scholarly journals Sounding the Cape: Music, Identity and Politics in South Africa

Author(s):  
Denis-Constant Martin

For several centuries Cape Town has accommodated a great variety of musical genres which have usually been associated with specific population groups living in and around the city. Musical styles and genres produced in Cape Town have therefore been assigned an ìidentityî which is first and foremost social. This volume tries to question the relationship established between musical styles and genres, and social --in this case pseudo-racial --identities. In Sounding the Cape, Denis-Constant Martin recomposes and examines through the theoretical prism of creolisation the history of music in Cape Town, deploying analytical tools borrowed from the most recent studies of identity configurations. He demonstrates that musical creation in the Mother City, and in South Africa, has always been nurtured by contacts, exchanges and innovations whatever the efforts made by racist powers to separate and divide people according to their origin. Musicians interviewed at the dawn of the 21st century confirm that mixture and blending characterise all Cape Town's musics. They also emphasise the importance of a rhythmic pattern particular to Cape Town, the ghoema beat, whose origins are obviously mixed. The study of music demonstrates that the history of Cape Town, and of South Africa as a whole, undeniably fostered creole societies. Yet, twenty years after the collapse of apartheid, these societies are still divided along lines that combine economic factors and 'racial'categorisations. Martin concludes that, were music given a greater importance in educational and cultural policies, it could contribute to fighting these divisions and promote the notion of a nation that, in spite of the violence of racism and apartheid, has managed to invent a unique common culture.

GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
E N Kravchenko ◽  
R A Morgunov

The aim of the study. Assess the importance of pregravid preparation and outcomes of pregnancy and childbirth, depending on the reproductive attitudes of women in the city of Omsk. Materials and methods. The study included 92 women who were divided into groups: group A (n=43) - women whose pregnancy was planned; group B (n=49) - women whose pregnancy occurred accidentally. Each group was divided into subgroups depending on age: from 18 to 30 and from 31 to 49 years. For each patient included in the study, a specially designed map was filled out. These patients were interviewed at the City Clinical Perinatal Center. Results. Comparative analysis revealed the relationship between the reproductive settings of women of childbearing age and the peculiarity of the course of pregnancy and childbirth in these patients. Summary. The majority of women of fertile age are married: in subgroup AA - 25 (96.2%), AB - 13 (76.5%), BA - 25 (92.6%), BB - 20 (91.0%). The predominant number of women of fertile age have one or more abortions: in subgroup AA - 12 (46.2%), AB - 6 (35.3%), in subgroups of comparison BA - 8 (29.6%), BB - 6 (27.3%). More than half of the women of fertile age surveyed have a history of untreated cervical pathology (from 40.8% to 64.7%). The course of pregnancy in women planning pregnancy in most cases proceeded without complications: in subgroup AA - 13 (50.0%), AB - 11 (64.7%). The most common cause of complicated pregnancy in women whose pregnancy occurred accidentally is the threat of spontaneous miscarriage: in subgroup BA - 15 (55.6%), BB - 16 (72.7%). The uncomplicated course of labor more often [subgroup AA - 19 (73.0%), AB - 12 (70.6%)] was observed in women whose pregnancy was planned and they were motivated to give birth to a healthy child.


Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110078
Author(s):  
Romit Chowdhury ◽  
Colin McFarlane

In the history of urban thought, density has been closely indexed to the idea of citylife. Drawing on commuters’ experiences and perceptions of crowds in and around Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, this article offers an ethnographic perspective on the relationship between urban crowds and life in the city. We advance understandings of the relations between the crowd and citylife through three categories of ‘crowd relations’– materiality, negotiation and inclusivity – to argue that the multiplicity of meanings which accrue to people’s encounters with crowds refuses any a priori definitions of optimum levels of urban density. Rather, the crowd relations gathered here are evocations of citylife that take us beyond the tendency to represent the crowd as a particular kind of problem, be it alienation, exhaustion or a threshold for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ densities. The portraits of commuter crowds presented capture the various entanglements between human and non-human, embodiment and mobility, and multiculture and the civic, through which citylife emerges as a mode of being with oneself and others.


2017 ◽  
Vol 113 (5/6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtnee Clark ◽  
Calvin G. Mole ◽  
Marise Heyns ◽  
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◽  
...  

There is currently a lack of information regarding the prevalence of and characteristics associated with blunt force trauma related homicides in South Africa. Information relating to the patterns of blunt force trauma could assist in the development and implementation of interventions targeted at specific areas or individuals as well as direct future research towards areas in need of investigation. This study is a 5-year retrospective review of autopsy reports obtained from Salt River Mortuary (Cape Town, South Africa). The prevalence of blunt force trauma was considered for unnatural deaths with a focus on homicide. The patterns of homicidal blunt force trauma are also presented. A total of 15 519 autopsy cases was analysed. In 1198 (7.72%) of these cases, the cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma and 828 (5.32%) of these cases were classified as homicides. Approximately 11% of blunt force homicide cases occurred in combination with sharp and/or ballistic trauma. Men from poor socio-economic areas were shown to be most at risk of blunt force homicide in the City of Cape Town.


2017 ◽  
Vol 113 (9/10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leif Petersen ◽  
Andrew M. Reid ◽  
Eugene J. Moll ◽  
Marc T. Hockings

Cape Town is a fast-growing cityscape in the Cape Floristic Region in South Africa with 24 formally protected conservation areas including the World Heritage Table Mountain National Park. These sites have been protected and managed as critical sites for local biodiversity, representing potentially one-third of all Cape Floristic Region flora species and 18% of South Africa’s plant diversity. Cape Town is also inhabited by a rapidly growing culturally and economically diverse citizenry with distinct and potentially conflicting perspectives on access to, and management of, local natural resources. In a qualitative study of 58 locally resident traditional healers of distinct cultural groups, we examined motivations underlying the generally illicit activity of harvesting of wild resources from Cape Town protected areas. Resource harvester motivations primarily link to local economic survival, health care and cultural links to particular resources and practices, ‘access for all’ outlooks, and wholesale profit-seeking perspectives. We describe these motivations, contrast them with the current formal, legal and institutional perspectives for biodiversity protection in the city, and propose managerial interventions that may improve sustainability of ongoing harvest activities.


Author(s):  
Stephan F. De Beer

In the past decade, significant social movements emerged in South Africa, in response to specific urban challenges of injustice or exclusion. This article will interrogate the meaning of such urban social movements for theological education and the church. Departing from a firm conviction that such movements are irruptions of the poor, in the way described by Gustavo Gutierrez and others, and that movements of liberation residing with, or in a commitment to, the poor, should be the locus of our theological reflection, this article suggests that there is much to be gained from the praxis of urban social movements, in disrupting, informing and shaping the praxis of both theological education and the church. I will give special consideration to Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Reclaim the City campaign in Cape Town, the Social Justice Coalition in Cape Town, and Abahlali baseMjondolo based in Durban, considering these as some of the most important and exciting examples of liberatory praxes in South Africa today. I argue that theological education and educators, and a church committed to the Jesus who came ‘to liberate the oppressed’, ignore these irruptions of the Spirit at our own peril.


Lituanistica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julija Paškevičiūtė

The article focuses on the origins of French culture in Palanga, a Lithuanian seaside resort, that go back to the years of the rule of the Tyszkiewicz family. The emphasis is put on Palanga Botanical Park (created before the end of the nineteenth century) as the most significant trace of French culture present in the resort and the seaside region until now. The specific symbols in the park created according to the will of the Counts Tyszkiewicz reflect the actualities of French culture. The importance of this space in the city is revealed, and Édouard François André’s principles of park creation are discussed in a new context. They are related to the dialogue that has been established between the residents of Palanga, the park, its creator, and his granddaughter Florence André since the first years of the independence of Lithuania. In order to give a meaning to Édouard André’s creation and to the relationship between the two countries, the correspondence between the great-granddaughter of the famous French landscape designer and the former director of the park, Antanas Sebeckas, is disclosed. It reflects the endeavour of these two personalities and its value for the international relations in representing French culture to the public. Florence André’s letters to the author of this article are also an important resource as she explains the reasons why the park plays an essential role in Palanga. It is shown how certain personal life events (Florence André’s wedding ceremony in Palanga, the park created by her great-grandfather) have become an inclusive part of the history of the town and represent intercultural relations and exchanges. The article is also based on some memories and narratives of the members of the local community in which the park features as a symbol and tradition of the city.


Author(s):  
Francine Fragoso de Miranda Silva ◽  
Cláudia Regina Flores ◽  
Rosilene Beatriz Machado

ResumoEste artigo tem por objetivo identificar e analisar práticas matemáticas inscritas em cadernos escolares de uma escola mista estadual do município de Antônio Carlos (SC), nas décadas de 1930 e 1940, com enfoque dado para as frações. São utilizadas as teorizações de Michel Foucault para nortear os preceitos teórico-metodológicos. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam práticas matemáticas desenvolvidas nessa escola obedecendo aos programas oficiais catarinenses da época, com soluções rápidas e sucintas e voltadas às tarefas de seu cotidiano. Também se observam que elas estão inseridas num contexto histórico, compreendido entre a Reforma Francisco Campos, de 1931, e o início do Movimento da Matemática Moderna, nos anos de 1960, no qual a fração recebe uma nova abordagem, distanciando-se da relação entre número e medida e aproximando-se da noção de parte-todo.Palavras-chave: Práticas matemáticas, Cadernos escolares, Frações, História da educação matemática.AbstractThis article aims to identify and analyze mathematical practices registered in school notebooks of a mixed state school in the city of Antônio Carlos (SC), in the 1930s and 1940s, focused on fractions. Michel Foucault's theorizations are used to guide theoretical and methodological precepts. The results of the research show mathematical practices developed in these schools obeying the Santa Catarina official programs of the time, with quick and succinct solutions and focused on their daily tasks. It is also observed that they are inserted in a historical context, between the Francisco Campos Reform, of 1931, and the beginning of the Modern Mathematics Movement, in the 1960s, in which the fraction receives a new approach, moving away from the relationship between number and measure and approaching the notion of part-whole.Keywords: Mathematical practices, School notebooks, Fractions, History of mathematics education.ResumenEste artículo tiene como objetivo identificar y analizar las prácticas matemáticas registradas en los cuadernos escolares de una escuela estatal mixta en la ciudad de Antônio Carlos (SC), en la década de 1930 y 1940, con un enfoque en las fracciones. Las teorizaciones de Michel Foucault se utilizan para guiar los preceptos teóricos y metodológicos. Los resultados de la investigación muestran prácticas matemáticas desarrolladas en estas escuelas que obedecen los programas oficiales de Santa Catarina de la época, con soluciones rápidas y sucintas y centradas en sus tareas diarias. También se observa que se insertan en un contexto histórico, entre la Reforma Francisco Campos, de 1931, y el comienzo del Movimiento de Matemáticas Modernas, en la década de 1960, en el que la fracción recibe un nuevo enfoque, alejándose de la relación entre numerar y medir y acercándose a la noción de parte-todo.Palabras clave: Prácticas matemáticas, Cuadernos escolares, Fracciones, Historia de la educación matemática


Author(s):  
Masilonyane Mokhele

Background: The concentration of development around airports is a topical subject on the relationship between transportation, accessibility and the distribution of land use. Notwithstanding the existing literature on the analysis of airports and surrounds, and normative models of airport-led development, extensions are required on the empirical analysis of spatial economic attributes of airports and surrounds.Objectives: Objectives of the article were twofold: firstly, to establish the economic activity mix and reasons for the location of firms on and around O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports; and secondly, to analyse linkages between firms on and around the two airports as well as linkages those firms have with their metropolitan, regional, national and international contexts.Method: The article focused on the South African case studies of O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports and used a telephone survey as the primary data collection method.Results: The article discovered that the developments around O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports are spatial clusters that are also linked with other airports in South Africa and beyond.Conclusion: The article extended existing knowledge by providing insights on the spatial economic characteristics of airports and surrounds. The findings can be improved upon with work on other case studies, and potentially be used as bases for extending a theoretical framework that describes and explains the spatial economic forces that drive development on and around airports.


Author(s):  
Michael A. Gomez

This prologue provides an overview of the history of early and medieval West Africa. During this period, the rise of Islam, the relationship of women to political power, the growth and influence of the domestically enslaved, and the invention and evolution of empire were all unfolding. In contrast to notions of an early Africa timeless and unchanging in its social and cultural categories and conventions, here was a western Savannah and Sahel that from the third/ninth through the tenth/sixteenth centuries witnessed political innovation as well as the evolution of such mutually constitutive categories as race, slavery, ethnicity, caste, and gendered notions of power. By the period's end, these categories assume significations not unlike their more contemporary connotations. All of these transformations were engaged with the apparatus of the state and its progression from the city-state to the empire. The transition consistently featured minimalist notions of governance replicated by successive dynasties, providing a continuity of structure as a mechanism of legitimization. Replication had its limits, however, and would ultimately prove inadequate in addressing unforeseen challenges.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-499
Author(s):  
Destin Jenkins

This essay revisits Making the Second Ghetto to consider what Arnold Hirsch argued about the relationship between race, money, and the ghetto. It explores how Hirsch’s analysis of this relationship was at once consistent with those penned by other urban historians and distinct from those interested in the political economy of the ghetto. Although moneymaking was hardly the main focus, Hirsch’s engagement with “Vampire” rental agencies and panic peddlers laid the groundwork for an analysis that treats the post–World War II metropolis as a crucial node in the history of racial capitalism. Finally, this essay offers a way to connect local forms of violence to the kinds of constraints imposed by financiers far removed from the city itself.


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