KovsieJournals - University of the Free State (UFS)
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Holy communion in contagious times: Celebrating the eucharist in the everyday and online worlds
Get PDFRichard Burridge’s volume could not have come at a better time. In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, his discourse is on the virtual church and the celebration of Holy Communion online. Some Christian churches have gladly embraced the concept of online meetings and still allow their members to attend services in this way. Other Christian churches do not support online HolyCommunion. Instead, they support online church services only, without the Eucharist. Burridge’s book provides a raison d’etre for online forms of Christian worship
From Decolonising the Mind to Kutapanura Pfungwa Dzakatapwa:a translator’s experience: A translator’s experience
No full textThere has been an overwhelming interface between theories in translation, however, practical reflections on translated texts are scanty. This empirical paper evaluates the translation process. It unveils the challenges and the associated strategies from a translator’s experience while doing the first translation of Decolonising the Mind into an African language in Africa: the ChiShona text, Kutapanura Pfungwa Dzakatapwa. It was dubbed “homecoming” by the author, Professor wa Thiong’o. From perspectives relating to intellectualisation and decolonisation, the translator was the key participant in this qualitative inquiry. The translated text was the primary source of data deployed in conjunction with the source text. This research advances that an interdisciplinary approach provides the foundation for eclectic theory in translation studies. Grounded theory informed the theoretical analysis of the translated text from the target audience’s perspective. The study affirms that while translation cannot be guided by straight-jacketed approaches, copyright laws stifle the spontaneous growth of translations into African languages. Translation strategies mutate according to the text type and the languages involved. To this end, the translation of seminal literary works demands unique methods. This translator’s experience enhances narratives and discourses on the notions of translation and decoloniality, as well as the intellectualisation of African language
Lexical Creativity in Community Translation Corpus from Ghana
Get PDFAlthough corpus-based research is becoming more common in many languages and in translation studies in general, it tends to be scarce or even nonexistent in Akan and many other African languages that are often considered as minority languages. In fact, failure to use Akan in various fields has hindered its development to some extent, particularly in online electronic resources, human language technology and for optimising online presence. Thelimited availability of resources, such as reference corpora and specialised dictionaries, suggests that translators who work from and into Akan often have to rely solely on their ingenuity in the process of translation. The study, therefore, explored a bidirectional English–Akan parallel corpus, built earlier by the researcher in another study. Using the descriptive translation studies approach, Skopos theory and Baker’s (1992) translation strategies, the paperanalyses lexical creativity as a strategy used to resolve translation problems specific to the language pair: borrowing, compounding and reduplication. Akan may not be a typical minority language, but it is in a disadvantaged position compared to English, which serves as the official language. Consequently, many documents are primarily written in the official language, thereby creating a form of imbalance in terms of language development and translationchallenges for community translators and interpreters who work from and into Akan. The research sheds light on how the abovementioned corpus can empower community translation in Ghana. It also identifies lexical creativity as an effective strategy to stimulate the need for the development of such a community language and to curb the imbalance in relation to English regarding terminology, text-type development, reference resources and translation tools. As translation tools such as Linguee rely on parallel corpora, the bidirectional English–Akan parallel corpus may be uploaded online or enlarged to develop general and professional language tools, and can serve as a basis for other enquiries
Obstructions to the integration of ICT in English First Additional Language lessons: The case of Limpopo intermediate phase classrooms
Get PDFEnglish First Additional Language (EFAL) is one of the prescribed subjects in South Africa. However, it is a has proven to be difficult, especially the reading part of the it. On the other hand, the integration of Information Communication Technology (ICT) can mitigate the challenges and promote effective pedagogy in this subject.Unfortunately, there is evidence that the implementation of ICT is not easy to achieve in some South African schools. This scholarly piece, which is guided by the theory of connectivity, has its focus on those impediments that hinder the effective implementation of ICT in EFAL classrooms. This is because contextual factors must be faced head-on to achieve success in a school environment. The study was informed by interpretive practices, resulting in the use of participant observations and semi-structured interviews to collate the data. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the following: limited time for collaborative practices; lack of ICT expertise; issues of power; poor reading competence among the learners; limited pedagogical knowledge; workload; lack of resources; network issues; and safety issues. Despite all these conundrums, this paper proposes that intermediate phase EFAL teachers should still try to learn how ICT can assist the improvement of reading competence. For the integration of ICT to happen effectively, managers at all levels should also provide the necessary support to the teachers
Technology-mediated advising for student success: Exploring selfmediated academic support for undergraduate students using AutoScholar Advisor System
Get PDFThis article explores the use of the AutoScholar Advisor System (Auto-Ad) to provide useful learning support analytics for self-mediated student academic support. The study is part of a pilot project for enhancing student success in a four-year undergraduate degree (BEd) programme. Adopting students’ self-authorship as an organising framework and using the Auto-Ad implemented on the learning management platform, the study involved 200 high performing undergraduate students (cum laude or summa cum laude trajectory) in a School of Education at one university. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect and analyse the data. Quantitative data were analysed based on the students’ interaction with Auto-Ad as academic learning support tool to enhance their performance through automated advising. Qualitative open-ended comments allowing in-depth insight into the students’ perceptions of their performance were also analysed. The students considered knowledge, self, and relationship to be important for achieving high performance and success. The strongest correlated factors were choice of degree, motivation, study habits, family, and relationships. Implications of these findings within the current student support systems at South African universities are discussed
Land shortage and the adoption of cross-border farming by the Ndau people of Zimbabwe along the Zimbabwe/Mozambique borderland (c.1930- 2010)
Get PDFThis study focuses on cross-border farming, a practice which has been adopted by the Ndau communities of South-eastern Zimbabwe to reduce hunger and starvation caused by the shortage of land in the Ndau dominated Zimbabwe/Mozambique borderland. While the colonial Rhodesian government seized land from the Ndau people, the post-independence Zimbabwean government, aggravated the Ndau people’s agrarian plight by annexing formerly white-owned farms during the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in 2000 without properly returning the land to its original owners. The colonial farms had become a source of employment for the landless Ndau men and women. Consequently, following their forced removal during the FTLRP, some of the Ndau communities from Zimbabwe have resorted to cross-border search for land in neighbouring Mozambique. The core of the article’s argument is the claim that cross-border farming has saved the Zimbabwean Ndau people from hunger and starvation. The paper was written using archival documents alongside secondary literature and qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews
Book review of, Performing Power in Zimbabwe. Politics, Law, and the Courts since 2000
No full textand the Courts since 2000, Susanne Verheul joins a growing body of literature on the political economy of law. Coming hard on the heels of George Karekwaivanane’s book1, readers would understandably be curious to know how she constructs her story differently. This is because, prima facie, both books examine substantially similar issues, that is, the intersection of law, politics and the state in Zimbabwe. However, unlike other historical and socio-legal studies that look at the law as just a façade to mask the violence of the rule of repressive regimes, or in the words of Mohamed Sesay2, as an instrument for the domination of the rest of society by the ruling classes, Verheul takes a broader view of the law and its character. To her credit, she transcends the binary of repression and resistance to suggest that the courtroom and courtroom performances provide a platform for the negotiation, performance, and contestation of state authority and notions of citizenship. In doing so, she uses the case study of Zimbabwe to demonstrate the complexity of the law, particularly its entanglement with history
Digital ecclesiology and Africa’s digital natives: prospects and challenges: Prospects and Challenges
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has raised important issues for the church. Churches have grappled with ministering to their congregants in light of the changes in physical gatherings over the past two years. While the digital mode of ministry has strengthened the church’s missional outreach, churches have struggled with two foundational questions: the nature and the mission of the church. This article engages the emerging research in digital ecclesiology from the lens of reformed ecclesiology –particularly using the ecclesiology of Berkhof and the Westminster Standards as interlocutors – and offersprospects and challenges for the church’s ministry to digital natives in Africa. It argues that digital ecclesiology should not be perceived as a hindrance to the church or be blindly accepted. It should rather be critically engaged to delineate its prospects and challenges for the church’s ministry. More specifically, this article argues that the digital mode of ministry enriches the church’s missional calling as it reaches out to Africa’s digital natives; expands the understanding of church as organism and invisible, and creates specific challenges for the church’s ministry in terms of key concepts such as identity, authority, and community
The constant reality beyond exception and rule in Dietrich Bonhoeffer\u27s theology
Get PDFDue to the many warnings at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic of an increased transfer of power to governments and the subsequent impending demise of democracy, this article presents a theological response to a persistent theory of autocratic power. Employing, but reinterpreting the semantics of the concepts of the jurist and theorist of state Carl Schmitt, the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer redirects the former’s rhetoric regarding history, rule, nothingness, creation ex nihilo and miracle. As a result, Bonhoeffer responds to a secular method with faith in Christ’s cross and provides for a reality that can serve as a constant grounding for a new life carried by ultimate hope
"In The Spirit": A Triune Reformulation
Get PDFThe Ecumenical and Reformed Creeds and Confessions hold a continuity of Trinitarian doctrine as formulated since the Nicene creed (325 AD). Yet the role of the spirit seems to be undermined in such formulations. The historical context of the Nicene creed emphasized on the homoousios of the Son. Thus, the filioque in the Nicene later formulation. In this article, the author addresses the lacuna of the role of the Spirit in the traditional Trinitarian formulations. Based on John Calvin’s understanding of an autotheos Trinity, and his timeless view of eternity, the significance of the Spirit should have an equally prominent role. The renewed position should leave no ontological subordinationism either of the Son or the Spirit—a correction to the Eastern and the Western church formulations. In addition, the reformulation read in autothean interpretation shows how the inherent hypostasis submission fits with God’s mission in the history of salvation