White South Africans Research Articles

Analyzing 3D facial morphology: Insights from a comparative European and South African study on population affinity, sex, age, and allometry

Variable growth patterns and multifactorial mechanisms cause variation in facial shape. These differences in facial morphology pose challenges for craniofacial reconstruction. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging modalities are a valuable resource for examining these variations. In this study, we used geometric morphometric methods to evaluate the effects of population affinity, sex, age, and allometry on the variation and covariation of hard and soft tissue facial morphology matrices in a sample of French and white South African individuals. Seventy-six and 108 cone-beam computed tomography scans of white South African and French nationals, respectively, were retrospectively acquired. Three-dimensional anatomical structures (hard and soft tissue matrices) were extracted using MeVisLab© v. 2.7.1 software for dense landmarking of 43 craniometric, 50 capulometric, and 559 sliding landmarks. Geometric morphometric analyses were used to quantify shape differences attributed to population affinity, sex, age, and allometry and assess the covariation between hard tissue structures and soft facial tissues. Hard and soft tissue facial matrices were influenced by population differences, sexual dimorphism, and aging. Compared to sex and age, population affinity had the strongest influence on variation. In French individuals, all hard and soft tissue matrices were sexually dimorphic, except for the eyes and left external auditory meatus (EAM). In white South Africans, sexual dimorphism was observed for the mouth, midface, and left EAM. Significant shape differences were also observed for specific age groups. The underlying skull and overlying soft tissues were strongly associated with the nose and anterior nasal aperture (correlation, r2-PLS = 0.976), followed by the right ear and right EAM (r2-PLS = 0.875) and the left ear and left EAM (r2-PLS = 0.871) in white South Africans. For French individuals, relatively weak to moderate correlations were observed, and the covariation between matrices was nonsignificant, except for the association between the right ear and right EAM (r2-PLS = 0.499). The smallest covariation was observed between the mouth and midfacial matrix in both populations (South African: r2-PLS = 0.464; French: r2-PLS = 0.367), which was also nonsignificant. This study revealed that 3D imaging technology and geometric morphometric methods can accurately quantify and visualize facial morphology differences. These methods can also evaluate the association between skull structure and soft facial features.

Evaluating the accuracy of population-specific versus generic stature estimation regression equations in a South African sample.

Accurate estimates of stature play an important role in the personal identification of unknown decedents, however a drawback in the application of many stature estimation equations is the need for known sex and population, the assignment of which can be challenging. Researchers have formulated equations for stature estimation that are neither population- nor sex-specific and thereof the aim of this study was to assess the applicability of these stature estimation equations proposed by Albanese et al.. (2016) (Albanese J, Tuck A, Gomes J, Cardoso HFV (2016) An alternative approach for estimating stature for long bones that is not population- or group-specific. Forensic Sci Int 259:59-68). The physiological length of the femur, condylar malleolar length of the tibia and a combination of these measurements, collected from Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanograms of adult (20-60 years) White South African males (n = 30) and females (n = 44) were used to assess the accuracy of the Albanese et al. (Albanese J, Tuck A, Gomes J, Cardoso HFV (2016) An alternative approach for estimating stature for long bones that is not population- or group-specific. Forensic Sci Int 259:59-68). sex-specific and generic stature estimation equations. The stature estimates were compared with measured living stature (LSM), using paired t-tests. Results indicated that the Albanese et al. (Albanese J, Tuck A, Gomes J, Cardoso HFV (2016) An alternative approach for estimating stature for long bones that is not population- or group-specific. Forensic Sci Int 259:59-68). equations underestimated living stature by between 1.1 and 5.0cm. These underestimations were significantly different between the LSM and the sex-specific estimates for females and the LSM and the generic estimates for males and the tibia for sex-specific equation. All stature estimates however fell in between two standard error of estimates for the sex-specific equations for males and the generic equations for the females. Although, the equations by Albanese et al. (Albanese J, Tuck A, Gomes J, Cardoso HFV (2016) An alternative approach for estimating stature for long bones that is not population- or group-specific. Forensic Sci Int 259:59-68). can be used to estimate stature in White South Africans in certain cases, the use of sex/population-specific equations remains the method of choice.

O67 URINARY PROTEOMIC PROFILING REVEALS MOLECULAR CUES UNDERLYING HIGHER HYPERTENSION SUSCEPTIBILITY IN BLACKS THAN WHITES

Background and Objective: Compared with Whites, Blacks are more prone to hypertension and salt-sensitivity. The objective was to investigate whether sequenced urinary peptide fragments derived from proteins with a key role in cardiovascular or renal structure or function have different levels in sub-Saharan Blacks compared with Whites. Methods: This individual-participant meta-analysis included individuals enrolled in African-PREDICT (476 Blacks and 483 Whites), FLEMENGHO (720 Whites), PROVALID-Austria (467 Whites) and UPRIGHT-HTM (106 Nigerian Blacks and 61 Polish and Slovenian Whites). Urinary peptides were quantified by capillary electrophoresis combined with mass spectrometry. Results: Among 2313 participants (49.7% women), median age was 40.9 years. Of 513 urinary peptides with 70% prevalence, 300 had Bonferroni-corrected significantly different levels among Black and White South Africans sharing the same environment. Analyses contrasting 582 Blacks vs 1731 Whites, sub-Saharan Blacks (582) vs European Whites (1248) replicated the findings. Combining these results with information from public databases, we identified COL4A1, COL4A2, CD99, FAT1, FGA, FXYD2, MGP, MYOCD, PCDH7, PROC, and UMOD as most likely candidates underlying the different susceptibility to hypertension and salt sensitivity between Blacks and Whites. The most relevant enriched pathways were related to hemostasis, platelet activity, collagens and biology of the extracellular matrix, and protein digestion and absorption. Disease Ontology terms comprised small-vessel disease and coronary and macrovascular atherosclerotic disease. Conclusions: MGP and MYOCD being involved in cardiovascular function, FGA in clot formation, FYXD2 and UMOD in salt homeostasis, and COL4A1 and COL4A2 as major component of the glomerular basement membrane are proteins deserving further exploration in molecular and human studies as potential targets for intervention to reduce the excess hypertension risk and associated complications in Blacks.

Social restitution: tools and actions to rehumanise and transform injustice

Restitution has predominantly been described as a legal rather than a social action in international law, as well as in South Africa’s history of truth, reconciliation and redress policies after the end of apartheid. Introducing the concept of ‘social restitution’ this paper argues for a reimagined and wider understanding of restitution to address the need for social justice in the spaces between the law court and individual acts of charity, and between policies for redress and personal antipathy against these. Social restitution can be defined as intentional voluntary actions and attitudes developed through dialogue based on a sense of moral obligation aimed at addressing the damage done to individuals and communities by unjust actions and legacies of the past. Drawing on international debates about and understandings of the meaning of restitution, social restitution is shown to be both continuous with legal restitution and distinguished from it through its voluntary nature, its potential to be forward-looking rather than punitive, generative rather than accusatory, and offering everyday opportunities to bridge the gap between ‘knowing’ about injustice and ‘acting’ to repair it. Following this discussion, the latter part of the paper outlines the need for new categories of actors in contexts of injustice beyond those of victim, perpetrator and bystander (the Hilberg triangle of actors), introducing the ideas of beneficiaries and resisters; argues for the potential social restitution has as a mechanism for rehumanising all actors; and offers recommendations for how engaged action-oriented dialogues might contribute to achieving this aim, while noting the limits and dangers of dialogue. It draws on an empirical study on the meaning and actions of restitution conducted with black and white adult South Africans in making some of its arguments.

A morphoscopic exploration of cranial sexual dimorphism among modern South Africans using computed tomography scans.

Continual re-evaluation of standards for forensic anthropological analyses are necessary, particularly as new methods are explored or as populations change. Indian South Africans are not a new addition to the South African population; however, a paucity of skeletal material is available for analysis from medical school collections, which has resulted in a lack of information on the sexual dimorphism in the crania. For comparable data, computed tomography scans of modern Black, Coloured and White South Africans were included in addition to Indian South Africans. Four cranial morphoscopic traits, were assessed on 408 modern South Africans (equal sex and population distribution). Frequencies, Chi-squared tests, binary logistic regression and random forest modelling were used to assess the data. Males were more robust than females for all populations, while White South African males were the most robust, and Black South African females were the most gracile. Population differences were noted among most groups for at least two variables, necessitating the creation of populations-specific binary logistic regression equations. Only White and Coloured South Africans were not significantly different. Indian South Africans obtained the highest correct classifications for binary logistic regression (94.1%) and random forest modelling (95.7%) and Coloured South Africans had the lowest correct classifications (88.8% and 88.0%, respectively). This study provides a description of the patterns of sexual dimorphism in four cranial morphoscopic traits in the current South African population, as well as binary logistic regression functions for sex estimation of Black, Coloured, Indian and White South Africans.

The Arrival from Abroad: Train Travel and Mobile Ideas of Race in Pre-Apartheid South African Literature

ABSTRACT This article identifies and explores an inciting incident in two pre-apartheid South African novels: the trope of an ‘arrival from abroad’. This trope centres on a character arriving by train from a place figured as foreign, whether that is Cape Town or London, to the rural South African setting of the story, bringing ideas of interracial togetherness with them that challenge local racial hierarchizations. Two novels are used as case studies, one from the beginning of the 20th century – Perceval Gibbon’s Margaret Harding (1911) – and one written on the eve of apartheid – Peter Abrahams’s The Path of Thunder (1948). The traveller from abroad is either a black South African who has been educated in Europe or Cape Town and arrives home to effect change, or the traveller is a white character from Europe whose values are pitted against those of white South Africans. In both cases, the ‘arrival from abroad’ is a destabilizing force to the local community, bringing often unwelcome ideas from outside. Together, Gibbon’s and Abrahams’s novels allow me to explore the interrelations between the mobility of ideas from one place to another, ideologies of race, the figure of the outsider, and train travel in South African literature from the first half of the 20th century. Comparing Gibbon and Abrahams enables me to trace differences and continuities over time and in diverse uses of the trope. This article argues that the ‘arrival from abroad’ trope is used to embody a notion of mobile ideas at a time when trains served to shift both goods and people to radical effect on society.

Shape analysis of the nasal complex among South African groups from CBCT scans

Three-dimensional (3D) anatomical extraction techniques could help the forensic anthropologist in a precise and inclusive assessment of biological phenotypes for the development of facial reconstruction methods. In this research, the nose morphology and the underlying hard tissue of two South African populations were studied. To this end, a 3D computer-assisted approach based on an automated landmarking workflow was used to generate relevant 3D anatomical components, and shape discrepancies were investigated using a data set of 200 cone-beam computer tomography (CBCT) scans. The anatomical landmarks were placed on the external nose and the mid-facial skeleton (the nasal bones, the anterior nasal aperture, the zygoma, and the maxilla). Shape differences related to population affinity, sex, age, and size were statistically evaluated and visualised using geometric morphometric methods. Population affinity, sexual dimorphism, age, and size affect the nasal complex morphology. Shape variation in the mid-facial region was significantly influenced by population affinity, emphasising that shape variability was specific to the two population groups, along with the expression of sexual dimorphism and the effect of ageing. In addition, nasal complex shape and correlations vary greatly between white and black South Africans, highlighting a need for reliable population-specific 3D statistical nose prediction algorithms.

Automated reconstruction: Predictive models based on facial morphology matrices

Forensic Facial Approximation (FFA) has evolved, with techniques advancing to refine the intercorrelation between the soft-tissue facial profile and the underlying skull. FFA has become essential for identifying unknown persons in South Africa, where the high number of migrant and illegal labourers and many unidentified remains make the identification process challenging. However, existing FFA methods are based on American or European standards, rendering them inapplicable in a South African context. We addressed this issue by conducting a study to create prediction models based on the relationships between facial morphology and known factors, such as population affinity, sex, and age, in white South African and French samples. We retrospectively collected 184 adult cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans representing 76 white South Africans (29 males and 47 females) and 108 French nationals (54 males and 54 females) to develop predictive statistical models using a projection onto latent structures regression algorithm (PLSR). On training and untrained datasets, the accuracy of the estimated soft-tissue shape of the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth was measured using metric deviations. The predictive models were optimized by integrating additional variables such as sex and age. Based on trained data, the prediction errors for the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth ranged between 1.6 mm and 4.1 mm for white South Africans; for the French group, they ranged between 1.9 mm and 4.2 mm. Prediction errors on non-trained data ranged between 1.6 mm and 4.3 mm for white South Africans, whereas prediction errors ranging between 1.8 mm and 4.3 mm were observed for the French. Ultimately, our study provided promising predictive models. Although the statistical models can be improved, the inherent variability among individuals restricts the accuracy of FFA. The predictive validity of the models was improved by including sex and age variables and considering population affinity. By integrating these factors, more customized and accurate predictive models can be developed, ultimately strengthening the effectiveness of forensic analysis in the South African region.

Assessing the accuracy of the program Stature for stature estimation in White South Africans

In 2016, Polcerová and Králik created an open-access software program, Stature, designed to automate the estimation of living stature in forensic and archaeological cases. This program includes 22 equations from 13 publications, based on both anatomical and mathematical methods to automate stature estimations. This program does not currently include any population data relating to South Africa, and therefore, this study aimed to assess the accuracy of the program Stature to estimate living stature from the skeletal remains of White South African adults. The living stature of 40 male and 20 female White South African adults from the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Modern Human Skeletons was automatically estimated by the program (ELSP). These estimates were then compared to stature estimates generated by the multivariate equation using the physiological length of the femur and tibial length formulated specifically for the estimation of stature of White South Africans (ELSD). The vast majority of the ELSP significantly under- or overestimated the living stature of this sample, however various ELSP did estimate stature with a sufficient degree of accuracy. It was found that the estimates which were significantly different were associated with the largest inaccuracies, biases, and SEE values and are not applicable to this population group. The equations, using standardised measurements, which were not significantly different could accurately estimate the living stature of White South Africans, however, it is recommended that the data of White South African populations be incorporated into the program Stature for increased accuracy and diversity.

Clinical, biochemical, and genetic spectrum of MADD in a South African cohort: an ICGNMD study

BackgroundMultiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is an autosomal recessive disorder resulting from pathogenic variants in three distinct genes, with most of the variants occurring in the electron transfer flavoprotein-ubiquinone oxidoreductase gene (ETFDH). Recent evidence of potential founder variants for MADD in the South African (SA) population, initiated this extensive investigation. As part of the International Centre for Genomic Medicine in Neuromuscular Diseases study, we recruited a cohort of patients diagnosed with MADD from academic medical centres across SA over a three-year period. The aim was to extensively profile the clinical, biochemical, and genomic characteristics of MADD in this understudied population.MethodsClinical evaluations and whole exome sequencing were conducted on each patient. Metabolic profiling was performed before and after treatment, where possible. The recessive inheritance and phase of the variants were established via segregation analyses using Sanger sequencing. Lastly, the haplotype and allele frequencies were determined for the two main variants in the four largest SA populations.ResultsTwelve unrelated families (ten of White SA and two of mixed ethnicity) with clinically heterogeneous presentations in 14 affected individuals were observed, and five pathogenic ETFDH variants were identified. Based on disease severity and treatment response, three distinct groups emerged. The most severe and fatal presentations were associated with the homozygous c.[1067G > A];c.[1067G > A] and compound heterozygous c.[976G > C];c.[1067G > A] genotypes, causing MADD types I and I/II, respectively. These, along with three less severe compound heterozygous genotypes (c.[1067G > A];c.[1448C > T], c.[740G > T];c.[1448C > T], and c.[287dupA*];c.[1448C > T]), resulting in MADD types II/III, presented before the age of five years, depending on the time and maintenance of intervention. By contrast, the homozygous c.[1448C > T];c.[1448C > T] genotype, which causes MADD type III, presented later in life. Except for the type I, I/II and II cases, urinary metabolic markers for MADD improved/normalised following treatment with riboflavin and L-carnitine. Furthermore, genetic analyses of the most frequent variants (c.[1067G > A] and c.[1448C > T]) revealed a shared haplotype in the region of ETFDH, with SA population-specific allele frequencies of < 0.00067–0.00084%.ConclusionsThis study reveals the first extensive genotype–phenotype profile of a MADD patient cohort from the diverse and understudied SA population. The pathogenic variants and associated variable phenotypes were characterised, which will enable early screening, genetic counselling, and patient-specific treatment of MADD in this population.

“You are Among Friends”: Conservative Sympathy and Support for White Minority Rule in Southern Africa, 1975–1990

ABSTRACT In the 1970s, a network of politicians, media, businesspeople, clergy, expatriates, and activists coalesced on Canada’s political right wing to provide tangible support to white minority regimes in southern Africa. But what did white minority rule represent to these individuals and groups, and why were they willing to endure reputational costs and other penalties on behalf of Pretoria and Salisbury? Drawing on newly declassified material from Canadian, British, and South African archives, this article argues that white South Africans and Rhodesians were designated as part of the Canadian political right’s in-group, or “moral circle of concern,” seen to be combating the same existential threat posed by the advance of “liberalism” in other political theaters. Mapping this network of support for white minority rule not only offers insight into the history of conservatism in Canada but reveals much about the spread of norms of racial equality in the late 20th century.

Reading Resistance in Damon Galgut’s The Promise: An Analysis of Narrative Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper concentrates on the self-reflexive and multi-voiced narration in Damon Galgut’s The Promise. Adopting Elleke Boehmer’s analysis of postcolonial poetics and Derek Attridge’s notion of resistance, the discussion shows how Galgut’s novel both invites and resists modes of reading associated with the third-person narrative, specifically the principles of detachment and narratorial omniscience. The first part of this article investigates the narrator’s complex interaction with the protagonists and the narratees. One feature of narration in The Promise is that it shows the narrator as belonging to the same racial group as the protagonists, at the same time seeking to transcend the limitations of their viewpoint. The fact that the protagonists’ racially inflected perception of the world is projected onto the narratees impacts the readers’ reception of the narrative text, denying them a stable subject position from which to judge the thoughts and actions of the protagonists. The second part of the article is devoted to the treatment of narratorial omniscience, which is consciously and self-reflexively limited by Galgut’s decision to focus on the perspective of white South Africans. It is shown that the narrator’s limitations direct our attention to the boundary between the said and the unsaid, thus resisting modes of reading connected with the realist novel. The conclusion of the article considers The Promise in the wider context of the liberal humanist tradition, arguing that the novel can be situated in the broad tradition of reconstructed liberalism, though it should be kept in mind that Galgut’s treatment of this stance is characterized chiefly by cautiousness and political realism.

Innovative register and feminist critique in Mark Behr's The Smell of Apples

Mark Behr's artistic exploration of the horrific legacy of Afrikaner racist and masculinist ideology in The Smell of Apples has attracted substantial critical attention. This is perhaps what has elevated his novel to a post-apartheid South African literary canon. While it has been read as an exculpatory narrative-an exploration of how white South Africans disclosed their complicity in apartheid's atrocities and/or a disclosure of how the apartheid system violated their rights-there is critical blindness to other important themes that the novel grapples with. This is why I offer a limited reading of Behr's critique of Afrikaner gender oppression. My exploration, which focuses on Behr's exposition of gender discrimination of upper-middle class women in an Afrikaner society, is anchored on two questions: how does Behr deploy an innovative register-eavesdropping child witness-narrator and a written letter-to unveil the oppression of upper-middle class white South African women in the Afrikaner polity? Second, how does he script the feminist agency of the 'mother of the nation' figure who is muzzled by Afrikaner patriarchy? I foreground Maria Pia Lara's thinking about the liberational potential of literary texts in my discussion of Behr's exposition of the gendered oppression of certain categories of women by Afrikaner patriarchy.

Whiteness is not enough: South Africa and the 1922 responsible government referendum in Southern Rhodesia

Abstract In the 1922 referendum White Southern Rhodesian voters rejected the Union of South Africa in favour of becoming a self-governing part of the British empire. This article will examine White Southern Rhodesian perceptions of South Africa during the referendum, considering historiographic ideas, particularly the ‘British world’, using contemporary newspapers and letters. The argument of this article is that White Southern Rhodesians saw themselves as distinct from White South Africans and that this is emblematic of the complicated nature of the ‘British world’ idea. The ‘British world’ is a useful idea, but it is hindered by the ambiguity of its parameters.

A geometric morphometric assessment of the hard tissue external auditory meatus and soft tissue ear of South Africans

Research on how to reliably reconstruct the shape of the ear for facial approximations is limited, especially in countries such as South Africa where standard ear casts are still used in manual methods. To improve objectivity, computer aided methods are being developed for facial approximations – which require extensive population specific datasets for facial feature morphology. This study aims to assess variations in the shape of the ear and the underlying external auditory meatus (EAM) through the analysis of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of 40 black South Africans (males n = 17; females n = 23) and 76 white South Africans (males n = 29; females n = 47) between the ages of 18 and 90 years. Shape data was collected by placing 19 capulometric landmarks on the 3D reconstructions of the ear and 46 sliding craniometric landmarks along the EAM. Geometric morphometric analysis revealed highly significant variation in ear shape between groups for population affinity (p-value = 0.001), while sex and age were only significant between the white South Africans (p-value < 0.05). Only population affinity significantly influenced shape in the EAM (p-value = 0.001), and both the ear and EAM showed significant levels of symmetry (p-value = 0.007). While an ear will never be exactly recreated, basing facial estimates on the decedent’s biological profile can lead towards the highest possible accuracies. For the ear shape specifically, sex and age will not be a priority when creating predictive models, but population affinity will greatly influence the output.

Sex and ancestry estimation in South Africans from measurements of the calcaneus and talus - a validation study.

Forensic anthropological methodology needs to continuously be tested and validated to remain on par with international standards of best practice. The present study aimed to validate previously published metric and non-metric methods for estimating sex and population affinity from the calcaneus and talus in black and white South Africans. The calcanei and tali of two-hundred individuals, equally distributed by sex and population, were measured and the validity of the discriminant functions were assessed. Only some functions estimating sex using both skeletal elements and estimating population affinity using the calcaneus are valid, with present and original accuracies not differing significantly (p > 0.05). Population affinity estimation functions using the talus, however, are not valid. Functions yielding accuracies in the present study between 50.00% and 74.00% should not be used as these rates are only slightly above chance (50.00%), but functions yielding accuracies of 75.00% and above may be considered for use in forensic casework. Almost all functions yielded accuracies significantly lower (p < 0.05) for females and for black individuals compared to their male and white counterparts, respectively. As a result, the classification of individuals as female or as black should particularly be interpreted with caution. This study also assessed the validity of previously described morphological methods used to estimate population affinity using the calcaneus. The number of talar articular facets present differs significantly between population groups and the validity of this method was therefore confirmed. These methods should be further validated using more modern skeletal collections or living individuals using various virtual methodologies.

Intergroup emotions and intergroup attitudes in post-apartheid South Africa

This article investigates the relationships among intergroup emotions and intergroup attitudes among three South African ethno-linguistic groups. The sample included 1 658 respondents (350 Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans; 526 English-speaking white South Africans; and 782 black South African respondents). They completed surveys on intergroup attitudes and group-based emotions of pride, anger, disgust, fear, pity and envy. Multiple linear regression analyses were employed to investigate predictors of outgroup attitudes. The results indicate that attitudes of younger black South Africans were more negative towards Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans. Ingroup pride predicted more positive outgroup attitudes for all groups. Disgust predicted the more negative outgroup attitudes for all groups, while anger predicted more negative white South Africans’ attitudes towards black South Africans. Fear was negatively associated with black South Africans’ attitudes towards English-speaking white South Africans, while outgroup pity predicted more positive white South Africans’ attitudes towards black South Africans and black South Africans’ attitudes towards English-speaking white South Africans. The study confirms tenets of intergroup emotion theory that intergroup emotions serve a regulating function in intergroup attitudes and behaviour.

Black Boarding Academies as a Prudential Reparation

With billions of dollars pledged and trillions of dollars demanded to redress slavery and Jim Crow (“Black Reparations”) the question of how best to use these funds has moved into the forefront of the ongoing campaign for racial justice in our post-civil rights society. Reparatory strategies typically target the norms and structures that sustain racial disadvantage wrought by slavery and Jim Crow. The goal of such transitional reparations is to extinguish the menace of white supremacy and systemic racism across the board. Restructuring in housing, education, employment, voting, law enforcement, health care, and the environment—social transformation—is absolutely needed in the United States if the race problem is ever to be resolved. That much is clear beyond peradventure. The hard question, however, is whether Black Reparations can take us there. Are Black Reparations (or reparations in general) powerful enough to engineer social transformation, or what in this case would be “transitional racial justice”? Unfortunately, I do not believe they can. The American race problem is simply too big for reparations to fix. It would take decades of massive amounts of government spending and the sustained moral commitment of the American people to achieve transitional racial justice in this country. The inflationary impact of the requisite spending (estimated at $6.4 trillion to $59.2 trillion) would give opponents of reparations an easy target. Moreover, transitional reparations have rarely been attempted in other countries and when tried it has never succeeded to my knowledge. South Africa attempted to use reparations for social transformation. While there has been a transformation of political power, giving Black South Africans a strong voice in the government, economic power remains in the hands of White South Africans and racial discrimination in housing and education continues. Although at one time I was among scholars who had hoped Black Reparations could deliver a much-needed Third Reconstruction, I would be remiss as a passionate supporter of Black Reparations for many decades to ignore the cold facts—reparations have never successfully reconstructed a society.&#x0D; But the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. While Black Reparations may not be sufficient for transitional racial justice, they can still play an important role in moving toward that goal. This Article attempts to show one way of doing so. It argues that the initial payment of Black Reparations should take the shape of an education reparation. Education can, as it has in the past with Brown v. Board of Education, provide a foundation for significant racial progress. The type of education reparation broached in this Article gives African American (or Black American) parents or guardians a unique choice for educating their children—Black Boarding Academies (BBAs). Kick started with public reparations, BBAs would begin with PK-3 low-income Black children, giving special attention to those at risk of falling into the dreadful foster care system, and would expand to accommodate other classes of Black students once financially stable with post-reparations funding. Like most public boarding schools, BBAs will have to be sustained with both public and private funds. Fortunately, there is a wide range of available sources. Historically, boarding schools have a poor reputation in educating children of color, especially Indigenous Americans. The few primary and secondary schools that board Black students have not experienced such problems. Neither have Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) at the postsecondary education level. Following in this rich tradition, BBAs will provide a safe and nurturing environment for Black students. Pedagogically, BBAs will prepare students not just to survive but to thrive. Students will be prepared to assume positions of leadership in our society whether they go directly into the job market or matriculate at HBCUs or predominantly white institutions. One of the most effective instructional models in the country for leadership-oriented teaching can be found in elite New England Prep Schools. They have been doing this for centuries. Using a modified version of their pedagogy—one self-consciously infused with a racial sensibility—BBAs will be able to extend the pipeline to leadership, normally available to upper-income and even middle-income African American students, to low-income African American students. Indeed, the latter are the most vulnerable descendants of the enslaved.&#x0D;

Regression equations for stature reconstruction from the lower limb bones of contemporary White South Africans

ABSTRACT In 2008, Dayal and colleagues generated regression equations to estimate the total skeletal height (TSH) of White South Africans. However, the validity of these equations has been questioned. The magnetic resonance imaging scanograms of 74 White South African adults were used to assess the reliability of these equations. The physiological lengths of the femur (FEPL) and tibia (TPL) were measured from these scans and input into the appropriate equations by Dayal and colleagues to calculate TSHD. Paired t-tests, mean differences (MD), and mean absolute differences (MAD) were used to compare TSHD with the measured TSH (TSHMeas) taken directly from the scanograms and ELS were compared with the measured stature (LSM) taken of participants prior to their scans. Although there were no significant differences between TSHMeas and TSHD for males and TSHMeas and TSHD(TPL) for females, all ELSL were significantly different to LSM, and the ELSC using the FEPL were significantly different to LSM. These significant differences and associated large MD and MAD conclude that the equations by Dayal and colleagues are no longer valid. New stature estimation equations were derived for the estimation of stature of White South Africans, characterized by strong correlations and low SEEs.

Israelvisie, die Nuwe Suid-Afrika en ‘Afrikaners’

Israel vision, the New South Africa and ‘Afrikaners’: There is a growing number of Caucasian Afrikaans-speaking believers who are exposed to and accept the teachings of the British Israelite or Israel Vision movement. Some of these believers take their leave of or quit their former places of worship, while others remain and spread the Israel Vision teachings among fellow church members. This article, inter alia, asserts that Caucasian Afrikaans-speaking South Africans are ascribing to Israel Vision teachings in their search for a new identity in a post-apartheid South Africa. It utilises a comparative literature analysis from a Pentecostal perspective. To gain insight into the movement, the article considers the origin, growth and teaching of British Israelism. It furthermore attempts to understand the cultural shifting that some Caucasian Afrikaans-speaking South Africans have experienced since the importation of democracy in 1994 and what types of identity correction could be expected from such a group. When comparing the traditional Afrikaner cultural themes in terms of the Israel Vision teachings, it emerges that, according to the teachings of Israel Vision (and British Israelism), the Caucasian people are what is referred to as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel – the covenantal descendants of Abraham. God has a specific plan for these tribes. Adherents of these teachings define their identity in these exclusive terms. This article attempts to define what the Bible teaches regarding the old and new covenant as well as exclusivity and inclusivity to evaluate the Israel Vision teachings. It concludes that it results in the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Saviour along with an unacceptable exclusivism of people of colour considering Scripture by limiting salvation to the so-called Ten Lost Tribes. This article aims to inform church leaders and Christians as regards the main teachings of the movement and its theological and existential dangers to assist believers influenced by the Israel Vision teachings.Contribution: This research aims to contribute to the field of practical theology by determining that some white South Africans have attempted to restructure their culture after the forming of a democracy in South Africa (1994) by participation in ideological groups such as the Israel Vision movement and ascribing to British Israelism. The theological and ethical grounds on which these movements rest, pose a threat to the teachings of the traditional Christian denominations in South Africa due to the racist ideology that is inherent in these groups and aim to exclude the majority of South Africans from the faith community.