Showing papers on "African studies published in 1994"

Too Much Schooling, Too Little Education: A Paradox of Black Life in White Societies.

Abstract: Too Much Schooling, Too Little Education: A Paradox of Black Life in White Societies, edited by Mwalimu J. Shuiaa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1994. 424 pp. $45.95, cloth; $16.95, paper. According to editor Shujaa, this collection of essays presents a "concert-on-paper built upon meaningful parts that meld into a dynamic whole" (p. 9). As the self-proclaimed orchestra leader of this concert and author of 2 of the book's 16 chapters as well as its five section introductions, Shujaa goes on to explain that this dynamic whole is an examination and indictment of the schooling of Blacks, especially in the United States. It is also, he notes, a prescription for African-centered education as the alternative or, at best, a complement to schooling. The organizing themes of the book include calls for the following changes in schooling in the U.S.: (1) a shift from a preoccupation with schooling to a concern for education; (2) a shift in the schools' orientation to knowledge to better respect African cultures and perspectives; (3) a recognition and accommodation of African American resistance to schooling; (4) the embracing of an African-centered pedagogy; and (5) Black people's assumption of responsibility for the education of Black youth. Shujaa distinguishes between schooling and education in a very thoughtful and carefully argued early chapter. The former, he notes, is "a process intended to perpetuate and maintain the society's existing power relations and the institutional structures that support those arrangements" (p. 15). The latter is "the process of transmitting from one generation to the next knowledge of the values, aesthetics, spiritual beliefs, and all things that give a particular cultural orientation its uniqueness" (p. 15). This explanatory chapter is followed by 15 others in which authors describe and advocate for African-centered pedagogy. As background for the work reported in this book, the editor has included a chapter by Jacob Carruthers on "Black Intellectuals and the Crisis of Black Education." This is a provocative think-piece that should challenge those of us who think of ourselves as members of the Black intelligentsia. Also included is Beverly Gordon's (no family relationship to the reviewer) comprehensive epistemological treatment of the relationship between cultural knowledge and liberatory education. Gordon's essay alone is worth the price of the book. Nsenga Warfield-Coppock's discussion of rites of passage as an extension of education into the African American community embodies notions that many Black communities are finding useful. Kwame Akoto's, Molefi Asante's, Joyce King's, and Carol Lee's treatments of approaches to African-centered education are consistent with some of the best practice in this field. Like the aforementioned essays, Nah Dove's discussion of supplementary schools and Shujaa's analysis of the African American independent schools movement include notions and models that are pregnant with possibilities for more effectively engaging students in the processes of intellectual development. Deserving of special notice is Vernon PoIite's discussion of the ecology of resistance to schooling not so much as a "fear of acting white" (Fordham, 1989) as a natural rejection of the educational neglect, lack of caring, and instructional malpractice they experience in school settings that have not changed to reflect the changes in its clientele. A better understanding of the nature and meaning of the history of African American resistance to schooling (treated in separate chapters by Ronald Butchart, Joan Ratteray, and Violet Harris) and greater familiarity with the variety of experiences with and perspectives on schools and education (covered in the chapters by Kofi Lomotey, Gail Foster, and Vivian Gadsden) have the potential for greatly enhancing the readiness of some of us professionals for more effective service in the education of Black students. There is much in this book that, if sensitively implemented, will greatly increase the engagement of Black children with their education. …

Dividing The Commons: Politics, Policy, and Culture in Botswana

Abstract: Debates about resource allocation and development strategies in Africa tend to polarise between those who invoke theories justifying privatisation everywhere and those who cite failed projects and culturally specific understandings to question its feasibility in Africa. Adherents to these positions generally talk past one another. "Dividing the Commons" is a study of the political and cultural dynamics of privatisation of rangeland in southern Botswana that provides a way of advancing debate. At the centre of the book is an examination of syndicates, groups of cattlemen who own and manage boreholes (deep wells with motorised pumps), from the 1930s to 1994. Changes in herd and range management, increasing numbers of cattle and boreholes, and the contradiction between private water sources and a communal range have all combined to promote private claims to pastures. The Tribal Grazing Land Policy put into practice since the mid 1970s has intensified the shift to privatisation. Pauline E. Peters shows how the current grazing land policy, like the water development policies of the 1930s, is part of an historical process through which resources are allocated, wealth created or destroyed, and some interests promoted at the cost of others. At the heart of the dividing of the common range are struggles over meanings, cultural contestations over the definitions of property and the priority of rights. Peter's analysis provides the basis for a stringent critique of Hardin's "tragedy of the commons" thesis, one of the most influential paradigms of our time. She also demonstrates that the models used by analysts and policymakers to interpret or direct change in Botswana's range are just as much cultural and political products as are the practices and ideas of the Tswana cattlemen and syndicates. "Dividing the Commons" should be of interest to students and specialists of African studies, politics and political economy; development studies, pastoral resources management, and property relations; and the history and theory of anthropology.

Africa and the disciplines : the contributions of research in Africa to the social sciences and humanities

Abstract: African Studies, contrary to some accounts, is not a separate continent in the world of American higher education. Its intellectual borders touch those of economics, literature, history, philosophy and art; its history is the story of the world, both ancient and modern. This is the clear conclusion of "Africa and the Disciplines", a book that addresses the question: Why should Africa be studied in the American university? This question was put to distinguished scholars in the social sciences and humanities, prominent Africanists who are also leaders in their various disciplines. Their responses make a strong case for the importance of research on Africa to the academy. Paul Collier's essay, for example, shows how studies of African economies have clarified our understanding of the small open economies, and contributed to the theory of repressed inflation and to a number of areas in microeconomics as well. Art historian Suzanne Blier uses the terms and concepts that her discipline has applied to Africa to analyze the habits of mind and social practice of her own field. Christopher I. Miller describes the confounding and enriching impact of Africa on European and American literary theory. Political scientist Richard Sklar outlines Africa's contributions to the study of political modernization, pluralism, and rational choice. These essays, together with others from scholars in history, anthropology, philosophy, and comparative literature, attest to the influence of African research throughout the curriculum. Contributors are Paul Collier, Sally Falk Moore, Richard L. Sklar, Steven Feierman, Susan Blier, Christopher L. Miller, and Kwame Anthony Appiah, in addition to the editors.

Anthropology and Africa: Changing Perspectives on a Changing Scene

Abstract: No one working in Africa today or studying Africa in any discipline whatever can afford to ignore the anthropological literature. It has long been the foundational background for a variety of African studies. However, there has never been a succinct historical description of the way the Africanist field has evolved in anthropology, together with a broad bibliographical guide. This book supplies that basic information. But it does more It reviews the field as a controversial history of ideas. African studies in anthropology throw light on the way Anglo-Europeans and Americans have conceived of the rest of the world and the way academic disciplines have changed in this century.

Maps, names, and ethnic games: the epistemology and iconography of colonial power in Northwestern Zimbabwe

Abstract: (1994). Maps, names, and ethnic games: the epistemology and iconography of colonial power in Northwestern Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern African Studies: Vol. 20, Ethnicity and identity in Southern Africa, pp. 371-392.

The Roots of Ethnicity: The Origins of the Acholi of Uganda Before 1800

Abstract: In The Roots of Ethnicity, Ronald R. Atkinson argues that although colonial rule and its aftermath have played a major role in shaping the particular manifestations of ethnicity in Africa, many sociohistorical developments crucial to current expressions of ethnicity can be traced to a past long before the colonial period. Atkinson develops his argument through an exhaustive examination of the origins of the collective identity of the Acholi of present-day northern Uganda. His study makes clear that by the time of European conquest the essential foundations and the crucial parameters for the evolution of Acholi society and ethnic consciousness had long been established. In presenting his argument for the need to extend the existing scholarship on ethnicity in Africa beyond its twentieth-century focus, Atkinson provides what is perhaps the most detailed reconstruction and analysis yet available of the pre-1800 evolution of an African sociopolitical order. Beyond these contributions to the study of African history, The Roots of Ethnicity provides an extended case study in and a convincing argument for the use of oral sources in the reconstruction and interpretation of the African past. It will be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology, history, and African studies, as well as to all those interested in ethnicity and the politics of identity.

Musho!: Zulu popular praises

Abstract: In "Musho! Zulu Popular Praises" Elizabeth Gunner, an authority on Zulu literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and Mafika Gwala, a South African teacher and poet, have translated, transcribed, and annotated a wide variety of Zulu izibongo poetry. In so doing, they have revealed the incredible breadth of this traditional genre, which is usually equated with nineteenth-century epic traditions that celebrate the deeds of Shaka and the successor kings of his Zulu monarchy. " Musho!," with its extensive historical introduction, and literary commentary on Zulu poetry, is a major contribution to the field.

Religion in Africa: Experience and Expression

Abstract: Brings together the views of some of the most distinguished academics in the context of African history, anthropology, politics, comparative religion, health and healing, languages and literatures, and the visual and performing arts. It is based on solid archival and field research in Africa and the African diaspora. Published in association with The David M. Kennedy Center, Brigham Young University. North America: Heinemann

Ethnic euphemisms and racial echoes

Abstract: (1994). Ethnic euphemisms and racial echoes. Journal of Southern African Studies: Vol. 20, Ethnicity and identity in Southern Africa, pp. 355-370.

With Friends Like These … A Critique of Pervasive Anti-Africanisms in Current African Studies Epistemology and Methodology*

Abstract: Unlike certain area studies disciplines (Russian Studies and Oriental Studies, for example), African Studies has largely attracted scholars whose commitment to their subject transcends mere professionalism. The sensible assumption with regard to African Africanists is, of course, that their orientation would be decidedly pro-African, but within the discipline, the notion is widespread that at least for the most part, even non-African Africanists hold a patronal attitude towards the continent, its peoples and cultures and their future, routinely combining the role of champions with that of students. This paper will argue that very often, Africanist practice, while purporting to be responsive to the best interests of Africa and Africans, in fact has the effect of perpetuating notions of an Africa that never was. It will also call attention to some significant incongruities between the methodology of African Studies and the well known relational principles that inform inter-personal commerce in African cultures. Beyond exposing these discrepancies between the expected and the actual, and the incongruities between methodology and spirit, the discussion will argue for an infusion of the practice of the discipline with the attitudes that characterize African familial discourses. I will warn at the outset that the ensuing argument adopts the position that one can make valid general statements about Africa, Africans, African cultures, African relational habits and the like, without necessarily suggesting a monolithic uniformity over the entire continent in any of the particulars. Furthermore, descriptions of, and assertions about, aspects of African life in the following pages cannot be construed as implying their eternal fixity and immutability through history.

In Whose Image?: Political Islam and Urban Practices in Sudan

Abstract: A Muslim scholar with extensive experience in Africa, T. Abdou Maliqalim Simone was recruited by the Islamic fundamentalist Shari'a Movement in Sudan to act as consultant for its project to unite Muslims and non-Muslims in Khartoum's shanty towns. Based on his interviews with hundreds of individuals during this time, plus extensive historical and archival research, In Whose Image? is a penetrating examination of the use of Islam as a tool for political transformation. Drawing a detailed portrait of political fundamentalism during the 1985-89 period of democratic rule in the Sudan, Simone shows how the Shari'a Movement attempted to shape a viable social order by linking religious integrity and economic development, where religious practice was to dominate all aspects of society and individuals' daily lives. However, because Sudanese society is remarkably diverse ethnically and religiously, this often led to conflict, fragmentation, and violence in the name of Islam. Simone's own Islamic background leads him to deplore the violence and the devastating psychological, economic, and cultural consequences of one form of Islamic radicalism, while holding to hope that a viable form of this inherently political religion can in fact be applied. As a counterpoint, he ends with a discussion of South Africa's Call of Islam, which seeks political unity through a more tolerant interpretation of Islam. As an introduction to religious discourse in Africa, this book will be widely read by students and scholars throughout African Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Political Science.

Human rights and governance in Africa

Abstract: "The volume stands out both in its timeliness and in the originality of its 'new thinking' about human rights on the continent. . . . The editors offer excellent intellectual leadership to this project."--Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin, MadisonThe often oppressive existence endured by ordinary Africans means that human rights issues, along with political and economic ones, are central to Africa's progress. The 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, signed by African leaders, takes the stance that human rights in Africa must honor the traditional African concern for the collective over the sanctity and integrity of the individual. The editors and authors of this book argue against that consensus, defending the position that human rights are universal. The contributors ask whether the idea of universal human rights is tenable theoretically and practically, coming at the issue from bases of social and political theory, history, and law. They conclude that the views on human rights in Africa need to move in the direction of international thinking on the issue, a posture not merely Western but quintessentially human. The book has much to offer students of African and international studies, human rights specialists, and others concerned with human rights issues.ContentsPart I. Theoretical PerspectivesEndless Teardrops: Prolegomena to the Study of Human Rights in Africa, by Ronald CohenHuman Rights and Precolonial Africa, by Timothy FernyhoughHuman and Peoples' Rights: What Point Is Africa Trying to Make? by H. W. O. Okoth-OgendoThe African Human Rights Process: A Contextual Policy-Oriented Approach, by Winston P. NaganPart II. Substantive Issues Women's Rights and the Right to Development, by Rhoda E. HowardAfrican Refugees: Defining and Defending Their Human Rights, by Art Hansen"Life Is War" Human Rights, Political Violence, and Struggles for Power in Lesotho, by Robert ShanafeltThe National Language Question and Minority Language Rights in Africa: A Nigerian Case Study, by F. Niyi AkinnasoEducation and Rights in Nigeria, by Ajuji Ahmed and Ronald CohenAcademic Freedom in Africa: A Right Long Overlooked, by Goran HydenThe Challenges of Domesticating Rights in Africa, by Goran HydenRonald Cohen is professor of anthropology and African studies at the University of Florida; among his many books and articles on Africa is" Satisfying Africa's Food Needs "(1988). Goran Hyden is professor of political science at the University of Florida; his books on African politics and development include" No Shortcuts to Progress "(1983). Winston Nagan, professor of law and affiliate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, chaired the board of Amnesty International (USA) from 1989 to 1991.

A History of twentieth-century African literatures

Abstract: "This is a comprehensive examination of authors, works, and movements."--The Black Scholar "A major reference text for African literature, providing solid information on the field in the various languages, and on authors, works, and movements. It will be invaluable."--Abiola Irele, author of The African Experience in Literature and Ideology. African literatures, says volume editor Oyekan Owomoyela, "testify to the great and continuing impact of the colonizing project on the African universe." African writers must struggle constantly to define for themselves and other just what "Africa" is and who they are in a continent constructed as a geographic and cultural entity largely by Europeans. This study reflects the legacy of colonialism by devoting nine of its thirteen chapters to literature in "Europhone" languages--English, French, and Portuguese. Foremost among the Anglophone writers discussed are Nigerians Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe, and Wole Soyinka. Writers from East Africa are also represented, as are those from South Africa. Contributors for this section include Jonathan A. Peters, Arlene A. Elder, John F. Povey, Thomas Knipp, and J. Ndukaku Amankulor. In African Francophone literature, we see both writers inspired by the French assimilationist system and those influenced by Negritude, the African-culture affirmation movement. Contributors here include Servanne Woodward, Edris Makward, and Alain Ricard. African literature in Portuguese, reflecting the nature of one of the most oppressive colonizing projects in Africa, is treated by Russell G. Hamilton. Robert Cancel discusses African-language literatures, while Oyekan Owomoyela treats the question of the language of African literatures. Carole Boyce Davies and Elaine Savory Fido focus on the special problems of African women writers, while Hans M. Zell deals with the broader issues of publishing--censorship, resources, and organization. Oyekan Owomoyela is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the author of A Ki I: Yoruba Proscriptive and Prescriptive Proverbs and Visions and Revisions: Essays on African Literatures and Criticism.

Desegregation and Privatisation in white South African schools: 1990–1992

Abstract: (1994). Desegregation and Privatisation in white South African schools: 1990–1992. Journal of Contemporary African Studies: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 200-221.

The ‘dog of the boers’: the rise and fall of Mangope in Bophuthatswana

Abstract: (1994). The ‘dog of the boers’: the rise and fall of Mangope in Bophuthatswana. Journal of Southern African Studies: Vol. 20, Ethnicity and identity in Southern Africa, pp. 447-461.

Islamic doctrine and the politics of induced fertility change: An African perspective

Abstract: CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, Islam in Africa as a whole has been more relevant for the culture of lineage and procreation than for the culture of combat, more important in buttressing high fertility and defining lineage than as a jihad, or holy war, to eliminate rivals. This article concentrates primarily on Islam in sub-Saharan Africa (or black Africa). The indigenous African religions are basically communal. Because they are not proselytizing religions, indigenous African creeds have not fought with each other. Over the centuries, Africans have waged many kinds of wars against each other, but rarely religious wars before the coming of Christianity and Islam (Mazrui, 1988; Mbiti, 1991). Precisely because these two latter faiths were universalist in aspiration (that is, their followers sought to convert the whole of humankind), they were inherently competitive. The two Semitic religions are often rivals in Africa (Lapidus, 1990). But why has Islam in Africa been less a cause of war than of impregnation, less a destroyer of rivals than a creator of new generations of believers? The main reason is that in its encouragement of large families (Mohsen, 1984; Ruthven, 1984; Patai, 1983; Weeks, 1988), the faith has reinforced indigenous African values. Yet, in its competitive tendency and universalist rivalry, Islam has run counter to the natural orientation of traditional African creeds, which are ecumenical and nonmonopolistic.

Approaches to regional integration in the southern African context

Abstract: Professor Robert Davies, Co-director of the Centre for Southern African Studies, University of the Western Cape, examines two important conceptual approaches towards regional integration and argues that a strategy based on the economic development of member states, especially the least developed ones, would be in the long-term interest of all concerned.

The Allurement of Ethnonationalism in Nigerian Politics: The Contemporary Debate

Abstract: Discusses the incidence of ethnonationalism in Nigerian politics. Reasons for incidence of psychology among ethnic groups in the country; Methods to dampen the effects of the phenomenon on the political climate in the country.

Introduction: ethnicity, identity and nationalism in Southern Africa

Abstract: (1994). Introduction: ethnicity, identity and nationalism in Southern Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies: Vol. 20, Ethnicity and identity in Southern Africa, pp. 347-353.

Minority language, ethnicity and the state in two African situations : the Nkoya and the Kalanga of Botswana

Abstract: The chapters in this collection record a workshop held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, in April 1991, on African languages, development and the State. The book is divided into an introductory chapter, by Richard Fardon and Graham Furniss, and three parts. Part 1, West Africa, contains papers by Ayo Bamgbose (multilingualism), C. Magbaily Fyle (policy toward Krio in Sierra Leone), Mamoud Akanni Igu‚ and Raphael Windali N'ou‚ni (the politics of language in B‚nin), Ben Ohi Elugbe (minority language development in Rivers and Bendel States, Nigeria), Gillian F. Hansford (mother tongue literacy among the Chumburung speakers in Ghana). Part 2, Central and Southern Africa, contains papers by J.M.M. Katupha (language use in Mozambique), Jean Benjamin (language and the struggle for racial equality in the development of a non-racial southern African nation), Nhlanhla P. Maake (a new language policy for post-apartheid South Africa), James Fairhead (linguistic pluralism in a Bwisha community, eastern Zaire), Wim van Binsbergen (minority languages in Zambia (Nkoya) and Botswana (Kalanga)). Part 3, East Africa, contains papers by Gnter Schlee (loanwords in Oromo and Rendille), Jan Blommaert (the metaphors of modernization in Tanzanian language policy), David Parkin (Arabic, Swahili and the vernaculars in Kenya).

Bembaland Church: Religious and Social Change in South Central Africa 1891-1964

Abstract: Roman Catholic missionaries entered the territory of Bemba-speakers in Central Africa in 1891. Seventy years later the Church in Bembaland was about to enter a new phase as an independent religious community within a newly established African nation. This book traces the stages of church growth from its pioneering introduction to a traditional agricultural polity, through periods of disturbing economic and social change, to the later challenges from autochthonous Christian foundations originating in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

Reflections on Multiculturalism.

Abstract: If educators want to respond to what they feel are historical misrepresentations and prejudices in Afrocentric and other ethnocentric philosophies and if they expect young people to hear them, they must also address what is happening in our society, Mr. Singer warns. Silence on societal issues suggests complicity and discredits calls for reason, academic scholarship, and the value of learning. I AM VERY concerned about statements made by Ministers Louis Farrakhan and Khalid Abdul Muhammed regarding what the Nation of Islam has termed "the secret relationship between blacks and Jew's"(1) though my concerns are somewhat different from those that have generally been raised in the media. For me, the primary issue is not the validity of their claims about Jewish involvement in the subjugation of Africa and African peoples -- which I believe are gross historical misrepresentations -- or even the Nation of Islam's anti-Semitism. What I am more concerned about are the reasons causing many young African Americans to accept the plausibility of these charges. It seems to me that this acceptance signals a fundamental failure of our society and underscores the desperate need for a multicultural curriculum in our schools. I am a white man, a Jew, a teacher, and a historian, and I claim to be a multiculturalist. I also believe that I teach with sensitivity about the African American experience and about the histories of the peoples of Africa. Some influential historians and educators would dismiss this introductory statement as uncalled for. They would argue that anyone who questioned my credentials because I am white or a Jew violates basic tenets about truth and objectivity in the Western intellectual tradition. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., of the City University of New York and Diane Ravitch, a former undersecretary of education in the Bush Administration, have accused many multiculturalists of substituting "ethnic cheerleading" for scholarship and of engaging in "social and psychological therapy" instead of teaching history.(2) Schlesinger, Ravitch, and their allies claim that their version of the history of the United States is impartial, objective, and accurate; that it includes black, yellow, red, and brown peoples and also recognizes that there were injustices in the past. After a tense political battle, they succeeded in getting their point of view incorporated into the recently reformed California curriculum and used as the basis for the new Houghton-Mifflin social studies textbook series.(3) Among my problems with the Schlesinger/Ravitch position is that, in their "objective" view, past injustices were aberrations outside the democratic American consensus and have largely been eliminated. Without even recognizing their own biases, they present a "progressive" model of continuing improvement that defines all American people as immigrants to a country offering unlimited possibility, accepts many traditional myths about American history and society, and remains a fundamentally "Eurocentric" approach.(4) By implication, and sometimes directly, advocates of the Schlesinger/Ravitch view of U.S. society argue that current protests against biases in curricula and contemporary charges of racism, gender bias, and ethnocentrism are unfounded and illegitimate. The anger and alienation of those on the margins of our society are treated as an indication of personal failure rather than as a sign of broader social problems. Efforts by the marginalized at human affirmation are minimized, ignored, or condemned. I don't find it surprising that many disaffected young people who are silenced in our schools and are stereotyped in the media and textbooks end up attracted to the ideas of charismatic -- and what they see as self-affirming -- ethnic politicians like Louis Farrakhan.(5) At the same time that the Eurocentric traditionalists accuse me of promoting "feel-good" history, there are people on many college campuses and in many African American communities in the United States who will challenge my credentials as a multiculturalist precisely because I am a white man and a Jew. …

Those left out in the rain : African literary theory and the re-invention of the African woman

Abstract: The research that has been done in the various areas of development has tended to focus on the structure of the state and economic modes of production. This approach ignores the intrinsic variables such as culture and traditional Africa's modes of association which incorporated the cyclical nature of existence and experience. This work departs from the traditional mode of development analysis by articulating the concept of social death1 as the basis for the reinvention of the African woman, consequently enabling a rethinking of development analysis formulations from a more authentic African perspective. For the purposes of this work, "Africa" and "African(s)" refer to and include physical, abstract and intellectual spaces involving precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial experiences of Africans and/or their interaction on the continent and in the diaspora. A viewpoint based on the assumption of Africa as an all-inclusive heritage, it requires the maintenance of the match between the African experience and the acquired modes of discourse that have been used to explore and exclude that experience. For example, the orthodox school of thought looks at development from an economic perspective whereby the macroeconomic variables are such that that which cannot be quantified, the non-visible, is not a subject of study. On the other hand the historical approach of the radical school of thought (the political economy school of thought) has not done enough to incorporate the role of the traditional African woman into its mode of analysis. Both schools of thought are derived from the western unilineal mode of analysis which forms the strong base for the development and maintenance of scientific thought and practice. (The trick here lies in the belief that this way of thinking is the correct way-a concept that Women's Studies programs in the West are still contesting.) A major assumption of this work is that African scholars since their installation, through colonization, into the study and practice of western discursive modes have remained aware of their own dislocation from African constructions of knowledge. The futility of that awareness is evident in the underdevelopment resulting from the African scholar's inability to effectively apply western constructs of

Social Change and Family Policy in South Africa, 1930 to 1986.

Abstract: DOCUMENT RESUME

African religion and religion education

Abstract: The concept of religion in South Africa has been distorted by religious and racial prejuidices. This problem is particularly evident in public schools. South African schools have taught Christianity as the only authentic religion, in fact as the only truth. Black parents have not been given a choice of religion for their children. The white government has decided for them. Based on the assumption that Christianity is the only legitimate religion, the state has suppressed African indigenous religion at every level of society, but especially in the schools. The thesis examines the indigenous beliefs and practices of the black people in South Africa which were suppressed by Western culture and Christianity. It ·reveals all the distortions about African Religion by the outside researchers in order to uproot the black people from their way of life so as to colonise them. As a result all the black children are taught to regard Christianity as a "Religion" and their own religion as "culture", the implication being that blacks had no religion until the white man came with Christianity. The thesis also investigates the feelings of the black people about recovering their indigenous religion by having it as a subject in schools. The results reveal that the majority of blacks never dissociated themselves with their religion. Although most are Christians in principle, deep down they practise their own religion. It has also been discovered that there are great lamentations amongst most blacks over the "loss" of some of the indigenous practices. Most have felt alienated from their heritage and identity. It is therefore the interest of the blacks in South Africa that African Religion be

Drink Deep, or Taste Not: Thoughts on the Use of Early European Records in the Study of African Material Culture*

Abstract: In African studies the potential for collaboration between students of history and those of material culture or art has long been recognized. On the one hand, items of material culture, both ancient and modern, can shed light on aspects of the past which remain obscure in written and oral sources; on the other, in order to see a material culture (or parts of it) in perspective, we need to study the historical background of the area concerned. The contribution of material culture to historical knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa has received considerable attention; but the same can hardly be said of the use of historical sources in understanding material culture.This does not mean that such sources have been neglected. Most of them certainly were in the colonial and immediate post-colonial periods, but things have improved. In many recent books, articles, and exhibitions devoted to Africa's material culture, considerable use has been made of the writings and engravings of early European visitors. Scholars are delighted if they can discover old records of anything resembling the objects that are today found either in museums or still in use in Africa. Indeed, it has become almost obligatory to search old books for textual and visual material. No historian can object to this interest in early sources. Yet looking at what has been published recently, one wonders whether we have nearly reached the end of the road. The same classic travelers' accounts are cited again and again (even the same passages!), and it is beginning to look as if this source of information will soon run dry. What, if anything, remains to be done?