‘Hy die nie vir sy eie mense sorg nie is slegter as ’n heiden’

KWALON ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry van der Burgt

‘He who does not care for his own people is worse than a heathen’: A peek behind the scenes of the Orania community Henry van der Burgt The town of Orania stands out in contemporary South Africa as a community with the objective to restore Afrikaner freedom. For this purpose, the town strives towards self-determination: the community has its own land, its own institutions, and does its own labor. Following my ethnographic fieldwork, this article describes one critical event in which Orania allowed me, as an outsider, to take a peek behind the scenes. By analyzing this incident as a social drama we can look past the homogeneity through which Orania presents itself, and see meaningful differences of opinion with regard to how the community responds to outsiders.

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-624
Author(s):  
Sonia Rupcic

AbstractIn winter 2014, the town of Thohoyandou, South Africa was gripped with panic after a series of rapes and murders. In this area, notorious for its occult specialists and witchcraft, stories began to circulate attributing the violence to demonic forces. These stories were given credence by the young man who was charged with these crimes. In his testimony, he confirmed that he was possessed by evil forces. Taking this story as a point of departure, this article provides an empirical account of the ambivalent ways state sites of criminal justice grapple with the occult in South Africa. Drawing on twenty-two months of ethnographic fieldwork, I describe how spirit possession is not easily reconciled with legal methods of parsing criminal liability in courtrooms. And yet, when imprisoned people are paroled, the state entertains the possibility of bewitchment in public ceremonies of reconciliation. Abstracting from local stories about the occult, this article proposes mens daemonica (“demonic mind”) to describe this state of hijacked selfhood and as an alternative to the mens rea (“criminal mind”) observed in criminal law. While the latter seeks the cause of wrongdoing in the authentic will of the autonomous, self-governing subject, mens daemonica describes a putatively extra-legal idea of captured volition that implicates a vast and ultimately unknowable range of others and objects in what only appears to be a singular act of wrongdoing. This way of reckoning culpability has the potential to inspire new approaches to justice.


Author(s):  
Drew Thomases

This book is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Pushkar, a Hindu pilgrimage site in northwestern India whose population of 20,000 sees an influx of two million visitors each year. Since the 1970s, the town has also received considerable attention from international tourists, a group with distinctly hippie beginnings but that now includes visitors from a wide spectrum of social positions and religious affiliations. To locals, though, Pushkar is more than just a gathering place for pilgrims and tourists: it is where Brahma, the creator god, made his home; it is where pilgrims feel blessed to stay, if only for a short time; and it is where Hindus would feel lucky to be reborn, if only as an insect. In short, it is their paradise. But even paradise needs upkeep. Thus, on a daily basis the town’s locals, and especially those engaged in pilgrimage and tourism, work to make Pushkar paradise. The book explores this massive enterprise to build “heaven on earth,” paying particular attention to how the articulation of sacred space becomes entangled with economic changes brought on by globalization and tourism. As such, the author not only attends to how tourism affects everyday life in Pushkar but also to how Hindu ideas determine the nature of tourism there; the goal, then, is to show how religion and tourism can be mutually constitutive.


Author(s):  
Malinda Maynor Lowery

For Robeson County Indians, choosing the tribal name “Lumbee” for themselves was a monumental act of self-determination. The “Lumbee” bill in 1956 granted the Robeson County a form of official, yet limited, federal acknowledgement. In Robeson County, World War II sparked exposure, awareness, and change. At its zenith as an Indian place in the 1950s, the town of Pembroke was remarkable in the otherwise biracial South as its Indian residents continuously found new ways to make the place more their own. Some Indians opposed school integration because it meant sacrificing their distinct independence, control over their identity, and the primary institution—the schools—that had sustained the recognition of that identity for a century. Indians expressed pride in their heritage through their actions and words. With the court case Maynor v. Morton, Tuscaroras defied the federal government’s insistence that they were not deserving of federal recognition. The legal victory against double voting showed that Indians would not be silenced at the ballot box. Rebuilding the Old Main heritage building at Pembroke State College, creating Lumbee Homecoming, and opening Lumbee Guaranty Bank showed that Indians would continue asserting control over their own affairs and celebrating themselves.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. e0208429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody Cichowitz ◽  
Rachael Pellegrino ◽  
Katlego Motlhaoleng ◽  
Neil A. Martinson ◽  
Ebrahim Variava ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-363
Author(s):  
Harry Wels

PurposeTo further develop research methodologies for multi-species ethnographic fieldwork, based on researcher's experiences with multi-species fieldwork in private wildlife conservancies in South Africa and inspired by San tracking techniques.Design/methodology/approachReflections on methodological lessons learnt during multi-species ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa. The approach is rather “Maanenesque” in telling various types of tales of the field. These tales also implicitly show how all-encompassing ethnographic fieldwork and its accompanying reflexivity are; there is never time for leisure in ethnographic fieldwork.FindingsThat developing fieldwork methodologies in multi-species ethnographic research confronts researchers with the explicit need for and training in multi-sensory methods and interpretations, inspired by “the art of tracking” of the San.Originality/valueComes up with a concrete suggestion for a sequence of research methods for multi-species ethnography based on the trials and tribulations of a multi-species ethnographer's experiences in South Africa and inspired by San tracking techniques.


1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 175-181
Author(s):  
Rene Uys ◽  
N. P. Du Preez

An extensive research project with a response rate of 35% was undertaken under various companies in South Africa. The purpose of the project was to determine the attitude of employers in the open labour market towards disableds as employees. The researchers also wanted to determine the extend whereto disableds are employed within the labour market, as well as what their application and work successes are. In addition the research will focus on the various disabilities, and persons' abilities, training and expectations. The viewpoint of the research project is that today in the era of self-determination handicapped people do not want to be hired because they are handicapped. Nor do they want to be denied a job because of their handicap. Rather, they want to be treated as any other person. They want an equal chance to demonstrate their abilities and to live up to their potential. They want equal access to education, training and employment. They want to prove that they are people who can do the work and they want others to stop thinking about their handicapping condition.'n Omvangryke navorsingsprojek, waarop die responskoers 35% was, is in samewerking met ondernemings in Suid-Afrika gedoen. Die doel was om te bepaal wat die gesindheid van die werkgewer in die ope-arbeidsmark teenoor die gestremde as werknemer is. Die navorsers wou ook bepaal tot watter mate gestremdes in die ope-arbeidsmark in diens geneem word, die mate van hulle aanwending en wat hul werkprestasies is. Daar word gepoog om te bepaal wat die onderskeie gestremdhede en persone se vermoens, vaardighede, opleiding en bepaalde verwagtinge is. Die uitgangspunt van die navorsingsprojek is dat die gestremde in vandag se 'gelykegeleenthede-omgewing' nie in diens geneem wil word omdat hulle gestremd is nie, maar hulle wil ook nie 'n pos geweier word as gevolg van hul gestremdheid nie. Hulle wil eerder op dieselfde wyse as alle ander werknemers hanteer word. Hulle wit gelyke geleenthede he om hulle vermoens en vaardighede uit te leef en om hulle potensiaal ten voile te benut. Hulle wit gelyke geleenthede tot opvoeding, opleiding en indiensname he. Hulle wil bewys dat hulle wel die werk kan doen en hulle wil he dat ander moet ophou konsentreer op hul gestremdheid en dit wat hulle nie kan doen nie.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Bertus De Villiers

Section 235 of the Constitution of South Africa contains a promise of potential self-determination of language and cultural communities. An essential question arising from this promise is how an individual’s freedom of association interacts with the ability of a community to determine its membership. This article reflects on this question with reference to standards developed in international law and practices in the constitutional law of selected case studies. Whereas international law sets a universal standard of free association, states have developed practices whereby the individual’s right to free association is recognised, but where there are also some measures allowed to ensure that an individual is indeed accepted by and part of the community. Any conflicts that arise are, generally speaking, subject to a form of judicial review.


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