the problem of 3-D visualisation, an augmented reality sandbox (AR-Sandbox) was introduced to a Geography classroom, to Grade 11 students at a Secondary school in Johannes-burg, South Africa. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using the AR-Sandbox to enhance the learning of – and improve the learner's performance – in mapwork, and thereby address the problems experienced with 3-D visualisation. The results of the pre-test and post-intervention test are presented and show that the AR-Sandbox is an effective tool for en-hancing an understanding of landscapes rather an improving performance in the construction of cross-sectional profiles.

scholarly journals Should South Africa Criminalise Ukuthwala Leading to Forced Marriages and Child Marriages?

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Lea Mwambene ◽  
Roberta Hlalisa Mgidlana
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Public Consultations ◽  
Research Show

In 2014 the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC)released a Discussion Paper on the practice of ukuthwala. TheDiscussion paper was revised and released again in 2015 toinclude public consultations and the proposed Prohibition ofForced Marriages and Child Marriages Bill (Prohibition Bill). TheProhibition Bill introduces an expanded crime of forcedmarriages and child marriages, including because of ukuthwala.In view of the SALRC's proposed Prohibition Bill, this paperinvestigates whether South Africa should criminalise ukuthwalaor not. The paper also examines the advantages anddisadvantages of criminalising breaches of ukuthwala in theprotection of women and girls affected by the practice by drawingupon the field research findings from the community where theS v Jezile 2015 2 SACR 452 (WCC) case originated. Amongother findings, the field research show that the practice ofukuthwala is deeply rooted in the communities where it is stillprevalent to the extent that the approach taken by the ProhibitionBill, expecting the victims to report their own parents or familymembers to law enforcement agents, might force the practice togo underground. Ultimately, we suspect that this might make itmore difficult to protect women and children's rights violationsassociated with ukuthwala. We therefore recommend that toeffectively address the malpractices surrounding ukuthwala, theprocess of law reform look at the elements of ukuthwala, theprocedure that is followed, appreciate the cultural significance ofthe practice, as well as understand the merits and demerits ofthe customary delictual claims that are already used bycommunities where processes of the practice have beenbreached. In this way, communities will be more receptive to anygovernment's efforts that are aimed at addressing forced andchild marriages linked to ukuthwala. In addition, we submit thatunless government prioritises awareness campaigns into thecommunities that are going to be affected by the proposed lawreform, such law, will again be what Himonga calls "paper law".

scholarly journals Vuvuzela Magic

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane Jethro
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African State ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
The South ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Football Fans

During the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a mass-produced, plastic football supporters’ horn known as the vuvuzela attracted worldwide fame and infamy. This article discusses the vuvuzela’s construction as a material and sonorous register of ‘African’ and ‘South African’ cultural distinctiveness. Specifically, it discusses the production, circulation and consumption of its ‘African’ cultural significance as a heritage form. It outlines the contested political and ideological economy – involving the South African state and football officials, FIFA, a local manufacturer, indigenous groups and football fans – through which the instrument travelled. Demonstrating the instrument’s circulation through this network, the article shows how the construction and authentication of the vuvuzela materially and sonically staged the negotiation of notions of ‘Africanness’ and ‘South Africanness’, as well as their complex relationship in post-apartheid South Africa, during the tournament.

scholarly journals A Study on the Gender Digital Divide: Overcoming the Under-Representation of South African Women in the IT Sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Seetha Nesaratnam ◽  
Tengudzeni Nkosingiphile Mamba ◽  
Jugindar Singh Kartar Singh
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
South African ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
African Women ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
The Rich ◽  
South African Women ◽  
Depth Interviews

In South Africa, women are grossly underrepresented in the Information Technology (IT) sector result of gender stereotyping and discrimination. According to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Report (2017), only 21% of executives in the IT sector are women. This has caused high unemployment of women IT graduates. The purpose of this study therefore is to explore and investigate the antecedents that influence and impact the phenomenon of the gender digital divide in South Africa. The study explores new antecedents of the digital gender divide that influences motivation of women to participate in the IT sector. This study used a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews of South African women in the IT sector. The rich volume of data collected was analysed via a thematic analysis. The analysis confirmed existing antecedents gleaned from literature and also uncovered three new dimensions, namely, networking, impartial mentorship and HR as motivators for women in the IT sector. The findings of the study also provides for a better understanding on the barriers that perpetuate the unequal gender gap problem especially in managerial and leadership roles. 

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