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Ostrich eggshell beads from Little Muck Shelter, southern Africa: First impressions and regional perspectives
Get PDFHunting and gathering communities in southern Africa produced ostrich eggshell (OES) beads for personal ornamentation, trade and exchange, and various forms of symbolism. OES beads convey information related to not only technological processes, but also social histories, making them useful tools for investigating these processes in the archaeological record. In the middle Limpopo Valley, hunter-gatherers produced beads from periods that predated the arrival of farmer societies, before ca. AD 150, until the decline of the Mapungubwe capital, AD 1300. Their analysis may therefore lead to insights into local economies, craft activities, trade and exchange, and social roles. However, no study in the middle Limpopo Valley has sufficiently investigated these beads and their status within forager society. In this paper we study the manufacture of OES beads from one of the excavated forager-occupied shelters in the valley, Little Muck. This study is the first of its kind from a hunter-gatherer context in the region. It shows that Little Muck’s beads were standardised but produced in varying frequencies across temporal periods, and made following different production strategies. Use-wear analysis hints that some of the beads were pigmented and possibly altered using heat treatment. As an initial foray into a forager bead assemblage of the region, this study demonstrates the value such an approach may yield, and it aids in guiding future attempts. It also compares Little Muck’s bead assemblage with those from other sites across a much wider region where such studies have taken place. The findings demonstrate similar patterns to other parts of southern and eastern Africa, but also illustrate local shifts in bead production that follow changes in local socio-political dynamics
Using the arts to work with refugees and displaced persons in times of crisis and war
Get PDFOur global community is experiencing the highest numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees brought about by crises and war. Not since World War II have we seen such huge numbers of persons who have been separated from their families and communities and are without homes. The war in Ukraine alone, caused by Russia’s illegal invasion, has contributed to over 14 million refugees and displaced persons, of which, according to UNICEF, 4.6 million are children. This panel explored how the arts can contribute towards restoring common humanity and dignity to those in crisis. Practical examples of how the arts and arts therapies are being used with refugees and displaced persons across the globe were presented. Topics such as safety, space and place, peer support, and collaboration were revisited as these relate to resilience, wellness, and empowerment. Three major questions guided the presenters as they shared their experience in working with people in crisis:
Why use the arts when working with refugees and displaced persons?
How are the arts understood/perceived as they are being integrated in this field of work?
How do we restore common dignity and humanity to persons living in crisis
Foreword
No full textI was delighted to open the conference on ‘Violence Against Children’ organized by the Department of Religion Studies, at the Universityof Johannesburg, in partnership with the New Testament Society of Southern Africa (NTSSA). I am extremely pleased that a special issue on the topic has been produced so briskly. Although there is currently much work being done on violence, there is insufficient interdisciplinary and collaborative work on how violence configures the lives of children in Southern African countries. One does not hear of conferences on children or children’s rights as often as one might hear about initiatives on other compelling topics. This coming together of scholars to reflect on the experiences and lived realities of children – and, on the theme of childrenand violence – is exciting and timely.
Currently, there are more than 2 billion children in the world, with the highest proportion living in sub-Saharan Africa. By the middle of this century, more than 40 percent of children younger than 5 years will be resident here. It is often pointed out that a child’s life chances are shaped by the place of birth, year of birth, and privileges of the natal familial context – in this regard, class, race, nationality, regionality, and gender are some of the key predictors of a child’s future. Many countries face entrenched inequalities and disparities, thus economic, sociopolitical,cultural, religious, and communal factors often have considerable and defining impacts on a child’s future well-being and success. Interventionsto create equality of opportunities and mitigate inherited disadvantages have been considerable. Despite government and civil society efforts, thesituation of children today remains dire. This is distressing to note for all who work in this field and who acknowledge that a country’s future stability, growth, and development, are inextricably linked to the ways in which this youngest cohort is treated, catered for, inspired, and afforded economic, social, and educational opportunities
Children’s Lives and Agency in the Agonistic First Century and New Testament Studies
Get PDFhile theoretical approaches attempt to map ancient childhood, the material and incidental nature of children’s lives in all their varieties and differences, are crucial for understanding ancient childhood. Recent investigations into children in their living environments have shown attention to their clothing, childhood care, social relations, leisure and play, health and disability, upbringing and schooling, and their experiences of death. Children’s lives and activities were framed also by the agonistic nature of first-century society, makingthem susceptible to structural violence in various ways. The purpose of the paper is to track and trace children’s experience and in particular their agency in the ancient Roman world that were often hostile to little lives and bodies, and to consider the value of such studies for the interpretation of the New Testament
Future of the BRICS and the Role of Russia and China
Get PDFThe rise of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and the severity of the 2008 global financial crisis have sparked a new round of debate about the long-term viability of transatlantic norms, ideas , and institutions that have dominated global governance since its commencement. Many of the bodies and organizations that contribute towards global governance were formed between 1945 and 1980 , and have been dominated by Western actors and an agenda centered on the West. To support the main argument of the author there are various chapters in the book Future of the BRICS and the Role of Russia and China that focus on The Evolution of Brics and the international system, Russia and BRICS, China and BRICS and Russia and China in BRICS: Convergences and Divergences. The strength of this book is that it is based on empirical evidence and it address pertinent questions on BRICS , contemporary international relations and monetary institutions. Most importantly, the book sheds light on the future of BRICS and the international financial system by providing a clear overview of BRICS and Unipolar and Bipolar world order systems.  
Developmental Integration and Industrialisation in Southern Africa
Get PDFA corpus of literature emphasises the need for industrialisation and integration if states belonging to regional blocs aspire to prosper economically, politically, socially, technologically and culturally. In Southern Africa, gains have been made mainly in political cooperation and solidarity but remain desperately underdeveloped regarding regional integration. Yet, current realities made evident through the advent of Covid 19 pandemic, the ongoing climate change-induced crisis, the energy crisis and the vexing challenges of migration call for the urgent need for regions that ought to foster and prioritise developmental integration and industrialisation. The text, Developmental Integration and Industrialisation in Southern Africa by Siphumelele Duma exposes this glaring gap in the literature by taking stock of the developmental integration and industrialisation matrix of the region whilst at the same time proffering solutions on what needs to be done for the realisation of the critical goals of these notions. 
Africa in the Year of Geopolitics
Get PDFThe year 2023 ended with the world on the precipice. The war in Gaza, a disproportionate Israeli military response to Hamas attack on a festival in Israel, is among the deadliest in decades. More than 20 000 people, mostly civilians including women and children had been killed in the Israeli bombing campaign to avenge the Hamas killing of 120 in October. Thousands have been displaced and injure
Leave Her Alone, She Speaks the Truth: Alphonsine as a Spiritual Vessel of Nyina Wa Jambo in Katori Hall\u27s Play, Our Lady of Kibeho
Get PDFMost feminist debates, including Western Feminism and postcolonial strands of feminism such as African Feminisms, place emphasis on religion – specifically Christianity – as an oppressive structure dominating women, and justifiably so. Within feminist and colonial discourses, however, Christianity occupies complex, ambiguous spaces. In considering Christianity’s positioning within colonialism and feminism, an African feminist position should seek to recognize the contradictions inherent in Christianity and, by extension, facilitate the nuanced experiences women in postcolonial, global South contexts have with Christianity. While some women might find Christianity oppressive, others may find it deeply fulfilling and others still may experience these dichotomies simultaneously. This article presents an African feminist reading of Katori Hall’s play, Our Lady of Kibeho (2018). Inspired by real-life events and centering Christianity (specifically Catholicism), Hall’s play tells the story of three Rwandan convent high-school girls – Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Marie-Claire – whose Marian apparitions garnered widespread attention. Through a textual analysis of, primarily, Alphonsine, who reportedly had the first and most frequent visitations, Christianity is proffered as a site of concurrent oppression and liberation. This article does not engage in the specificities of Catholic doctrine, but rather offers a discussion of varied encounters with Christianity.
Crochet Methodology: Thinking Creatively about and with the Study of Religion in the Anthropocene
Get PDFWhat stories of religion matter in the age of the Anthropocene? This paper begins by situating the Abundance Crochet Coral Reef, an installation of crocheted coralline landscapes exhibited at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, as a methodological motif and enactment to think creatively about and with the study of religion in the Anthropocene. Journeying through the current trends in various fields in the study of religion that are responsive to Anthropocene concerns, I argue that there is a growing body of scholarly work that troubles the dualisms and hierarchies of human-nature and nature-culture that have informed, and indeed, dominated, conceptualizations about religion and the study of religion. Finally, I turn to feminist theory to continue to in-tune religion storytelling (the study of religion) to the challenges of the Anthropocene. Drawing inspiration from the Abundance Crochet Coral Reef, I explore the concept of kinship to open creative vistas for methodological enrichment in the study of religion
Religion and its Role in Addressing Three Critical Social Issues in Africa: Gender-Based Violence, Crime, and Poverty
No full textThis December edition of the Journal for the Study of Religion problematizes the role and influence of religion on societies in Africa as they navigate three of the most challenging social issues in Africa, namely gender-based violence (GBV), crime, and poverty. The articles in this edition look at Muslim communities, Christian communities, southern African language communities, and prison communities exploring what role religions play in helping ordinary people to deal with the challenges of GBV, crime, and poverty. The findings of these articles suggest that religious interventions have little effect on practically reducing crime or the lowering of GBV. The articles by both Banda and Isiko and Kisekka indicate the different ways in which scholars think about the role that many people in Africa believe religion can or does have on addressing poverty