scholarly journals Ubuntu and philoxenia: Ubuntu and Christian worldviews as responses to xenophobia

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojalefa L.J. Koenane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The Self ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
The World ◽  
Institute Of Technology

Xenophobic attitudes and violence have become regular phenomena in South Africa and other parts of the world. Xenophobia is of great concern not only to South Africans, but also to most developed countries or countries that are considered economically and politically viable by their neighbours, and which offer a safe haven for people who, for whatever reason, are forced to seek refuge elsewhere. Although xenophobia is not unique to South Africa, its most worrying aspect in South Africa is the government’s inability to deal with this evil. The article seeks to challenge South Africa as a dominantly Ubuntu and Judeo-Christian influenced country to fight xenophobia through appealing to Ubuntu values and philoxenia. By Judeo-Christian, I mean religious beliefs and values that are common to both these religions, namely Judaism and Christianity. The article further suggests the ontology that perceives the ‘other’ as an extension of the self. It is argued that South African citizens are collectively responsible for acts of violence against foreign nationals and should thus look for a morally sustainable solution to this evil. The article relies heavily on the work of Kristeva, entitled Strangers to Ourselves, and on the work of Nussbaum, entitled Ubuntu: Reflections of a South African on Our Common Humanity, in Reflections, the Society for Organizational Learning and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

scholarly journals Testing the inescapable network of mutuality: Albert Luthuli, Martin Luther King Jr and the challenges of post-liberation South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan A. Boesak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The United States ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Faith Commitment ◽  
The World ◽  
Ethical Stance ◽  
Martin Luther King

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, 50 years ago on 04 April 1968, has been recalled in the United States with memorial services, conferences, public discussions and books. In contrast, the commemoration in 2017 of the death of Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, 50 years ago on December 1967, passed almost unremarked. That is to our detriment. Yet, these two Christian fighters for freedom, in different contexts, did not only have much in common, but they also left remarkably similar and equally inspiring legacies for South Africa, the United States and the world in the ways they lived their lives in complete faith commitment to ideals and ways of struggle that may guide us in the ongoing struggles to make the world a more just, peacable and humane place. For South African reflections on our ethical stance in the fierce, continuing struggles for justice, dignity and the authenticity of our democracy, I propose that these two leaders should be considered in tandem. We should learn from both. This article engages Martin Luther King Jr’s belief in the ‘inescapable network of mutuality’, applies it to the struggle for freedom in South Africa and explores the ways in which South Africans can embrace these ethical ideals in facing the challenges of post-liberation.

scholarly journals Universality of human rights and cultural diversity: A Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Leon Wessels
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South African ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Human Rights

This speech is an attempt to offer á perspective, given the particular circumstances4 that moulded my thinking. I will sketch the background and confine myself to the unfolding South African scene. The problem, which I will not try and resolve today, is that the different regions in the world and some commentators, also in South Africa, hold firm views. Universal human rights imply inclusiveness because it reflects our “common humanity”.6 This is determined and refined through interpretation and application by humankind at particular moments in time and history. Universality is much more than the determination by a majority at a particular moment because universal human rights “are the rights of all persons in the world”.

scholarly journals Mixed and Mixing Systems Worldwide: A Preface

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Seán Patrick Donlan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Hebrew University ◽  
Selection Of

 This issue of the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (South Africa) sees the publication of a selection of articles derived from the Third International Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists (WSMJJ). That Congress was held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel in the summer of 2011. It reflected a thriving Society consolidating its core scholarship on classical mixed jurisdictions (Israel, Louisiana, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Scotland, and South Africa) while reaching to new horizons (including Cyprus, Hong Kong and Macau, Malta, Nepal, etc). This publication reflects in microcosm the complexity of contemporary scholarship on mixed and plural legal systems. This complexity is, of course, well-understood by South African jurists whose system is derived both from the dominant European traditions as well as from African customary systems, including both those that make up part of the official law of the state as well as those non-state norms that continue to be important in the daily lives of many South Africans.

scholarly journals Confirmed cases and deaths by COVID-19: A comparison among the BRICS countries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Santiago Dias ◽  
Ana Paula Verona
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Massachusetts Institute ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Brics Countries ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
The World ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Using Data

This work seeks to compare the number of confirmed cases and deaths caused by COVID-19 among the BRICS member countries using data from Johns Hopkins University. The situation experienced by the BRICS is worrying. Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa are among the five countries with the highest number of confirmed cases. Special attention should be given to Brazil, which ranks in second place regarding to the number of confirmed cases in the world. In addition, India will have the highest number of infections in March 2021, according to projections of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

scholarly journals Fat Tax As An Alternative Tax In South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizelle Talbot ◽  
Sare Pienaar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The World ◽  
Fiscal Revenue ◽  
The Cost

South Africa, like many other countries, is struggling with raising levels of obesity and the resultant health problems. Furthermore, as elsewhere in the world, this country is experiencing an ever-increasing need for additional fiscal revenue. These problems force governments all over the world to investigate possible solutions to these issues. The aim of this study was to determine whether fat tax can be used as a tool to decrease the rising rate of obesity in South Africa and thus improve the general health of South Africans and to create additional tax revenue. Available literature was compared and critically analyzed in terms of South African conditions in order to determine whether fat tax should be considered as an alternative tax in South Africa. Cultural beliefs that see obesity as a sign of good health and prosperity, as well as the extreme poverty experienced by a large proportion of the populace are factors that make it difficult to compare the findings of studies conducted in the rest of the world to those of South African research. These are aspects that should be considered for further research. Fat tax has potential as an alternative tax in order to bring about behavioural change and create revenue; however, this should be done with careful consideration as to whether the benefits outweigh the cost of its implementation for the South African taxpayer.

scholarly journals My father�s tobacco-jar, Church Square Pretoria and Freedom Park: An autoethnographical exploration

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Barnard
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Practical Theology ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Academic Position ◽  
The World ◽  
Point Of Reference

Julian M�ller, in his advocacy of a narrative theology, has called for an autobiographical theology. In addition to Julian M�ller�s plea, the author turned to what may be seen as the liturgical and ritual variant of this method, namely autoethnography. Thus he would honour Julian M�ller and his tireless commitment to Practical Theology. Autobiographical and autoethnographical theology do not start from well-ordered and systematically arranged knowledge, but from a life as it has developed and as it is developing in its connections with others. Difference is therefore a keyword in the method. Others and other worlds evoke the consciousness of differences, incite reflections on the cracks, fractures and fissures that show themselves to the self and provoke negotiations with the otherness of the other. Never in his existence as a theologian had the author experienced this process more intensely than in his contacts with colleagues and religious practices in South Africa. It was described in the article how the author became acquainted with South Africa and, more particularly, with its liturgical rituals and visual arts since 2001. The different experiences of successive visits to Church Square in Pretoria functioned as a point of reference in the article. It was shown how the self re-negotiated its position in the world through the confrontation with a totally �other� � in this case, South African liturgical rituals and visual arts. This re-negotiation focused on the Western academic position of the self when confronted with African epistemologies and ontologies.

Developing the Potential of the Gifted Disadvantaged in South Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surgeon Xolo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Career Guidance ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Mathematically Gifted ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The World

In dealing with this topic I will draw from my personal experience as a former disadvantaged gifted South African from the underdeveloped rural area in KwaZulu-Natal. I will commence my argument by stating that every child born in this world has some kind of gift which, if well developed, can benefit the community, the nation or even the world in general. However, I painfully but willingly accept that not everyone is mathematically gifted. Subsequently I will proceed to suggest things that can be done in order to help the gifted disadvantaged South Africans. This assistance will include motivation, career guidance, and different kinds of specialised intervention programs. Having pointed out all these factors, I will conclude by appealing to all concerned to help in the process of developing the potential of the gifted disadvantaged in South Africa.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

Region of Birth and Child Mortality among Black Migrants to South Africa: Is there a foreign-born advantage?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany L Green ◽  
Amos C Peters
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Child Mortality ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Child Deaths

Much of the existing evidence for the healthy immigrant advantage comes from developed countries. We investigate whether an immigrant health advantage exists in South Africa, an important emerging economy.  Using the 2001 South African Census, this study examines differences in child mortality between native-born South African and immigrant blacks.  We find that accounting for region of origin is critical: immigrants from southern Africa are more likely to experience higher lifetime child mortality compared to the native-born population.  Further, immigrants from outside of southern Africa are less likely than both groups to experience child deaths.  Finally, in contrast to patterns observed in developed countries, we detect a strong relationship between schooling and child mortality among black immigrants.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document