1,720,976 research outputs found
Reading challenges experienced by the foundation phase learners at two selected primary schools in the Western Cape
No full textMagister Educationis - MEdReading is a key component of literacy that plays an important role in knowledge access. It
helps children's minds grow, and stimulates their comprehension of reading content, enabling
them to function and interact effectively in society. Although, reading is prioritised as an
indispensable aspect of literacy, reading comprehension remains a global challenge (Ligembe,
2014). Most South African learners in the Foundation Phase perform poorly in literacy
particularly in reading and writing and are reading far below appropriate expected age levels
according to the reports on systematic evaluations by the Department of Education (DoE), and
other international research organisations on learners reading skills (Hugo, Le Roux, Muller &
Nel, 2005)
The media and Africa's on-going quest for a true humanity: a Bikoian approach
No full textUpon their arrival on the African continent, among their first acts of denuding and attenuating Africans, European colonialists targeted African culture as their casualty in order to kill Africans’ self-consciousness. European culture was made a point of reference and African culture was regarded as something negative and primitive, resulting in Africans despising themselves and worshipping everything European. Aiding European imperialism in denigrating the African image and personality was the European-owned media. In reaction to the imperialists’ project, the Black Consciousness Movement martyr, Bantu Steve Biko advanced the view that in order to liberate Africans, self-consciousness and self-esteem had to be restored to Africans. In his view this had to be done through the act of African cultural reclamation. In this article the author interrogates the concept of African cultural reclamation and the role the media can play in order to fulfil Africa’s quest for a true humanity as envisaged by Biko.Publisher's versio
The Media and Africa's on-going quest for a true humanity : a Bikoian approach
Get PDFCITATION: Sesanti, S. 2012. The Media and Africa's on-going quest for a true humanity : a Bikoian approach. Communitas, 17, doi:10.38140/com.v17i0.984.The original publication is available at https://journals.ufs.ac.zaUpon their arrival on the African continent, among their first acts of denuding and attenuating Africans, European colonialists targeted African culture as their casualty in order to kill Africans’ self-consciousness. European culture was made a point of reference and African culture was regarded as something negative and primitive, resulting in Africans despising themselves and worshipping everything European. Aiding European imperialism in denigrating the African image and personality was the European-owned media. In reaction to the imperialists’ project, the Black Consciousness Movement martyr, Bantu Steve Biko advanced the view that in order to liberate Africans, self-consciousness and self-esteem had to be restored to Africans. In his view this had to be done through the act of African cultural reclamation. In this article the author interrogates the concept of African cultural reclamation and the role the media can play in order to fulfil Africa’s quest for a true humanity as envisaged by Biko.https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/com/article/view/984Publisher's versio
Afrocentric education for an African renaissance: Philosophical underpinnings
No full textAfrocentricity, “a quality of thought and practice rooted in the cultural image and human interests of African people”, is central to what should constitute education in Africa
Distinctly African ...or dimly African?
No full textCITATION: Sesanti, S. 2007. Distinctly African ...or dimly African? Rhodes Journalism Review 27.Thirty years have passed since October 19, 1977, when the National Party banned black consciousness organizations and black-oriented newspapers – The World and the Weekend World. What drove the NP regime to such desperate moves was that the majority of black journalists in the 70s unequivocally identified their journalism with the liberation struggle. Black journalists declared themselves “black” first and “journalist” second. They questioned reference to “objectivity” by journalists who called freedom fighters “terrorists”. They objected to the misuse of this term by journalists who served in the then South African Defence Force, while they objected to black journalists' identification with the liberation movements. The term “black” was not just a matter of pigmentation but was used in a political context. In his book I Write What I Like, the black consciousness martyr, Bantu Biko, explained the concept of “black” thus: “Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.” Black journalists, therefore, understood blackness to mean, amongst other things, commitment. It is in this line of thinking that the Sowetan, the descendant of The World and Weekend World, was given birth to. The name Sowetan, as observed by the Sowetan’s first editor, Joe Latakgomo was identified with the “symbolism of Soweto to identify with the black struggle”. But what of black journalism since 1994?Publisher's versio
Studying and teaching ethnic African languages for Pan-African consciousness, Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance: A Decolonising Task
No full textIn order to conquer and subjugate Africans, at the 1884 Berlin Conference, European countries dismembered Africa by carving her up into pieces and sharing her among themselves. European colonialists also antagonised Africans by setting up one ethnic African community against the other, thus promoting ethnic consciousness to undermine Pan-African consciousness. European powers also imposed their own “ethnic” languages, making them not only “official”, but also “international”. Consequently, as the Kenyan philosopher, Ngũgῖ wa Thiong’o, persuasively argues, through their ethnic languages, European colonialists planted their memory wherever they went, while simultaneously uprooting the memory of the colonised. Cognisant of efforts in some South African institutions of higher learning to promote African languages for the purpose of promoting literacy in African languages, this article argues that while this exercise is commendable, ethnic African languages should be deliberately taught to “re-member” Africa and rediscover Pan-African consciousness. By doing this, African scholarship would be aiding Africans’ perennial and elusive quest for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.
Keywords: African Renaissance, Ethnic African Languages, Ethnic European Languages, European Colonialism, Pan-African Consciousness, Pan-Africanis
Sindiwe Magona: An African Woman Teacher’s Agency for a Decolonised and Afrocentric Education
No full textIn 2015, the University of Cape Town’s students who called themselves the Rhodes Must Fall movement, following their call for the removal of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes’s statue, also demanded a decolonised and Afrocentric education, against a colonial and Eurocentric education still prevalent in institutions of higher learning 21 years after South Africa became a democracy. Cognisant that colonial and Eurocentric education in South Africa affected Africans both in racist and sexist ways, this article examines how Sindiwe Magona’s writings, published since 1990, have practically contributed to realising the yet-elusive decolonised and Afrocentric education. The focus is on Magona as an African woman teacher and writer because she resisted and confronted colonial and Eurocentric education’s racist and sexist manifestations, and advanced decolonised and Afrocentric education in those capacities
A case for African culture in journalism curricula
Get PDFThis article examines the need to teach African culture as a module in journalism schools based on the African continent. Assuming that journalists need to be cognisant of the cultural environments in which they operate, this article argues that failure on the part of journalists to be culture-aware results in inaccurate journalism that is loaded with journalists’ own cultural baggage and bias. Using cultural framing as a theoretical basis, the article shows how ignorance of African culture by journalists reporting on indigenous African communities has manifested itself. It is argued that journalistic misrepresentation of Africans perpetuates the colonial project of the ehumanisation of Africans of projecting them as inferior beings – mentally, spiritually and physically. Journalists educated about diverse cultures are more likely to link and create common understanding among culturally diverse communities than journalists who are ignorant of others’ cultural norms
Searching for 'African' perspectives in South African media's discourse on Zimbabwe's challenges
No full textThe year 2000 witnessed an aggressive displacement of white farmers by Zimbabwe’s
war veterans in pursuit of an unfulfilled African struggle for land repossession
usurped by British colonialists led by Cecil John Rhodes in the 19th century. This
turn of events received international media attention. Both in Africa and abroad,
the media attacked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and called for Mugabe’s
removal from power. Pressure was exerted on the Southern Africa Development
Community-appointed mediator, Thabo Mbeki, to drop “quiet diplomacy” and
adopt an aggressive and uncompromising approach to Mugabe. African leaders,
including Mbeki, saw the media’s attitude as pro-Western and anti-African. This
article, utilising Afrocentricity as theoretical framework, examines how the South
African newspaper City Press, a self-proclaimed “distinctly African” newspaper,
handled the Zimbabwean crisis, with particular reference to the land issue and
taking into cognisance traditional African culture’s stance with regards to land
ownership.Publisher's versio
The African intellectuals’ project
No full textSoon after taking the position of editor of IJARS at the beginning of 2019, I was
contacted by the dean of Unisa’s College of Graduate Studies (CGS), Prof. Lindiwe
Zungu, who informed me that the university’s principal and vice-chancellor, Prof.
Mandla Makhanya, had decided to revive his project, the African Intellectuals’ Project
(AIP). I was asked to coordinate this project, through which Makhanya sought to invite
scholars, academics, and intellectuals, both on and outside of the African continent,
to deliver presentations reflecting on the ills afflicting Africa and, at the same time, to
offer possible solutions. In pursuing the AIP, Prof. Makhanya was carrying on a
perennial tradition
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