ESI Press

Academic, Archivist & Activist

Robyn Schnell — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Academic, Archivist & Activist is not merely an academic commemoration, but rather a celebratory tribute to a remarkable teacher, a formidable scholar and an extraordinary human being. Professor Karen Leigh Harris has had a phenomenal career, one which many academics dream of but only few are able to achieve. This volume consists of 26 contributions written by individuals from the breadth of Professor Harris’ career. Among the contributors, there are former students who became collaborators, mentors who became academic equals and colleagues who became friends. This tribute should be viewed as a semicolon rather than a full-stop – this is not a festschrift marking the end of Professor Harris’ distinctive career, but rather an acknowledgement to the impact she will continue to make within various disciplines and domains as well as the exciting endeavours she will undoubtedly undertake in the future.

Thinking Through Food in South Africa

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

When we sit at individual or communal tables, we consider each other and our senses before taking a single bite. We think about what brought us to the table, who we are eating with, what meal will be served and possibly even where the food is from. South Africa is home to diverse cultures, histories, food heritages, culinary landscapes, food-growing and food-buying environments that collectively spice the food eaten and enjoyed by individuals and groups in the country. Food is sustenance, an access point, a historical and cultural marker and so much more. Thinking Through Food in South Africa: Identities, Embodiment and Representation explores the ways in which individuals define themselves and their role in society through food. This includes its role in school-based historical curriculum, alternative food networks, community-supported agriculture, intergenerational rituals and exchanges and its influence on economics, politics, migration and social cohesion. More than a study of ingredients, this book holds and guides a multi-layered conversation about food as home, practice and community.

Music Legacy of Irene Matodzi Mawela

Evans Ntshengedzeni Netshivhambe — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In every society, brave women like Dr. Irene Matodzi Mawela are not only essential—they are transformative forces of change. Our world needs courageous women who dare to challenge norms, standing firm in the face of adversity. Dr. Mawela exemplified this bravery, especially during the oppressive apartheid era when women were expected to remain silent, accept diminished rights, and adhere to a patriarchal system that tried to dictate their place. In the face of laws and expectations designed to suppress her voice, Dr. Mawela fearlessly fought for the right to sing in her own language, undeterred by the potential loss of her recording contract and music career. She understood that her expression was not only a personal right but also a broader symbol of resistance. Her unwavering stance became a powerful testament to the strength of women and the resilience needed to confront a male-dominated society that sought to silence her.

This book celebrates Dr. Mawela’s life as a beacon of hope, pride, and resilience—a source of inspiration for young women who may face similar struggles. It tells the story of a relentless battle for self-expression and the right to share her culture, fought by a woman determined to succeed against all odds. Her journey serves as both a tribute to her bravery and a rallying call to other women who have, in their own ways, confronted and overcome personal and societal battles. More than a narrative of one woman’s victory, this book honours the collective power of women who strive for change in male-dominated spaces. It is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of women like Dr. Mawela and to the enduring power of those who, with determination and courage, pave the way for a more equitable world.

My Third Ouma | My Derde Ouma | Ti !Nona||î Aumas

Siona O'Connell, Loretta Feris, Leanne Feris, Alicia English — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

My Third Ouma is a compelling book that delves into the heart of a Nama midwife's legacy. Ten-year-old Sonnetjie, entrusted to the care of Ouma Toesie, witnesses first hand the wisdom and healing hands of a traditional midwife. As Sonnetjie's mother prepares to give birth, the narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a community deeply rooted in tradition.

The book pays homage to the invaluable contributions of Nama midwives, whose knowledge is slowly fading away in the face of modern medicine. Conceptualised by Professor Siona O’Connell and Professor Loretta Feris as a response to early childhood literacy challenges, the book draws together Indigenous Knowledge Systems, heritage and mother-tongue learning. The story not only celebrates the enduring spirit of these women but also serves as a reminder of the importance of other ways of knowing.

My Third Ouma is available in English, Afrikaans, and Nama.

Finding Jess

Jesse Naidoo — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Jesse Naidoo’s autobiographical account is a unique story set in a working-class Indian South African family in greater Durban and weaves in questions of gender, race, sexuality, illness and identity. It is a story of intersectionality. Jess’s story shows the reader how her formative years were shaped by the racial marginalisation of apartheid South Africa, by the requirements of heteronormativity, by the narrow confines of gender performance, and by ideas of ableism, denying the validity of bodies which are different. However, it is not just a story of marginalisation; it is also a story of triumph and perseverance, of the power of love, of rootedness in a particular context, and of the importance of family, both biological and chosen.

Finding one’s place in life and feeling affirmed is immensely healing.

The Lockdown-Buchlein: Eighteen Chorale-based Works for the Organ

Theo Van Wyk; Wesley Pietersen — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In a time when the world stood still, and the regular patterns of life were interrupted by an unforeseen force, this collection of chorale preludes came into being. The Lockdown-Büchlein is more than a set of compositions; it is a reflection of a period when the world was quiet, and the echoes of our deepest thoughts and the ageless tunes of faith were the only sounds that filled the silence. The title pays homage to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), whose Orgelbüchlein has long been a foundational work in organ literature. Like Bach’s collection, this new work aspires to contribute to both the current moment and the future of organ music.

Developing Donor Support: Selected Ways & Means for African Non-profits

Peter N. Thuynsma — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This book is made up of two sections: a 7-part narrative of the fund development process, and a set of 43 downloadable templates that are hyperlinked to pertinent sections in the text. The sections complement each other, but they can also be treated as distinct and separate. This means that you can choose to read the work as a tutorial OR to concentrate on either section alone. Do realise that the templates are intended to make developing donor funds more systematic and efficient – they are not short-cuts. They are practical tools to help drive the process from planning and project design, through the imperative stewardship programme and into the communication strategies that underwrite the progression. Each may be accessed by clicking on the link icon wherever it appears in the text. You can also use the QR code on page 12 or click here to download the zip file with all the templates.

The text is essentially a storyboard of the fund development process. It follows the stages, the techniques, and the tools involved in attracting and appreciating donor support that both makers and managers should find useful. But instead of being another macro journey through the duties of a fundraiser, this is more of a micro look at the individual responsibilities and descriptions. The variety of checklists, models, 70 accompanying illustrations, along with the downloadable templates help the reader navigate this journey.

The list of contents is deliberately extensive to make it easy to navigate to any section without laboriously having to scroll through the e-booklet. I would, however, recommend that readers who require a more comprehensive look at the whole process, turn to Jill Richie’s excellent and detailed overview in her Fundraising for Non-profits: A guide to starting and resourcing NPOs in South Africa.

Templates:

FD 1 Guide to writing a strong mission statement

FD 2 Service Pledge

FD 3 S.W.O.T. Analysis worksheet

FD 4 Strategy Map

FD 5 14-Step Theory of Change worksheet

FD 6 Log Frame Analysis (LFA) worksheet

FD 7 Success Equation worksheet

FD 7.1 Success Equation worksheet – Excel

FD 8 Sample Success Equation

FD 9 Case for Support Statement

FD 10 Case for Support checklist

FD 11 Project Outline Canvas

FD 12 Fundraising Plan worksheet

FD 13 Simple Action Plan

FD 14 Balanced Scorecard action plan

FD 15 Sample Gift Chart worksheet

FD 16 Fundraising Forcaster Worksheet1

FD 17 SAMPLE budget checklist

FD 18 Multi-Yr Budget Template

FD 19 Summary Budget template

FD 20 Operating Budget & Tracker Template

FD 21 Budget-vs-actual-chart

FD 22 Fundraising Campaign Gantt Chart

FD 23 Fund development - Task Tracker1

FD 24 RACI Template

FD 25 Campaign Readiness Profile

FD 26 Cash Flow template

FD 27 Constituency (Ubuntu) Circle

FD 28 Constituency (ubuntu) manifest

FD 29 Prospect information worksheet

FD 30 Key questions grant-makers ask

FD 31 Sample AI Prompts

FD 32 Concept note template

FD 33 Letter of Enquiry template

FD 34 Proposal Template

FD 35 Results-Based Management reporting template

FD 36 Quick cost-benefit worksheet

FD 37 Sponsorship Valuation & ROI templates

FD 38 Sample Sponsorship proposition template

FD 39 Sample Stewardship Plan

FD 40 Strategic communications planning guide

FD 41 Communications plan worksheet

FD 42 Communications Schedule

FD 43 Workload inventory worksheet

South Africa's Easy Election Guide: Who To Vote For in 2024

Nickolaus Bauer — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

South Africa’s most important election since 1994 may deliver the first coalition government in a democratic South Africa. However, as political parties vie for the votes of South Africans: How do citizens make the choice of where to put their mark? Who can they trust to give voice to their aspirations and help rebuild and grow Africa’s most developed economy to benefit more people in the world’s most unequal society?

Reimagining Writing Centres Practices

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In light of the changing face and internationalisation of our student body and their concomitant needs, this book attempts to foreground both the strides made in the field, as well as the important questions and debates confronting writing centre practitioners in the South African higher education arena. The latter demands that we review and reimagine the support we currently provide. Reimaging, however, forces us to wrestle with the challenges that are inherent in work of this nature and to be vocal about the difficult questions that must be asked and answered if we want to provide socially just solutions to our students’ writing challenges. The onset of COVID-19 also imposed on our daily practices and required a hasty re-evaluation of our service provision.

The aim of this volume is to further conversations and research on the notion of the internationalisation of writing centres and the necessity to focus on the key issues of multilingualism, discipline-based writing, social justice, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as specialised consultant/tutor training. Writing centres at South African universities have established themselves as fundamental to the support and development of our students. Thus, the time is ripe for us as writing centre practitioners in the South African context to continue writing our own writing centre narrative, grapple with context-specific issues and questions, and provide context-specific answers and solutions that speak to the lived realities of our students. We hope to achieve this through this book.

Food for Academic Thought

All of Us — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

"In a 'spoon in cheek' manner, I can honestly say this is a cookbook that the wizards at the National Roasting Foundation will approve of. In fact, this is so off the scale that their top chef rating of A1 cannot be applied. In all probability, they will have to create a brand-new rating category because if not, their whole system will go pear-shaped. I say this because FOOD FOR ACADEMIC THOUGHT is a transdisciplinary alchemy like no other – a cure for all ivory tower diseases – both known and unknown. This is the case because it is underpinned by 'vreetsaamheid', a theoretical framing that has the potential to rival that old Education Faculty Favourite, Bronfenbrenner, as a cure for all things 'angazi' that we have to have to ingest and digest continuously. But I digress. In all dishonesty, I did try concocting some of the concoctions the Department of SMTKS EDUCATION are peddling in this book. And as a double-blind reviewer, it made me appreciate, from the start, the raw data that was used to arrive at the main findings. Without wanting to sound saucy, the findings were definitely fish or flesh or something else. This book, which I know will bring in sweet subsidies, deserves, in my view, to be used as the prescribed book for all functions, fiestas, fetes, funerals, fits, fergaderings, festivities and all other Faculty occasions serving food."

Prof Johan Wasserman
HoD Humanities Education

Does Distance Education in the Developing Context Need More Research? Building Practice into Theory (Volume One)

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This book focuses on distance education research, a dire need in the field, especially in Africa and other developing contexts. 'Distance education' in this book has been used as an umbrella term for any form of education in which there is a separation between the teacher and the learner, which necessitates the use of media. The authors from a range of African countries and international experts who have had a stint of their career in developing contexts, borrowing from their wealth of experience, discuss research trends in distance education in their milieu, identifying the gaps and how this mode of delivery can be strengthened. By so doing, their passion for quality which has been a major area of concern in the field was brought to the fore. They have reiterated the fact that it is possible to enhance quality in this mode of delivery by not only conducting research but also applying its findings to theory, practice, and policy. The book is the first of two volumes.

Does Distance Education in the Developing Context Need More Research? Building Practice into Theory (Volume Two)

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Fiction and Fable

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Embark on a captivating journey through the enchanting world of time-series analyses with Fiction and Fable: Tales of Time-Series. This extraordinary collection of short stories, penned by undergraduate students from the prestigious Department of Statistics at the University of Pretoria, brings to life the fascinating concepts taught in the time-series analysis syllabus. What began as a mere optional assignment evolved into a remarkable book of stories that blend the realms of creativity and statistics. Stories such as The Shepherd and the Wolf or The Tale of the ARMA Warriors transport readers to the moments of comfort and delight that fables and fairytales hold for all. The fusion of imagination and analytical thinking invites readers to explore a magical realm where mathematical models intertwine with storytelling. Join us on a literary adventure where Fiction and Fable meet the captivating world of time-series, proving that the magic of storytelling knows no bounds.

I See You

Rory du Plessis — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The casebook for the Institute for Imbecile Children, and the casebooks of the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum constitutes one of South Africa’s largest archived records for people with intellectual disability (PWID) who were institutionalised from 1890 to 1920. In I See You I testify how the viewing of the casebooks’ content and photographs gave rise to a personal recognition of the personhood of the PWID. My testimony takes the form of poetry that is composed to honour and memorialise each individual person who is included in this album.

Rory du Plessis is a Senior Lecturer in Visual Studies at the School of the Arts, University of Pretoria. He is a NRF-rated scholar, the co-editor of the academic journal, Image & Text, and author of Pathways of Patients at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, 1890 to 1907 (Pretoria University Law Press 2020).

The Public Art of Commemorating the Wars of Resistance

Mahunele Thotse — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This book examines sites in Limpopo Province where the history of the Wars of Resistance is represented on the landscape through public art that celebrates the traditional leaders who fought those wars. The Public Art of Commemorating the Wars of Resistance: A Brief Limpopo Chapter explores the overlapping and oftentimes complex relationships between identity, memory, heritage and the cultural landscape. The book draws particular attention to the powerful role that statues, honouring traditional leaders who fought wars of resistance, have played in saving their peoples’ land from colonial conquerors. This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the memorialisation of the Wars of Resistance in South Africa. The book further provides a stimulating introduction to the issue of how South Africans commemorate the Wars of Resistance.

Thetha Sizwe: Contemporary South African Debates on African Languages and the Politics of Gender and Sexualities

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Thetha Sizwe invites readers to rethink and reimagine the play of power, firmly rooted in the triad of African languages, genders and sexualities. ‘Thetha Sizwe’, loosely interpreted as ‘let your voice be heard’, opens up spaces for fresh and active debate and discussion that inform the complexities and contestations of language. As a linguistic injunction, ‘thetha sizwe’ is not purely a communicative plea but directs the reader (and listener) to the politics of voice, silence, and indeed, the capacity to hear and listen.

The volume explores and problematises contemporary and current debates that shape African languages and literature by investigating assumptions and received notions, with deliberate attention to breaking out of dominant models that pose limits on further debate. The rich assembly of essays provide provocative and nuanced engagements with questions of morphology, syntax, and the meanings of prescribed texts for secondary schools. All arguments unequivocally coalesce around the politics of African languages in the context of feminist and gendered epistemologies and decolonial humanities. Arising out of this engagement is a volume that spotlights local (and some continental languages) as crucial to global shifts in decolonial struggles that aim to re-imagine new worlds.

De Aar

Giorgio Miescher — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

De Aar: Lines of Architecture in the Making of a South African Town (1902–1977) reconstructs the history of a former railway town located in, what is today, the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This town is a remarkably early example of modern urban planning in South Africa, which was at heart an exercise in spatial segregation. The book investigates historical maps, plans, and blueprints to narrate De Aar’s urban development and discusses how state officials, politicians, and town planners imagined, conceptualised, ordered, and regulated the town of De Aar and its inhabitants. The close-up view reveals the specific process of establishing both ‘White’ and ‘non-White’ neighbourhoods that—while heavily regulated and subjected to recurrent forced removals—saw the emergence of complex systems of land tenure, property rights, and differential access to housing. By highlighting Black residents’ role in shaping the built environment and social fabric of De Aar, the book expands and enlivens the graphic archive of Northern Cape urban planning.

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De Aar: Argitekture in die Vorming van ’n Suid-Afrikaanse Dorp (1902–1977) rekonstrueer die geskiedenis van ’n toenmalige spoorwegdorp, geleë in die huidige Noord-Kaap provinsie in Suid-Afrika. Die dorp is ’n vroeë voorbeeld van moderne dorpsbeplanning in Suid-Afrika wat ten diepste ’n oefening in ruimtelike segregasie was. Die boek neem historiese kaarte, planne en bloudrukke onder die loep om sodoende De Aar se dorpsontwikkeling en die wyse waarop stadsbeplanners die dorp en sy inwoners gekonsepsualiseer, georden en gereguleer het, te beskryf. Hierdie gefokusde benadering ontbloot die spesifieke proses waardeur beide ‘Wit’ en ‘nie-Wit’ woongebiede gevestig is. Hierdie woongebiede was—terwyl dit streng gereguleer en gereeld aan gedwonge verskuiwings onderworpe was—blootgestel aan die ontstaan van komplekse sisteme met betrekking tot grondbesit, eiendomsreg en gedifferensieerde toegang tot behuising. Deur Swart inwoners se rol in die vorming van die bou omgewing en in die sosiale verweefdheid van De Aar te beklemtoon, gee die boek lewe en verskaf dit ’n spesifieke konteks aan die grafiese argief van Noord-Kaapse dorpsbeplanning.

Archives of COVID-19

Bronwyn Strydom — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The global COVID-19 pandemic brought swift and profound changes to South Africa, including the University of Pretoria. The University of Pretoria Archives documented the institution's response, collecting official announcements and responses while also recognizing the need to preserve personal perspectives. Under the leadership of Prof Karen Harris, the UP Archives launched three competitions over three years. The first competition, launched in 2020, was the #UPStaySafe photographic competition. The second was launched in 2021, “Recollecting Covid-19: 365 days in lockdown”, and included a range of essays, photographs and poetry. The third competition was launched in 2022 to capture the reflections of students and staff on the theme “Loss, pause and hope”. The collection captured here serves to preserve the COVID-19 experience and serves as a tribute to those who have faced adversity during these challenging times.

Umalusi (The Shepherd)

Edwin T. Smith 'Kwedini Simiti' — Tue, 09 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In Xhosa, a shepherd is Umalusi. As imagined in this poetry collection, shepherds mind their charges. Furthermore, communication connects people. Speech and writing are material expressions of experiences, thoughts, dreams, fears, aspirations, and wonders. With the diversity of languages in South Africa, access to people’s experiences and thoughts is often limited and constrained through one’s command of language, spoken and written. As a result, there can be hurdles to connecting with one another. Language can divide, separate, and alienate us from one another. Consequently, a shepherd’s responsibilities in this context are multifold.

The poems collected in Umalusi were conceived and written in Xhosa because my mother, the central subject of the collection, is a Xhosa woman and spoke Xhosa to me throughout my life with her. This is how I learned the language without formal instruction in school. Through writing the poems in Xhosa, I gift the original giver her treasures in return. In essence, Umalusi is an amalgamation of my formal learning to read and write Afrikaans and English in school and my mother’s tuition by immersing me in the culture and traditions of her people.

HumanEATies 100 Recipes

Faculty of Humanities; Alecia Samuels, Vasu Reddy — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria (UP) published this cookbook to celebrate its 100 anniversary.

HumanEATies is a cookbook, not a recipe book, as it has academic resonance, and is not a mere collection of recipes. Like many academic endeavours, it is a transdisciplinary project, with all the recipes tested by final-year Hospitality and Consumer Food Sciences students in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The idea for this cookbook was born, of course, while eating, specifically while enjoying breakfast with staff from the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Who knew that from those first tentative conversations, a creation of such deliciousness would emerge from our colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities? Many of these recipes were sourced during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when cooking and baking seemed to present a welcome distraction from the uncertainties going on in the world. With this publication, the Faculty of Humanities has shown that there is more to being an academic than just teaching and research and that some wonderfully creative foodies are occupying our spaces.

Inherited Obsessions

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Enjoy the thought-provoking project, "Inherited Obsessions: Conversations with an Exhibition," a prize-winning publication that explores the complexities of culture and heritage in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Edited by Dr Laura de Harde, this book won the prestigious 2023 HSS Awards for Best Exhibition Catalogue.

A key outcome of her Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Dr de Harde initiated collaborations with institutions like the University of Pretoria and the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History. She engaged in meaningful conversations with Ditsong's curator of anthropology and co-curator of the exhibition, Motsane Gertrude Seabela. These discussions formed the foundation of the Inherited Obsessions exhibition, unveiled on Heritage Day, September 24, 2022, at Ditsong.

The exhibition became a platform to explore the weight of inherited legacies. The contributing authors unpack these conversations in the publication, offering readers a deeper understanding of our relationship to historical objects and their impact on the present.

Through nine engaging chapters and a captivating visual essay showcasing the artworks included in the exhibition, the publication invites readers to contemplate the enduring significance of cultural heritage. By highlighting our shared history, the book encourages us to reflect on the complexities of our past and consider how it may shape our present and future.

Tangible Heritage Conservation

Salomé le Roux; Isabelle McGinn, Maggi Loubser, Laura Esser, Daniéle Knoetze — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Tangible Heritage Conservation programme is based at the School of the Arts and within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria (UP). This is the first such programme offered at a university in sub-Saharan Africa and was inaugurated in 2019. It’s launch is the culmination of many years of developments which converged at the proverbial ‘right place at the right time’.

In this publication, the first three years of the Master’s programme in Tangible Heritage Conservation are documented through three annual reports, curriculum layouts, and photographs. It outlines the coursework that forms part of the programme and explains how the programme was taught during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book also includes a selection of students’ assignments, showcasing the research skills developed through the course.

Institutional Curiosity

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This is the first collection of writing by various academics from the University of Pretoria about reimagining the University and how it may look in the future. Re-imaging the institution requires novel ways of thinking and engaging in debates about change, continuity, knowledge and excellence. These opinion pieces, thoughts and reflections about the University were shared by staff members and other collections will be published as contributions are received.

Old Ways of Being to New Ways of Seeing

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Discrimination is a worldwide phenomenon that cuts across communities, cultures, religions and societies. Throughout the centuries, people in almost every context have faced discrimination based on gender, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, race and other factors. Religion, which ought to propagate and promote peace, unity and reconciliation, has unfortunately contributed to conflict, intolerance, religious violence and discrimination globally. Taking cognizance of its own checkered history of exclusion over the years, in 2017 the Faculty of Theology and Religion adopted as its centenary theme “Gateway to __ ”. The idea was to reflect on ‘open gates’ which speak to the deliberate desire to promote equity, inclusiveness and diversity. With regard to this endeavour, the Faculty has travelled far in working for justice, inclusivity and transformation.

The University of Pretoria has adopted a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy. One aspect of the initiative to publicise the policy was that the Faculty of Theology and Religion spearhead a drive to examine anti-discrimination from a faith perspective. Thus, in September 2021 the Faculty hosted a webinar that addressed various themes of anti-discrimination. This publication is an outcome of that initiative, in which some Faculty staff members contributed to conversations about anti-discrimination from different angles.

Earth Songs

Paul Weinberg — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Earth Songs explores and celebrates spiritual connections to the land in South Africa. While the ownership of “land” in this country is a highly contested issue, people have long marked and celebrated their spiritual connections to the land in ways that signify and re-imagine what it means for a variety of its inhabitants. Such meaning-making often etches the landscape, turning it into a natural canvass through which layered stories, manifest or buried, are expressed.

In quiet ways beyond the news and headlines, people of all traditions, persuasions, faiths and spiritual engagements partake in formal and informal rituals that mark the land in ways that align with their beliefs. They may go on pilgrimages, or re-ritualise places of archaeological, historical and cultural significance. Such rituals may take place in makeshift places of worship, in caves, next to rivers, or in churches, temples and mosques. In some instances, these spiritual sites are well-known, like Mount Nhlangakazi, the endpoint of a 50 km pilgrimage for thousands of followers of the Ibanda lamaNazaretha (Shembe Church). In others, as in the case of Twee Rivieren, where a small statue at the confluence of the Swart and Liesbeek rivers in Cape Town pays homage to the brave Goringhaiqua Khoi who defeated the first colonisers in 1510, these sites are less known. The lesser-known sites often tell stories of contest and simultaneous spiritual significance that need to be told more volubly and heard more widely.

The project explores many of these lesser-known, lesser-recognised, off-the-beaten-track, unusual sites of spiritual practice and ritual, bringing to the surface histories that are often muted or erased. Collectively, this work is an amalgam of spiritual connections to our land that celebrates our diversity, engages with our past and, for many, transcends the everyday. This project complements and expands on the extensive book previously done on rituals and spiritual practice called Moving Spirit (1996–2006). It hopefully offers another way of understanding our country and reflects the essence of spirituality that lies deeply embedded in our land.

Die Sepediversbou

Pieter S. Groenewald — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Hierdie skrywe vat meer saam as wat vervat is in my laaste paar artikels oor die Sepediversbou en wat in die Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Afrikatale verskyn het. Gedeeltes daaruit word wel woordeliks herhaal, soos die bespreking van die werke van Matlala en Matsepe. Ek het die moeite ontsien om daardie besonderhede met groter elegansie te probeer inklee. Op kritiese punte is aansienlik uitgebrei; nuwe insigte het bygekom, en so het dit meer as ’n samevatting en herrangskikking van die bestaande gegewens geword. Die gebruik van die term vers kan moontlik verwarring skep. Wees daarop bedag. Dit is ’n selfstandige verseenheid; dit verwys nie na ’n versgeheel nie. ’n Gedig is in hierdie skrywe nie ’n vers nie, maar ’n versgeheel, en dié kan uit een of meer verse saamgestel word. Hierdie aangeleentheid word in die teoretiese aanloop breedvoerig bespreek.

Tanzania’s Magufuli: Implementing the Promise to the Nation

Sixta Raphael Kilambo, Katabaro Novatus Miti — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This book compares the progress ten select countries, all former colonies of Britain, have made towards the practice of democracy. The authors assess a range of indicators including the quality of elections, the impact of voter turnout, the importance of term limits, civil society’s various responsibilities, the presence of media freedoms, the impact of youth participation, accountability and the rising role of social media. These findings help illustrate the various periods within each country’s democracy from the immediate post-colonial experience, to the emergence of one-party states, to the surge of multi-party elections that are being influenced by key political figures and technology.

This book will be of great interest to a broad readership including students of politics, international relations and history at tertiary educational institutions as well as the wider readership that is keen to understand what has shaped the post-colonial political experience of some key Anglophone African countries.

Brittle Democracies

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000