Unisa Press Journals (University of South Africa)
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Examining Public Responses to the Vigilante Lynching of an Accused Witch in Ghana
No full textAssaults on women as witches still occur in modern Ghana. In Ghana, impoverished, widowed and older women are regularly stereotyped as witches and accused of practicing malevolent witchcraft. Many are subjected to lethal and non-lethal acts of aggression. In July 2020, a nonagenarian woman was accused of witchcraft and lynched by a transitory public mob. In this article, we analysed approximately 400 readers’ comments left at a Ghana-based internet news website (Ghanaweb.com), which reported the crime. The objective was to identify and analyse the major themes expressed. The data indicate that the commenters overwhelmingly were appalled by the disregard of the victim’s human rights. In alignment with previous literature, the data also revealed that the commenters attributed the 2020 lynching incident to several established drivers of modern-day witch-lynching, such as scapegoating, patriarchal terrorism, religious manipulation, ignorance about mental health and the ageing process, and limited social safety nets for older and indigent people. Many commenters called upon the authorities to impose draconian punishment on the offenders to deter future incidents. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for curtailing witchcraft-related violence in Ghana
Unveiling Gender Dynamics: A Feminist Voice in Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale”
No full textThis article scrutinises femininity and gender in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale.” Alyson, the Wife of Bath, is the central female character in the story, and through her, Chaucer depicts the life of a medieval woman, both typical in some ways and unexpected in others. She grapples with complex relationships with men, who consistently oppose her proto-feminist identity. Consequently, Alyson’s existence is marked by the challenges of a woman’s reality in a patriarchal society, subject to numerous forms of dominance. Her daily life is thus a continual battle against these societal forces. This study delves into this ongoing struggle and explores the dynamic between society and women as portrayed in this “Prologue” and “Tale.” This article employs a feminist framework as set out in Hélène Cixous’s essay “The Laugh of the Medusa” to examine gender representation and language. Cixous encourages women to express themselves through writing or speaking in order to gain a deeper awareness of the world of women
Stiltes en stemme. ’n Huldiging van Karel Schoeman, deur Willie Burger (redakteur)
No full textSA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns/Naledi. pp 462.
ISBN: 978-1-991256-46-1
Geresenseer deur Renée Marais
Universiteit van Pretoria, Suid-Afrika
[email protected]
The First Time I Called Myself a ‘Witch’ Was the Most Magical Moment of My Life: Unmasking the Influence of Christianity in the Persecution of Witches Through Cultural Hegemony
No full textWhereas Christianity and biblical narratives continue to constructively form human, theological, spiritual, and social existence, it cannot be downplayed that these two central components sometimes lead to destructive perceptions, actions, and behaviours. This is because Christianity and the Bible have continually influenced the comprehension of humanity and spirituality for centuries. With particular reference to witchcraft, particularly in the South African context, this article aims to unmask and scrutinise the influence of Christianity in the persecution of witches. To do this, this article elicits three biblical pieces of textual evidence from the Bible as one of the historical Christian narratives. To unmask and address the phenomenon of interest, cultural hegemony as a theoretical framework is applied to these three biblical pieces of textual evidence. As a result of this endeavour, this article makes three notable findings. First, as Christianity could be appreciated for constructively shaping social perceptions, actions, and behaviours, it should be implicated in certain immoralities. Second, some of the historical injustices, such as witch-hunts and the killing of witches, have, in large part, been propagated by Christian and biblical ideologies. Third (last), Christianity, as a dominant culture of its time, ought to be unmasked within the contemporary contexts for the very reason that it continues to (re)shape contemporary societies, and it is undoubtedly patent that it may continue to (re)shape future generational societies. This article’s recommendations and closing remarks underscore the necessity to examine Christianity alongside its biblical voices recurrently
An Anthology of Faith-Based Collections’ Writings: Tracking the Genealogy of Scholarship on This Genre of Archives
No full textFaith-based collections, also known as religious archives, church archives or archives of faith traditions, have paradoxically not received attention in mainstream archives. However, they permeate every facet of human endeavour. This could be attributed to this genre of archives as they are relatively unknown; there is a lack of general interest, maybe because of the small volume of archives generated from their parent churches or ministries, which renders them insignificant. Consequently, a definitive and authoritative text on faith-based collections has remained a pipe dream in the records and archives discipline, a global challenge. This paper explores the breadth of the writings to inform the global archival community so that scholars and archivists can contribute in this regard, thereby bridging this literary gap in our archival historiography. Faith-based collections, as they relate primarily to manuscripts of evangelists, are an under-researched area in Archival Science. Using secondary sources like books and reports and empirical works in journals, dissertations, theses, conference proceedings and so on, this paper provides a historical insight and timeline that highlights the trajectory of the scholarship on faith-based collections. While this article highlighted the scholarship on faith-based archives, it also contributed to managing manuscripts by evangelists/pastors in African Independent Churches (AICS) and mainstream churches. It offered insight into the emerging literature on faith-based collections and how this is scattered over various sources
Challenges of Teaching and Learning under Lockdown at Wits University: Implications for the Future of Blended Learning : Reintegration after Disruption
No full textIn response to social distancing regulations of 2020 aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, universities had to rapidly transition from face-to-face learning to Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL). University students and staff faced many barriers to reliably accessing online platforms, together with widespread psychosocial challenges associated with the pandemic. This article reports on these challenges, juxtaposing the experiences of university staff members and students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits). This study used a mixed methods design and drew on two university-wide surveys for staff and one for students, followed by in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). Of those invited, 9% of the student body and 7% of staff responded, with 43 students and 22 staff members participating in the interviews and discussions. Three overarching challenges emerged for both staff and students: 1) physical limitations, including poor access to reliable internet, compounded by persistent power outages; 2) pedagogicalchallenges as staff and students adjusted to a new learning modality; and 3) balancing aspects of personal life and wellbeing with work and studies, including remaining productive while contending with family responsibilities and emotional challenges brought about by the pandemic. The study highlights several issues, including structural considerations and the importance of promoting a sense of community and belonging, that should be considered as the University transitions to blended learning
Navigating Tensions in Designing a Curriculum That Prepares Preservice Teachers for School-Based Learning
No full textA long-standing concern in teacher education is the variability in the quality of practicum experiences afforded to preservice teachers. Although some variability is due to their personal attributes, preservice teachers often find it difficult to connect theoretical insights to teachers’ classroom practices. These challenges can be exacerbated when teachers do not explain the reasoning for what they do and why. School closures during the pandemic provided South African teacher educators with an opportunity to address this concern. We participated in developing a national online module that prepares preservice teachers for school-based learning through guided lesson study. This article adopts a self-study approach to account for the curriculum choices in developing this module. Three tensions needed consideration: portraying teaching as an individualised pursuit and/or a social practice, focusing on generic and/or specialised pedagogies, and focusing on the tacit and/or explicit reasoning that teachers do. We account for how we worked within and between these tensions. A module of this nature potentially enhances school-based learning by making the reasoning of teachers explicit to preservice teachers. To achieve this potential and to advance work-integrated learning as a scholarship, the conceptual underpinnings of the module and its curriculum design must be open to reflection and scrutiny
The Transformation of Senkatana
No full textThe research question in this article is to trace how the legend of Senkatana was transformed first into a drama and then into a tragedy. The methodology that is applied is to compare the salient features of the legend, the drama, and then the tragedy. An overarching finding is that the playwright developed a number of transformational processes in order to transform the essence of the plot, the number and line-up of characters as well as the drama’s structure. A second overarching finding concerns the medium of delivery where an originally orally narrated legend is transformed into a drama text written for performance on a stage before an audience. The third finding applies to the transformation of the character of Senkatana. This happens on a transcendental level when the legendary hero and king dies and becomes a deity after death—an instance of transformation that leads to transfiguration. A concluding finding is that several contemporary contextual readings of Mofokeng’s classic are possible
Copyright Law and the Ruse of Culture: ‘Traditional Cultural Expressions and Expressions of Folklore’ as a Conception of Racial Difference
No full text‘Traditional Cultural Expressions’ and ‘Expressions of folklore’ (TCEs/folklore) have received very little critical attention within intellectual property (IP) jurisprudence. Where TCEs/folklore have been treated, it has only been to the extent that international IP does not offer sufficient protection over them as an analogous class of IP or to the extent that TCEs/folklore themselves are philosophically incompatible with IP, and accordingly fail to adequately capture the cultural expressions of indigenous peoples. This article offers a different argument regarding TCEs/folklore which neither seeks their further protection nor their legislative and policy development. Instead, this article traces the genealogy of TCEs/folklore within the imperialist foundations of international law, arguing that TCEs/folklore are the function of an already existing discursive arrangement of power that is consistent with colonial valuations of knowledge and culture