Pub Date : 2023-11-12DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2280407
Neo Mohlabane
ABSTRACTThis paper challenges the invisibilisation and silencing of indigenous conceptions of womanhood in feminist scholarly work. It argues that “Mosotho woman,” as we know it today, is a colonial construct for it is located within and fixed to hetero-patriarchal binarised hierarchies. It further argues for the reflection on historical narratives of women the likes of ‘Manthatisi of the Batlokoa as exceptional representations of precolonial conceptions of womanhood in Lesotho. As we interrogate the current invocations of “woman” in Lesotho, we ought to use these herstories as springboards to understand the silenced indigenous conceptions of bosali (womanhoods) that are not only complex but multifarious and beyond the confines of binarised hetero-patriarchal constructions. Drawing on the narrated life stories of 20 “never-married” women – methepa – the paper discusses boithlompho (self-respect), mosali oa ‘mankhonthe (perseverance), sexual empowerment, and botho (personhood) as underpinning the indigenous definitions of bosali. This paper argues for retrieval, elevation, and continuation of indigenous languages, rituals, and spaces as sources of knowledge and theory on womanhoods in local contexts.KEYWORDS: WomanhoodsexualityindigenoushistoriographyLesothodecolonial African feminism Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. The Beauvoirean scholarship refers to second wave feminisms in Europe and America. This scholarship critiques the patriarchal construction of womanhood and its limitation to specific attributes which ultimately inform and justify the relegation of women to an inferior position compared to men in society.2. Whilst this scholarship usefully presents a contradictory theoretical stance against universalist, Eurocentric conceptions of identity, including womanhood, its major weakness is its tendency of essentialising African womanhood to motherhood and romanticising African women’s power (Bakare-Yusuf Citation2003) in ways that problematically disregard women’s realities in contemporary African societies. In particular, the tendency to essentialise motherhood – as the bedrock of African womanhood and African women’s power – marks this conception as exclusionary of those women who are not mothers. Further, in speaking of female, maternal power, this conception is exclusionary of hetero-patriarchally marginalised groups such as transgender women.3. Basali ba Basotho is the plural of mosali oa Mosotho and it is directly translated as women of the Basotho. I opted not to use “Mosotho woman” or Basotho women because this is a misuse of Sesotho nouns as English adjectives. In furthering the decolonial break that this paper is making, I was cautious not to continue this colonial misuse of Sesotho words. Instead, I use women in Lesotho to refer to women generally and methepa to refer to the participants of this study. Notable is the different orthography of Sesotho written in Lesotho compa
摘要本文对女性主义学术研究中固有的女性概念的隐蔽性和沉默性提出了挑战。它认为,正如我们今天所知,“莫索托妇女”是一种殖民结构,因为它位于并固定于异性恋-父权二元等级制度中。它进一步主张对女性的历史叙述进行反思,如“Batlokoa的Manthatisi”,作为莱索托前殖民时期女性概念的特殊代表。当我们质问莱索托目前对“女人”的称呼时,我们应该以这些她的故事为跳板,来理解被沉默的土著对bosali(女性身份)的概念,这些概念不仅复杂,而且多种多样,超出了二元异性恋-父权结构的限制。本文以20位“未婚”女性(methepa)的生活故事为基础,讨论了boithlompho(自尊)、mosali oa ' mankhonthe(毅力)、性赋权和botho(人格)等原住民对bosali的定义。本文主张在当地语境中,对土著语言、仪式和空间作为女性知识和理论的来源进行检索、提升和延续。关键词:女性性行为土著史学非殖民化非洲女性主义披露声明作者未报告潜在利益冲突。波伏瓦学派是指欧美的第二次女权主义浪潮。这种学术批判了男权对女性的建构及其对特定属性的限制,这些属性最终告知并证明了女性在社会中与男性相比处于劣势地位。虽然这种学术有效地提出了一种反对普遍主义的、以欧洲为中心的身份概念(包括女性身份)的矛盾的理论立场,但它的主要弱点是它倾向于将非洲女性本质化为母性,并将非洲女性的力量浪漫化(Bakare-Yusuf Citation2003),这种方式有问题地忽视了当代非洲社会中女性的现实。特别是,将母性本质化的倾向- -作为非洲妇女身份和非洲妇女力量的基石- -标志着这种观念排斥那些不是母亲的妇女。此外,在谈到女性母性权力时,这一概念排除了异性父权制下的边缘群体,如变性妇女。Basali ba Basotho是mosali oa Mosotho的复数,它被直接翻译为巴索托的女性。我选择不使用“Mosotho woman”或“Basotho women”,因为这是对Sesotho名词作为英语形容词的误用。为了进一步打破这篇文章的非殖民化,我小心翼翼地避免继续这种对塞索托词汇的殖民式滥用。相反,我用莱索托的妇女来指代一般的妇女,用methepa来指代本研究的参与者。值得注意的是,莱索托与南非的拼法不同,例如mosali和mosadi——后者用di代替li,但意思保持不变。在本文中,我使用莱索托正字法对所有的莱索托概念。所有的伦理研究原则都被遵守和坚持。2017年5月获得比勒陀利亚大学研究伦理委员会的伦理许可(参考编号:04381734-GW20170412HS)。Letekatse是matekkatse的单数形式。Hlonipha是恩古尼语,指的是尊重,塞索托语的对应词是hlonepha。Hlonepha是动词,hlonepho是名词。Mankhonthe比“real”或“authentic”有更深的含义。相反,它包含了一系列方面,比如韧性、力量、尊重、社区建设等等。由于找不到更好的词来形容,我只好用“真实的”或“真实的”来形容。值得注意的是,这个习语对婚姻关系有更深的含义,特别是,它承认夫妻可能会吵架,但在与双方家人讨论之前,没有人能终止婚姻。传统上,婚姻是两个家庭之间的关系而不是个人之间的关系。虽然“离婚”这个成语的性别含义不可否认,但它也强调了在离婚前双方共同讨论解决问题的必要性。“强大的黑人女性”的概念与强调力量的被奴役黑人女性的历史记载有关。因为她们被认为是财产,并且作为强壮的,被奴役的妇女受到残酷的条件,并且为了加强经济生产力,她们的生育率被奴隶主控制以增加劳动力(Collins Citation2004)。在种族歧视和性别歧视的美国社会,这种刻板印象继续塑造着黑人女性的观念,黑人女性在任何时候都被期望体现出力量和毅力。 关于“思想殖民化”的讨论值得一提,因为它对莱索托异性父权、基督教化的女性观念的根深蒂固和正常化具有重要意义。对这些问题的更深层次的反思与论文中提出的论点有关,然而,这一讨论值得另一篇即将发表的论文。作者简介:neo Mohlabane是比勒陀利亚大学社会学系的讲师。她拥有比勒陀利亚大学公共卫生硕士学位和社会学博士学位。她的专业是性别研究,她的研究兴趣在于对妇女和女孩的暴力行为,非洲女性主义,青少年和青年性行为,交叉性和非殖民化非洲女性主义等领域。
{"title":"<i>Ke mosali oa Mosotho</i> : reflecting on indigenous conceptions of womanhood in Lesotho","authors":"Neo Mohlabane","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2280407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2280407","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis paper challenges the invisibilisation and silencing of indigenous conceptions of womanhood in feminist scholarly work. It argues that “Mosotho woman,” as we know it today, is a colonial construct for it is located within and fixed to hetero-patriarchal binarised hierarchies. It further argues for the reflection on historical narratives of women the likes of ‘Manthatisi of the Batlokoa as exceptional representations of precolonial conceptions of womanhood in Lesotho. As we interrogate the current invocations of “woman” in Lesotho, we ought to use these herstories as springboards to understand the silenced indigenous conceptions of bosali (womanhoods) that are not only complex but multifarious and beyond the confines of binarised hetero-patriarchal constructions. Drawing on the narrated life stories of 20 “never-married” women – methepa – the paper discusses boithlompho (self-respect), mosali oa ‘mankhonthe (perseverance), sexual empowerment, and botho (personhood) as underpinning the indigenous definitions of bosali. This paper argues for retrieval, elevation, and continuation of indigenous languages, rituals, and spaces as sources of knowledge and theory on womanhoods in local contexts.KEYWORDS: WomanhoodsexualityindigenoushistoriographyLesothodecolonial African feminism Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. The Beauvoirean scholarship refers to second wave feminisms in Europe and America. This scholarship critiques the patriarchal construction of womanhood and its limitation to specific attributes which ultimately inform and justify the relegation of women to an inferior position compared to men in society.2. Whilst this scholarship usefully presents a contradictory theoretical stance against universalist, Eurocentric conceptions of identity, including womanhood, its major weakness is its tendency of essentialising African womanhood to motherhood and romanticising African women’s power (Bakare-Yusuf Citation2003) in ways that problematically disregard women’s realities in contemporary African societies. In particular, the tendency to essentialise motherhood – as the bedrock of African womanhood and African women’s power – marks this conception as exclusionary of those women who are not mothers. Further, in speaking of female, maternal power, this conception is exclusionary of hetero-patriarchally marginalised groups such as transgender women.3. Basali ba Basotho is the plural of mosali oa Mosotho and it is directly translated as women of the Basotho. I opted not to use “Mosotho woman” or Basotho women because this is a misuse of Sesotho nouns as English adjectives. In furthering the decolonial break that this paper is making, I was cautious not to continue this colonial misuse of Sesotho words. Instead, I use women in Lesotho to refer to women generally and methepa to refer to the participants of this study. Notable is the different orthography of Sesotho written in Lesotho compa","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"39 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135037037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-22DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2265598
Matthew Michael Wingfield
ABSTRACTThe forms of protest and the related tactics that structure them are often linked to a deliberate logic of disruption and contestation. From pickets aiming to impede foot traffic in public spaces, to more “spectacular” forms of protest such as setting public property alight, these decisions are often far from the spontaneous acts of “violence” that they are depicted as by various news agencies and similarly aligned public officials. Using the example of a social movement based in Cape Town, South Africa, named Reclaim the City, this article thinks through different forms of protest, and how they are leveraged and perceived by a range of actors. By framing this discussion through James Scott’s (1998) work on legibility, this paper argues that social movements and similarly composed groups strategically navigate the process of being made legible by the state at different points for various reasons.KEYWORDS: Legibilityactivismslow activismhousingprotest Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. An “escrache” is a form of public protest that is aimed at “harassing” [sic], or rather influencing, public figures (Lunn Citation2013).Additional informationFundingThis work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant 98765].Notes on contributorsMatthew Michael WingfieldMatthew Michael Wingfield is a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University (under the SARChI Chair for Land, Environment, and Sustainable Development), the same institution where he received his PhD in 2022. His research and publication record spans the focus of spatial and environmental justice, with a particular underpinning of working-class alternatives and grassroots-founded futures.
【摘要】抗议的形式和构成抗议的相关策略往往与蓄意破坏和争论的逻辑联系在一起。从旨在阻碍公共场所行人通行的纠察,到更“壮观”的抗议形式,如点燃公共财产,这些决定往往与各种新闻机构和类似的政府官员所描述的自发的“暴力”行为相去甚远。本文以南非开普敦一场名为“夺回城市”(Reclaim the City)的社会运动为例,分析了不同形式的抗议,以及各种行动者如何利用和理解这些抗议。通过詹姆斯·斯科特(James Scott, 1998)关于易读性的研究,本文认为社会运动和类似组成的群体出于各种原因,在不同的点上战略性地引导着国家使其易读的过程。关键词:易读性、活动主义、缓慢活动主义、住房抗议披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。“escrache”是一种旨在“骚扰”或影响公众人物的公共抗议形式(Lunn Citation2013)。本工作基于南非科学与创新部南非研究主席计划和南非国家研究基金会[Grant 98765]支持的研究。马修·迈克尔·温菲尔德(matthew Michael Wingfield)是斯泰伦博斯大学(SARChI土地、环境和可持续发展主席)的博士后,他于2022年在同一所大学获得博士学位。他的研究和出版记录涵盖了空间和环境正义的焦点,特别支持工人阶级的替代方案和基层建立的未来。
{"title":"Strategic protest and the negotiation of legibility in Cape Town: a case study of Reclaim the City","authors":"Matthew Michael Wingfield","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2265598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2265598","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe forms of protest and the related tactics that structure them are often linked to a deliberate logic of disruption and contestation. From pickets aiming to impede foot traffic in public spaces, to more “spectacular” forms of protest such as setting public property alight, these decisions are often far from the spontaneous acts of “violence” that they are depicted as by various news agencies and similarly aligned public officials. Using the example of a social movement based in Cape Town, South Africa, named Reclaim the City, this article thinks through different forms of protest, and how they are leveraged and perceived by a range of actors. By framing this discussion through James Scott’s (1998) work on legibility, this paper argues that social movements and similarly composed groups strategically navigate the process of being made legible by the state at different points for various reasons.KEYWORDS: Legibilityactivismslow activismhousingprotest Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. An “escrache” is a form of public protest that is aimed at “harassing” [sic], or rather influencing, public figures (Lunn Citation2013).Additional informationFundingThis work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant 98765].Notes on contributorsMatthew Michael WingfieldMatthew Michael Wingfield is a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University (under the SARChI Chair for Land, Environment, and Sustainable Development), the same institution where he received his PhD in 2022. His research and publication record spans the focus of spatial and environmental justice, with a particular underpinning of working-class alternatives and grassroots-founded futures.","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135463070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2269759
Grace Khunou
ABSTRACTAfrican feminists and decolonial scholars have shown the importance of centring African socio-cultural context in our study of African societies. This includes the signifying of African languages, rituals, and roles of individual members at different times and places. They argue and have provided evidence to illustrate how not doing so can be detrimental to our analysis. To illustrate the significance of reading African socio-cultural contexts as a text for understanding these societies, this article examines how ritual in relation to the role of BoRakgadi (paternal aunts) in African societies foregrounds the idea of women as important players in these communities and families. To foreground this argument, the article provides a brief literature overview on rituals to show its significance in building societal connections and belonging. The article then goes on to illustrate how the multiple roles played by BoRakgadi in family and societal rituals provide a lens into how African women have and continue to have a vital role in communities and families. In conclusion, this article illustrates how using gender as a lens should not take away from the context-specific ways it acts in various times and places, but rather it should be used as a lens to unbundle these particularities.KEYWORDS: RitualAfrican womenfamilyBoRakgadi Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Father’s younger brother.2. Father’s older brother.3. People in IsiZulu.4. Humanity in IsiZulu.5. Paternal aunts. Bo implies multiple. This is father’s sisters and is also used in reference to father’s female cousins. The husband to the father’s sister is also referred to as Rakgadi, suggesting that the roles and obligations of the Rakgadi are automatically imbued to the husband on marriage.6. Paternal aunt or father’s sister in SeTswana, SeSotho and SePedi, singular.7. Paternal aunt or father's sister in ShiVenda.8. Singular Person in IsiZulu.9. Kgotla is a gathering of a community to discuss community issues, to deal with infractions of shared laws and to offer solutions? In some contexts, Kgotla is defined in similar terms as a court of law, it is the highest institution for creating and maintaining order in a community.10. Singular person in SeSotho/SeTswana.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGrace KhunouGrace Khunou is a professor and currently Director Scholarship Change in the Department of Leadership and Transformation, Unisa. She engages in research with a focus on the Black condition. She writes creatively and academically and has published numerous articles and book chapters in national and international publications. Her Google Scholar citation index is currently 15 with over 700 citations. She has supervised over 40 research students and was awarded the post-graduate teacher award of the year (2020).
{"title":"Rituals, family connections, and <i>BoRakgadi</i>","authors":"Grace Khunou","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2269759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2269759","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTAfrican feminists and decolonial scholars have shown the importance of centring African socio-cultural context in our study of African societies. This includes the signifying of African languages, rituals, and roles of individual members at different times and places. They argue and have provided evidence to illustrate how not doing so can be detrimental to our analysis. To illustrate the significance of reading African socio-cultural contexts as a text for understanding these societies, this article examines how ritual in relation to the role of BoRakgadi (paternal aunts) in African societies foregrounds the idea of women as important players in these communities and families. To foreground this argument, the article provides a brief literature overview on rituals to show its significance in building societal connections and belonging. The article then goes on to illustrate how the multiple roles played by BoRakgadi in family and societal rituals provide a lens into how African women have and continue to have a vital role in communities and families. In conclusion, this article illustrates how using gender as a lens should not take away from the context-specific ways it acts in various times and places, but rather it should be used as a lens to unbundle these particularities.KEYWORDS: RitualAfrican womenfamilyBoRakgadi Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Father’s younger brother.2. Father’s older brother.3. People in IsiZulu.4. Humanity in IsiZulu.5. Paternal aunts. Bo implies multiple. This is father’s sisters and is also used in reference to father’s female cousins. The husband to the father’s sister is also referred to as Rakgadi, suggesting that the roles and obligations of the Rakgadi are automatically imbued to the husband on marriage.6. Paternal aunt or father’s sister in SeTswana, SeSotho and SePedi, singular.7. Paternal aunt or father's sister in ShiVenda.8. Singular Person in IsiZulu.9. Kgotla is a gathering of a community to discuss community issues, to deal with infractions of shared laws and to offer solutions? In some contexts, Kgotla is defined in similar terms as a court of law, it is the highest institution for creating and maintaining order in a community.10. Singular person in SeSotho/SeTswana.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGrace KhunouGrace Khunou is a professor and currently Director Scholarship Change in the Department of Leadership and Transformation, Unisa. She engages in research with a focus on the Black condition. She writes creatively and academically and has published numerous articles and book chapters in national and international publications. Her Google Scholar citation index is currently 15 with over 700 citations. She has supervised over 40 research students and was awarded the post-graduate teacher award of the year (2020).","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-17DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2267772
Helen-Mary Cawood, Mark Jacob Amiradakis
ABSTRACTThis paper draws from the paradigm of Critical Theory (CT) and Decolonial Theory to engage in an introductory discussion on the need for a new methodological paradigm, namely a Critical Decolonial Theory. This is put forward in order to both argue for the imperative of introducing multiple narratives to the philosophical practice of contemporary social critique in South Africa, as well as to provide a cautionary note relating to how the decolonisation narrative itself could become a determinative ideology if it engages in what Lewis Gordon terms “epistemic closure.” While operating from within the framework and ideals of traditional CT and Amy Allen’s subsequent contribution to decolonising CT, we draw specifically from black practitioners of this critical philosophical tradition, namely Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Frantz Fanon, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Paulin Hountondji, and Achille Mbembe, in order to localise and ground our discussion of the need to problematise (i.e., consider both vindicatory and subversive aspects of) the decolonisation project.KEYWORDS: Critical decolonial theoryepistemic closuredecolonisationproblematising genealogy Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This critical methodology will be expanded upon in subsequent works. This article serves primarily as an introductory discussion regarding what the authors consider is a necessary addition to the decolonisation debate.2. This is what Adichie (Citation2009) refers to as a “single story” or an overly-narrow epistemic engagement with Africanness – whether in an existential sense or in the attempt to demarcate what is “African” in “African Philosophy.”3. It is in this regard that we draw from Bohman’s (Citation2021) distinction between “Critical Theory” (CT) and “critical theory,” in which he indicates that CT has both a narrow and a broad meaning. Bohman (Citation2021, n.p.) writes: “In the narrow sense, CT designates several generations of German philosophers and social theorists associated with the Frankfurt School. Furthermore, a ‘critical’ theory may be distinguished from a ‘traditional’ theory in relation to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human ‘emancipation from slavery’, acts as a ‘liberating … influence’, and works ‘to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers’ of human beings (Horkheimer [Citation1937] Citation1972, 246). As such, many ‘critical theories’ in the broader sense have subsequently been developed. In both the broad and the narrow senses, a critical theory aims to provide the descriptive and normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms. Thus, while CT is often thought of narrowly as referring to the Frankfurt School that begins with Horkheimer and Adorno, it can also be argued that any philosophical approach with similar practical aims could be called a ‘critical theory’.”4. This poin
{"title":"Intellectual decolonisation and the danger of epistemic closure: the need for a critical decolonial theory","authors":"Helen-Mary Cawood, Mark Jacob Amiradakis","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2267772","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2267772","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis paper draws from the paradigm of Critical Theory (CT) and Decolonial Theory to engage in an introductory discussion on the need for a new methodological paradigm, namely a Critical Decolonial Theory. This is put forward in order to both argue for the imperative of introducing multiple narratives to the philosophical practice of contemporary social critique in South Africa, as well as to provide a cautionary note relating to how the decolonisation narrative itself could become a determinative ideology if it engages in what Lewis Gordon terms “epistemic closure.” While operating from within the framework and ideals of traditional CT and Amy Allen’s subsequent contribution to decolonising CT, we draw specifically from black practitioners of this critical philosophical tradition, namely Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Frantz Fanon, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Paulin Hountondji, and Achille Mbembe, in order to localise and ground our discussion of the need to problematise (i.e., consider both vindicatory and subversive aspects of) the decolonisation project.KEYWORDS: Critical decolonial theoryepistemic closuredecolonisationproblematising genealogy Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This critical methodology will be expanded upon in subsequent works. This article serves primarily as an introductory discussion regarding what the authors consider is a necessary addition to the decolonisation debate.2. This is what Adichie (Citation2009) refers to as a “single story” or an overly-narrow epistemic engagement with Africanness – whether in an existential sense or in the attempt to demarcate what is “African” in “African Philosophy.”3. It is in this regard that we draw from Bohman’s (Citation2021) distinction between “Critical Theory” (CT) and “critical theory,” in which he indicates that CT has both a narrow and a broad meaning. Bohman (Citation2021, n.p.) writes: “In the narrow sense, CT designates several generations of German philosophers and social theorists associated with the Frankfurt School. Furthermore, a ‘critical’ theory may be distinguished from a ‘traditional’ theory in relation to a specific practical purpose: a theory is critical to the extent that it seeks human ‘emancipation from slavery’, acts as a ‘liberating … influence’, and works ‘to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers’ of human beings (Horkheimer [Citation1937] Citation1972, 246). As such, many ‘critical theories’ in the broader sense have subsequently been developed. In both the broad and the narrow senses, a critical theory aims to provide the descriptive and normative bases for social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms. Thus, while CT is often thought of narrowly as referring to the Frankfurt School that begins with Horkheimer and Adorno, it can also be argued that any philosophical approach with similar practical aims could be called a ‘critical theory’.”4. This poin","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135992698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-15DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2267767
Nancy Ngum Achu, Assel Tutumlu
ABSTRACTScholars attribute the 2016 Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon to systematic marginalisation of the English-speaking minority whose rights are constitutionally guaranteed but remain violated. However, marginalisation fails to explain why the peaceful-Independent Anglophone Elites (IAEs), consisting of lawyers, teachers, civil society organisations and Anglophone associations at home and abroad, who stood behind the 2016 Crisis, refused to bolster claims over economic redistribution or political representation. Instead, in 2016 they chose to engage in the struggle for self-determination and recognition of the Anglophone identity. Through Nancy Fraser's identity model and in-depth interviews with IAEs, we show that they perceived the recognition claim and a return to a federal state as a guarantee not only to the survival of the IAEs, but also to the solution of other forms of injustices, such as misrepresentation, misrecognition, and maldistribution.KEYWORDS: Anglophone Crisisindependent Anglophone elitesFraser’s social justicerecognitionredistributionrepresentation, Cameroon Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).List of interviewees1. Interviewee #1 (Scholar, Political Scientist and Activist, ACSS, USA), interview data, March 21 2022.2. Interviewee #2 (Senior Advocate, Political Opponent, BAR, Bamenda), interview data, November 22 2021.3. Interviewee #3 (Scholar and Policy Expert, Nkafu Policy Institute, Yaounde), interview data, February 17 2022.4. Interviewee #4 (Journalist, Political Analyst, Author, Chicago), interview data, December 27 2021.5. Interviewee #5 (Commission Member and Political Expert, NCPBM Commission, Yaounde), interview data, November 21 2021.6. Interviewee #6 (policy Expert and Senior Associate, NDI, USA) interview data, February 17 20227. Interviewee #7 (Scholar and Writer, PAID-WA, Buea), interview data, March 21 2022.8. Interviewee #8 (Lawyer and Policy Analyst, BAR, Douala), interview data, March 21 2022.9. Interviewee #9 (Lawyer and Activist, BAR, Bamenda), interview data, February 17 2022.10. Interviewee #10 (Political opponent and Activist, CAMNAFAW Douala), personal communications, January 21 2022.Notes1. At the beginning of the 2016 Crisis, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), which became the first official voice in the Anglophone Crisis, also demanded a federation (Okereke Citation2018). After multiple abuses from the government military forces, and ensuing backlash from the public known as the “Coffin Revolution” (Caxton Citation2017), the Consortium leaders picked up the call for self-determination (Okereke Citation2018). Subsequently, its rebranded version SCACUF declared Independence of the State of Ambazonia (Chothia Citation2018). The alleged “State of Ambazonia” consists of the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. They constitute a fifth of Cameroon’s population and host considerable agricultural lands and massive
{"title":"Why recognition? Deciphering justice claims in 2016 Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon","authors":"Nancy Ngum Achu, Assel Tutumlu","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2267767","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2267767","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTScholars attribute the 2016 Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon to systematic marginalisation of the English-speaking minority whose rights are constitutionally guaranteed but remain violated. However, marginalisation fails to explain why the peaceful-Independent Anglophone Elites (IAEs), consisting of lawyers, teachers, civil society organisations and Anglophone associations at home and abroad, who stood behind the 2016 Crisis, refused to bolster claims over economic redistribution or political representation. Instead, in 2016 they chose to engage in the struggle for self-determination and recognition of the Anglophone identity. Through Nancy Fraser's identity model and in-depth interviews with IAEs, we show that they perceived the recognition claim and a return to a federal state as a guarantee not only to the survival of the IAEs, but also to the solution of other forms of injustices, such as misrepresentation, misrecognition, and maldistribution.KEYWORDS: Anglophone Crisisindependent Anglophone elitesFraser’s social justicerecognitionredistributionrepresentation, Cameroon Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).List of interviewees1. Interviewee #1 (Scholar, Political Scientist and Activist, ACSS, USA), interview data, March 21 2022.2. Interviewee #2 (Senior Advocate, Political Opponent, BAR, Bamenda), interview data, November 22 2021.3. Interviewee #3 (Scholar and Policy Expert, Nkafu Policy Institute, Yaounde), interview data, February 17 2022.4. Interviewee #4 (Journalist, Political Analyst, Author, Chicago), interview data, December 27 2021.5. Interviewee #5 (Commission Member and Political Expert, NCPBM Commission, Yaounde), interview data, November 21 2021.6. Interviewee #6 (policy Expert and Senior Associate, NDI, USA) interview data, February 17 20227. Interviewee #7 (Scholar and Writer, PAID-WA, Buea), interview data, March 21 2022.8. Interviewee #8 (Lawyer and Policy Analyst, BAR, Douala), interview data, March 21 2022.9. Interviewee #9 (Lawyer and Activist, BAR, Bamenda), interview data, February 17 2022.10. Interviewee #10 (Political opponent and Activist, CAMNAFAW Douala), personal communications, January 21 2022.Notes1. At the beginning of the 2016 Crisis, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), which became the first official voice in the Anglophone Crisis, also demanded a federation (Okereke Citation2018). After multiple abuses from the government military forces, and ensuing backlash from the public known as the “Coffin Revolution” (Caxton Citation2017), the Consortium leaders picked up the call for self-determination (Okereke Citation2018). Subsequently, its rebranded version SCACUF declared Independence of the State of Ambazonia (Chothia Citation2018). The alleged “State of Ambazonia” consists of the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. They constitute a fifth of Cameroon’s population and host considerable agricultural lands and massive","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"143 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135758776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-15DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2267778
Denver A. Webb
ABSTRACTEarly mission-educated African intellectuals and activists in the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have received some attention from historians, but other than Charlotte Maxeke and Nokuthela Dube, few of the many women striving for political, economic and social rights have been studied in depth. Eleanor Xiniwe, a pioneering business person, is one whose story deserves to be better known. This article examines some of the challenges of the colonial archive in endeavours to recover neglected and marginalised histories: it sketches Eleanor Xiniwe’s life, explores her participation in the African Choir tour to Britain in 1891–92, examines her business interests and attempts to locate her history in the context of attempts by Africans to imagine an alternative future for themselves in colonial society at a time of hardening racial attitudes and increased discrimination.KEYWORDS: Eleanor XiniweAfrican ChoirAfrican women’s historypioneer African businessesKing William’s Towncolonial archive AcknowledgmentsMy interest in the Xiniwes began in the 1980s while working at the museum in Qonce. At the time I located Paul Xiniwe’s unmarked grave in the town cemetery and produced a small article on him as pioneer businessman, but soon realised that Eleanor was by far the more interesting historical personality. Thank you to Babalwa Magoqwana for inviting me to deliver a paper on her at the “Maternal Legacies of Knowledge: Rethinking the Sociology of the Eastern Cape” symposium in June 2021. I would like to thank Barbara Manning for bringing the existence of the photographs of the African Choir in the Hulton Archive (Getty Images) to my attention. Appreciation is also due to Xolela Mangcu, who is related to the Xiniwes through the Tyamzashes, for helpful comments on an early draft. A special thank you to Mcebisi Ndletyana for suggestions and for sharing ideas from his research on the history of the University of Fort Hare. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to my friend Andre Odendaal, whose pioneering book Vukani Bantu! opened my eyes to the world of the early African intellectuals and activists and whose comments on a draft of this article challenged me to reframe my thinking in a number of ways. Pamela Maseko kindly provided accurate translations of isiXhosa quotations in the text. Lastly, a special word of appreciation is extended to anonymous reviewers of Social Dynamics, who suggested fruitful avenues to explore and who challenged me to rethink sections of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Les Switzer (Citation1993, 188) mistakenly refers to her as the sister of Paul Xiniwe. The brief entry in The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography III, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland (Citation1995, 244–245) made an important attempt to promote Eleanor Xiniwe’s history but in the absence of primary source material and detailed secondary
com/detail/news-photo/south-african-singer-eleanor-xiniwe-a-member-of-the-african-news-photo/513413895。2023.9年4月8日访问。彼得马里茨堡档案馆,开普省高等法院院长遗嘱认证记录,1834-1989年,死亡通知书Kate Soga (Xiniwe), 1923年12月26日,https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BB-P3DC-V?i=475&cc=2517051&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQGKL-J3N5。2012.1年5月7日访问。死亡通知书及遗嘱证明书,埃莉诺·西尼维,一九二一年一月七日。1920年1月7日,Eleanor Xiniwe的死亡通知书和遗嘱认证记录:1925年11月2日,Squire, Smith & Laurie致最高法院院长的信。我要感谢Andre Odendaal在这方面挑战我的想法。13.通讯,2021年6月16日)。我要感谢Mcebisi Ndletyana,他正在为这一点研究黑尔堡大学的历史。通讯,2021年6月1日)。其他信息撰稿人说明丹佛·a·韦伯丹佛·a·韦伯是纳尔逊·曼德拉大学的历史学家,在那里他担任战略资源动员和进步高级主任。他拥有黑尔堡大学的法学博士学位。他发表了关于南非殖民权力的本质和非洲对殖民主义的反应的文章。
{"title":"Commanding the respect of all who knew her: recovering the marginalised history of Eleanor Xiniwe and the challenges of the colonial archive","authors":"Denver A. Webb","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2267778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2267778","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTEarly mission-educated African intellectuals and activists in the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have received some attention from historians, but other than Charlotte Maxeke and Nokuthela Dube, few of the many women striving for political, economic and social rights have been studied in depth. Eleanor Xiniwe, a pioneering business person, is one whose story deserves to be better known. This article examines some of the challenges of the colonial archive in endeavours to recover neglected and marginalised histories: it sketches Eleanor Xiniwe’s life, explores her participation in the African Choir tour to Britain in 1891–92, examines her business interests and attempts to locate her history in the context of attempts by Africans to imagine an alternative future for themselves in colonial society at a time of hardening racial attitudes and increased discrimination.KEYWORDS: Eleanor XiniweAfrican ChoirAfrican women’s historypioneer African businessesKing William’s Towncolonial archive AcknowledgmentsMy interest in the Xiniwes began in the 1980s while working at the museum in Qonce. At the time I located Paul Xiniwe’s unmarked grave in the town cemetery and produced a small article on him as pioneer businessman, but soon realised that Eleanor was by far the more interesting historical personality. Thank you to Babalwa Magoqwana for inviting me to deliver a paper on her at the “Maternal Legacies of Knowledge: Rethinking the Sociology of the Eastern Cape” symposium in June 2021. I would like to thank Barbara Manning for bringing the existence of the photographs of the African Choir in the Hulton Archive (Getty Images) to my attention. Appreciation is also due to Xolela Mangcu, who is related to the Xiniwes through the Tyamzashes, for helpful comments on an early draft. A special thank you to Mcebisi Ndletyana for suggestions and for sharing ideas from his research on the history of the University of Fort Hare. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to my friend Andre Odendaal, whose pioneering book Vukani Bantu! opened my eyes to the world of the early African intellectuals and activists and whose comments on a draft of this article challenged me to reframe my thinking in a number of ways. Pamela Maseko kindly provided accurate translations of isiXhosa quotations in the text. Lastly, a special word of appreciation is extended to anonymous reviewers of Social Dynamics, who suggested fruitful avenues to explore and who challenged me to rethink sections of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Les Switzer (Citation1993, 188) mistakenly refers to her as the sister of Paul Xiniwe. The brief entry in The Encyclopaedia Africana Dictionary of African Biography III, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland (Citation1995, 244–245) made an important attempt to promote Eleanor Xiniwe’s history but in the absence of primary source material and detailed secondary","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135758925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-12DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2265602
Chanel van der Merwe
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1. The Afrikaans words for herbs. Here I am referring to “wille als,” “buchu” and other plants I may not be aware of.2. This is a saying which literally means “advice from the elderly,” but it is used in context to mean the opposite of “scientific knowledge”.
{"title":"Rethinking Africa: indigenous women re-interpret Southern Africa’s pasts <b>Rethinking Africa: indigenous women re-interpret Southern Africa’s pasts</b> , edited by Bernadette Muthien and June Bam, Auckland Park, Jacana Media, 2021, 232 pp., ZAR 290.00 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-928232-94-0","authors":"Chanel van der Merwe","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2265602","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2265602","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1. The Afrikaans words for herbs. Here I am referring to “wille als,” “buchu” and other plants I may not be aware of.2. This is a saying which literally means “advice from the elderly,” but it is used in context to mean the opposite of “scientific knowledge”.","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135968175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2267776
Daniel Herwitz
{"title":"Pan-Africanism and psychology in decolonial times <b>Pan-Africanism and psychology in decolonial times</b> , by Shose Kessi, Babette Stephanie Gekeler, and Floretta Boonzaier, Cham, Palgrave MacMillan, 2022, 192 pp., €109.99 (hardcover), ISBN 9783030893507","authors":"Daniel Herwitz","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2267776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2267776","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135045085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-08DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2265589
Ahmet Sait Akçay
Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa, UCT; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa.
{"title":"Decolonial Marxism, essays from the Pan African revolution <b>Decolonial Marxism, essays from the Pan African revolution</b> , by Walter Rodney, edited by Asha Rodney, Patricia Rodney, Ban Mabie and Jesse Benjamin, London, Verso, 2022, viii + 322 pp., US$20.49 (paperback), ISBN 9781839764110","authors":"Ahmet Sait Akçay","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2265589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2265589","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa, UCT; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa.","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"156 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135197467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-04DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2023.2232626
Irina Filatova
ABSTRACT History as an academic discipline is going through a methodological crisis, caused by the decolonising revolution in historiography. Having emerged in the 1980s–2000s, the present-day decolonial theories have created a new dominant paradigm in the public consciousness and in a whole complex of academic disciplines. The aim of the decolonisation of the mind is to liberate these disciplines, first of all the humanities, from any vestiges of Eurocentrism. However, decolonialists operate in the realm of ideas and methodologies some of which are incompatible with the existence of history as an academic discipline, and which have long been rejected by researchers. A comparison of decolonising ideas in Africa with similar ideas in Russia helps to understand their origins and the detrimental effect that their uncritical acceptance may have on history as an academic discipline and on popular consciousness and politics.
{"title":"The decolonisation of the mind and history as an academic discipline","authors":"Irina Filatova","doi":"10.1080/02533952.2023.2232626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2232626","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT History as an academic discipline is going through a methodological crisis, caused by the decolonising revolution in historiography. Having emerged in the 1980s–2000s, the present-day decolonial theories have created a new dominant paradigm in the public consciousness and in a whole complex of academic disciplines. The aim of the decolonisation of the mind is to liberate these disciplines, first of all the humanities, from any vestiges of Eurocentrism. However, decolonialists operate in the realm of ideas and methodologies some of which are incompatible with the existence of history as an academic discipline, and which have long been rejected by researchers. A comparison of decolonising ideas in Africa with similar ideas in Russia helps to understand their origins and the detrimental effect that their uncritical acceptance may have on history as an academic discipline and on popular consciousness and politics.","PeriodicalId":51765,"journal":{"name":"Social Dynamics-A Journal of African Studies","volume":"49 1","pages":"313 - 331"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44612860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}