Consciousness In South Africa Research Articles

Biko and the Future of Black Consciousness in South Africa

Biko and the Future of Black Consciousness in South Africa

Positive Living: Visual Activism and Art in HIV/AIDS Rights Campaigns

Using the exhibition ‘Positive Living: Art and AIDS in South Africa’ (Peltz Gallery, London, 2016) as a starting point, this article offers itself as a short history of some key visual strategies developed to raise political consciousness in South Africa and internationally over one of the darkest periods in South Africa’s history, 1999–2006, when former President Thabo Mbeki, in denial about the relationship between HIV and AIDS, withheld life-saving treatment from hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable South African citizens, who were only just emerging from the scourge of apartheid. The article examines the strategies deployed by fine artists engaged in raising awareness and support from the international community in order to put pressure on the South African government, together with visual strategies sometimes assigned as ‘craft’ or ‘therapy’, and produced as local and, often, rural community responses to the HIV crisis. ‘Positive Living’ is concerned to provoke a more comparative debate about the relative values and limitations of different visual strategies as part of a wider commitment to the ways in which visual and material culture (shortcomings notwithstanding) can produce powerful tools for social change.

The Key Factor of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in the History of the Contribution of Mining Industry to the Prosperity of the United States and South Africa: A Review

Mining industry has significantly contributed to the prosperity of the nation with economic growth, whereas mining operation has caused Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) with the abandonment of mines. As some researchers suggest, the history of AMD is, generally, affected by the change in not only mining industry but also in social and economic conditions. Thus, historical analysis is an effective way to find the key factors of AMD. In this study, in order to find the key factors of AMD, we examine the history of the United States (U.S.) and South Africa, where their economy had been developed owing to the large-scale mining, based on the findings in the previous studies. The results indicated that the abandoned mines due to the economic depression triggered AMD in the U.S. and South Africa. While the U.S. had progressively adopted anti-AMD methods in terms of prevention, prediction, and remediation (PPR) as a comprehensive approach, especially since the 1970s onwards because of the rise of environmental consciousness as well as strict regulations, South Africa is at the early stage of implementing the regulations following PPR. The public attention should be directed to environmental conservation in addition to the implementation of the regulations in South Africa. The improvement in socio-economic conditions is, additionally, necessary for the rise of environmental consciousness in South Africa in the light of the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental elements.

The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977 (review)

The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977 (review)

The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977. By Daniel R. Magaziner. New African Histories. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010. vii + 283 pp. $59.95 cloth; $26.95 paper.

The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977. By Daniel R. Magaziner. New African Histories. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010. vii + 283 pp. 26.95 paper. - Volume 80 Issue 4

The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977. By Daniel R. Magaziner (Athens, Ohio University Press, 2010) 283 pp. $47.96 cloth $21.56 paperback

<i>The Law and the Prophets: Black Consciousness in South Africa, 1968–1977.</i> By Daniel R. Magaziner (Athens, Ohio University Press, 2010) 283 pp. $47.96 cloth $21.56 paperback

Christian Action and Black Consciousness Community Programmes in South Africa

Many scholars have examined the relationship between Black Theology and Black Consciousness in South Africa in the late 1960s and 1970s. This article analyses another Christian link. It argues that ecumenical organisations (such as the Christian Institute and the South African Council of Churches), foreign churches, radical priests, and local parishes occupied a position in society that allowed them to give significant material support to the Black Consciousness movement, particularly the Black Community Programmes (BCP), a development organisation run by Black Consciousness activists (including Ben Khoapa and Steve Biko). Drawing upon archival and oral history sources, the article first analyses the formation of the BCP, then discusses the financial contributions of churches that enabled the BCP to survive. Finally, it demonstrates how activists gained physical space, in-roads into communities, and moral support from local priests and parishes at the grassroots level in the Eastern Cape and Natal and Transvaal provinces.

The Sunday Times Heritage Project: heritage, the media and the formation of national consciousness

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, the landscape of memory in South Africa has undergone significant changes. While most new monuments, memorials and heritage sites have emerged under the aegis of the government, this article focuses on a private sector initiative, the Sunday Times Heritage Project (STHP), sponsored by the Sunday Times newspaper in celebration of its centenary in 2006. The project involved the installation of 30 small-scale memorials commemorating key moments in the history of South Africa, with each memorial being accompanied by a website entry. The article focuses on the role of the media in shaping a new national consciousness in South Africa and specifically investigates how a new, supposedly shared history emerges through the work of the Sunday Times journalists in selecting stories and negotiating with stakeholders. With reference to specific examples, significant differences are highlighted between the newspaper’s heritage initiative and the state-initiated memory projects, but ultimately, it is argued, the STHP reveals a calculated or unconscious acceptance of the state-endorsed historical discourse structured around resistance narratives, which has become hegemonic since 1994.

The law and the prophets: black consciousness in South Africa, 1968-1977

The 1970s are a decade virtually lost to South African historiography. This span of years bridged the banning and exile of the country's best-known antiapartheid leaders in the early 1960s and the furious protests that erupted after the Soweto uprisings of June 16, 1976. Scholars thus know that something happened--yet they have only recently begun to explore how and why. The Law and the Prophets is an intellectual history of the resistance movement between 1968 and 1977; it follows the formation, early trials, and ultimate dissolution of the Black Consciousness movement. It differs from previous antiapartheid historiography, however, in that it focuses more on ideas than on people and organizations. Its singular contribution is an exploration of the theological turn that South African politics took during this time. Magaziner argues that only by understanding how ideas about race, faith, and selfhood developed and were transformed in this period might we begin to understand the dramatic changes that took place.

Seminary Networks and Black Consciousness in South Africa in the 1970s

ABSTRACT The article argues that a significant number of priests and pastors trained in seminaries in the 1970s were influenced by the Black Consciousness movement. The South African Student Association (SASO) had branches in at least three seminaries for blacks, the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Umphumulo and St Peter's Seminary at Hammanskraal. Many students or former studens from these institutions were members of SASO. Some were involved in Black Community Projects (BCP) initiatives, particularly in the Eastern Cape, while a few assumed leadership positions in the Black Consciousness movement. No Christian institution played a more important role in the development of Black Consciousness than the black seminaries. For the people trained in these seminaries, the involvement in SASO, the BCP and the other components of the Black Consciousness movement had a lasting effect on their understanding of ministry or, if they left active church service, on the orientation of their professional life. While studying for the ministry, they discovered ways of integrating spiritual life, social action and political engagement that they had never imagined before.

“It is not crime in the way you see it”: Crime discourses and outlaw culture in Yizo Yizo

Drawing on Anthony Altbeker's ground‐breaking research on post‐apartheid crime realities and legal consciousness in South Africa, this article explores the tensions brought to light by crime discourses in Yizo Yizo. It argues that the parallel existence of the white world, seen as continuous with South Africa's colonial past, and the black marginalised world, has led to a diminished respect for the law among many black South Africans. Through a consideration of Yizo Yizo’s dramatisations, this article proposes that postapartheid perceptions of the (out)law are rooted in colonial disruptions of the African social order.

Black Consciousness as an Expression of Radical Responsibility: Biko an African Bonhoeffer

AbstractThe article reflects on the ongoing relevance of Biko's thought 30 years after his death. It is not so much a comparison between Biko and Bonhoeffer's thinking as it is a focus on one aspect of Bonhoeffer's thinking, namely the insistence on independence and self-responsibility in your own situation, which is a premise of Biko's thinking. As the father of Black Consciousness in South Africa, Biko laid the foundation for black self-understanding and self-responsibility. The value of his thinking lies in a hermeneutics of consciousness, which he established and which is a presupposition of his ideals of self-responsibility and self-emancipation. Biko's hermeneutics of the self is considered with reference to the forces that kept black people captive. Although Black Consciousness is seen as a historically contingent phenomenon, the challenge of black liberation remains. Biko's legacy is vital for the establishment of a hermeneutics of poverty and freedom, which is presented as a condition for African liberation in the 21st century.

Consciousness in Transition: A Case Study of Social Identity Formation in KwaZulu-Natal Study Description and Methodology

The aim of this article is to describe the Class Race and Gender (CRG) Research Programme. The CRG research programme aims to explore the development of consciousness in South Africa, to understand how we come to be the black and white, rural and urban, rich and poor and men and women who make up our stratified and differentiated society and to identify and assess the impact of changes over time. This complex problem is being investigated through a study of class, race and gender identity formation in the first generation of children entering the new, compulsory education system. This article specifically tries to document the research process; its methodology and the instruments which were used and developed in order to engage with the issues under investigation. The article also tries to explain the rationale informing the choice of the sample and methods and describes how these research methods were implemented. Research with people is always interactive and reflexive, even if the researchers do not concern themselves with what the research might contribute to respondents. Yet, in questions there are ideas and information which people think about and learn from. Research is or can be a learning process for respondents. For respondents (and researchers) there is a continual tension between the limits of research (finding out) and the possibilities of intervention (acting out).

Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, Vol. 1. JEAN and JOHN COMAROFF

<i>Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, Vol. 1.</i> JEAN and JOHN COMAROFF

Theoretical perspectives on cinema in Africa: Culture, identity and Diaspora

The study of African cinema is often assumed to be the study of black film. This paper examines this notion with respect to definitions of Africa, questions of identity, and different historical discourses of resistance. Western psychocentric approaches to film criticism are criticized. The issue of authorship is revisited with the question: Can a white director make a film reflecting the “black” experience? This question is explored with reference to debates about Spike Lee's Malcolm X and South African director Oliver Schmitz's Mapantsula. In the process, J examine how meanings are articulated and rearticulated in specific contexts by both those who define them and audiences which interpret them. The articulations of “race wars” in the USA and South Africa respectively are discussed, as is the relationship between race and class in the anti‐apartheid struggle. The disarticulation of Black Consciousness in South Africa from its popularizer, Steve Biko, by film activists in the Mass Democratic Movement du...

Unsocial analyses: Habitus, Hegemony, and self

Bourdieu, Pierre. The Logic of Practice. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990. 330 pp. including appendix, references, and index. $39.50 cloth, $14.95 paper. Comaroff, Jean and John Comaroff. Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. xx + 414 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $60.00 cloth, $18.95 paper. Crapanzano, Vincent. Hermes’ Dilemma and Hamlet's Desire: On the Epistemology of Interpretation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. ix + 386 pp. including notes, references, and index. $45.00 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa. Vol. 1. Jean Comaroff , John Comaroff

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook NoteOf Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa. Vol. 1. Jean Comaroff , John Comaroff Benjamin C. RayBenjamin C. Ray Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Religions Volume 33, Number 1Aug., 1993 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/463359 Views: 6Total views on this site Copyright 1993 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Jean and John Comaroff: Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, colonialism and consciousness in South Africa. Vol. 1. xx, 414 pp. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. $60 (paper $18.95).

Jean and John Comaroff: Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, colonialism and consciousness in South Africa. Vol. 1. xx, 414 pp. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 18.95). - Volume 56 Issue 1

Of Revelation and Revolution. Christianity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa, Vol. 1

Of Revelation and Revolution. Christianity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa, Vol. 1

Reviews

The race for theory Appiah, Kwame Anthony. 1992. In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. London: Methuen. 366pp. Baker, Houston A., Jr. 1991. Workings of the Spirit: The Poetics of Afro‐American Women's Writing. Phototext by Elizabeth Alexander and Patricia Redmond. Black literature and culture. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 239pp. LaCapra, Dominick, (ed). 1991. The Bounds of Race: Perspectives on Hegemony and Resistance. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.350pp. Suleri, Sara. 1992. The Rhetoric of English India. Chicago & London: Chicago University Press. 230pp. Putting the Diaspora at the centre Gay Wilentz. 1992. Binding Cultures: Black Women Writers in Africa and the Diaspora. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. 141pp. Also: Joanne M Braxton and Andrée Nicola McLaughlin (eds). 1990. Wild Women in the Whirlwind: Afra‐American Culture and the Contemporary Literary Renaissance. London: The Serpent's Tail. 441pp. Susheila Nasta (ed). 1992. Motherlands: Black Women's Writing from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia. 366pp. (Also reviewed in Current Writing 4 (1992).) The metropolis and the two cousins of the commonwealth Karen R. Lawrence (ed). 1992. Decolonizing Tradition: New Views of Twentieth Century ‘British’ Literary Canons. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 291pp. Gillian Whitlock and Helen Tiffin (eds). 1992. Resiting Queen's English: Text and Tradition in Post‐Colonial Literatures. Essays presented to John Pengweme Matthews. Cross/Cultures 7. Series Editors: Gordon Collier, Hena Maes‐Jelinek and Geoffrey Davis. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi. 203pp. Nets and networking Ian Adam and Helen Tiffin (eds). 1991. Past the Last Post: Theorizing Post‐Colonialism and Post‐Modernism. London: Harvester. 214pp. Reading postmodernism(s) Brian McHale. 1992. Constructing Postmodernism. London: Routledge. 342pp. Patricia Waugh (ed). 1992a. Postmodernism: A Reader. London: Edward Arnold. 226pp. Patricia Waugh. 1992b, Practising Postmodernism/Reading Modernism. London: Edward Arnold. 176pp. Contested frontiers: colonialism, Christianity and the construction of ethnicity. Jean and John Comaroff. 1991. Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa. Volume One. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. 414pp. Clifton C. Crais. 1992. The Making of the Colonial Order: White Supremacy and Black Resistance in the Eastern Cape, 1770–1865. Johannesburg: The Witwatersrand University Press. 284pp.