Journal articles on the topic 'Fables, African'

Colonially depicted as a region distinctive for fables and fabrications, Africa has ever since not been allowed to reclaim anything original. Dispossessed of their original wealth, Africans have been forced to live in fabled and fabricated houses, eating fabled, and fabricated food—closer to animals. Similarly, dispossessed of their original human identities, Africans have been forced to adopt fabricated identities. With the 21st century not promising any return to original African human identities, Africans are set to be further nanotechnologically (using tiny nanoparticles) fabricated into cyborgs that speak to ongoing posthumanist and transhumanist experiments with emergent disruptive technologies. Inhabiting not only fabricated houses but also increasingly inhabiting nanotechnologically fabled and fabricated bodies, Africans should learn to, in terms of the Shona (a people of Zimbabwe) proverb, hakuna mhou inokumira mhuru isiri yayo (no cow lows for a calf that is not its own), repossess original mastery over their own lives.

South Africa and the Philippines are home to a number of indigenous groups whose cultures and traditions have not been tainted by centuries of colonization. This paper compares the pre-colonial literature of cultural communities in two countries, where one is part of a continent (South Africa) while the other is an archipelago (the Philippines). Despite the differences in their geographical features, the two countries share common experiences: 1) colonized by European powers; 2) have a significant number of indigenous communities; 3) a treasury of surviving folk literature. Published African and Philippine folktales reveal recurring images and elements. One of these is the use of animals as characters, performing domestic tasks in households, and representing gender roles. This paper compares how animal characters portray feminine characteristics and domestic roles in selected fables from South Africa and the Philippines, specifically on the commonalities in the roles of the female characters. The research highlights the relevance of recording and publishing of folk literature, and the subsequent integration and teaching thereof within basic and higher education curricula.Key words: Indigenous, Cultural communities, fables, folk literature, Philippine folk tales, South African folk talesHow to cite this article:Quintero, G.J. & Makgabo, C. 2020. Animals as Representations of Female Domestic Roles in selected fables from the Philippines and South Africa. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. v. 4, n. 1, p. 37-50. April 2020. Available at:https://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=121This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

There is a paucity of performance information for African American adults with aphasia on appraisal tasks, especially in comparison with performance by neurologically normal African American adults. We administered language impairment, functional communication, and discourse measures to neurologically normal African American adults and African American adults with aphasia. The neurologically normal group performed significantly better on the language impairment measure (Western Aphasia Battery), the functional communication measure (ASHA Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for Adults), providing the lesson in a fable discourse task, and spontaneous interpretation of proverbs. No significant differences between groups were observed on a picture description fable task or in performance on a multiple-choice proverb task. Few significant relationships were observed among measures in the neurologically normal group; however, the group with aphasia displayed a variety of significant relationships in their performance on the language impairment, functional communication, fable lesson, and interpretation of proverbs tasks. The results imply that fable and proverb discourse tasks may be valuable supplemental measures for characterizing communicative competence in African American adults who have aphasia.

philosophical practice has taken a new turn since it survived the large scale problems and debates which characterized its early beginnings in an African environment and intellectual community. The metaphilosophical issues then concerned about its status, relevance and methodology appropriate or usable for doing it. Although the issues that troubled African philosophers then may have subsided, yet some of them have and are still expressing reservations on the possibility of having Africa‟s indigenous ways of knowing, just as they deny the possibility of „African physics‟ or „African arithmetic‟. Paulin Hountondji, a leading African philosopher, is reputed for denying African traditional thought as philosophy, which he prefers to type as ethnophilosophy, simply because it thrives on orality and other ethnographical materials like proverbs, parables, folklores, fables, songs etc. For him, the piece, at best can qualify as ethnographical or anthropological monographs as opposed to philosophical work which relies on written texts and documentation on the basis of which “theoretical knowledge and significant intellectual exchange and innovation can” be achieved in Africa. Hountondji‟s position is, to say the least, exclusionist, since it denies and debars African modes of thought and heritage a position in the on-going philosophical conversation or discourse. The paper shares Hountondji‟s vision of adoption of an attitude of critical, scientific and skeptical orientation in African societies. However, it rejects the views of Hountondji and other scholars who deny African intellectual and cognitive systems and argues that their position rests on one sided conception or dimension of epistemology. The other intention of the paper is to show that philosophical practice is as old as the history of mankind in Africa, though Hountondj has expressed the view that philosophy as an academic discipline started in African Universities only in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

In the four short stories published in the volume Dwaalstories, Eugène Marais achieves a very charming combination of fantasy and ideological coding. The fantasy seems, on the one hand, to camouflage the possible effects of certain ideological stances in the stories and also to predispose a naïve reading, while the more submerged ideological coding, on the other hand, invites closer inspection, which will uncover the real clout of the message. Traditionally, fables recount the victory of the weak over the powerful due to the intervention of some magical outside force. In these African fables this convention is employed to demonstrate the successful undermining of the despotic use of power which causes the innocent to suffer. Assisted by forces of magic residing in Nature, the weak react against injustice, so rectifying the social imbalances and counteracting the dangers caused by the inhumane use of group or institutional force. The purpose of this article is to describe the way in which fantasy and ideology are intercoded in Marais’s Dwaalstories.

The geopolitical location as well as the historical itinerary of Greece into time turned the country into a meeting place of the European, the Northern African and the Middle-Eastern cultures. Fables, beliefs and religious ceremonies, linguistic elements, traditional dances and music of different regions of Hellenic space testify this cultural convergence. One of these regions is Thrace. The aim of this paper is firstly, to deal with the music and the dances of Thrace and to highlight through them both the Balkan and the middle-eastern influence. Secondly, through a listing of music lessons that we have realized over the last years, in schools and universities of modern Thrace, we are going to prove if music is or not a useful communication tool – an international language – for pupils and students in Thrace. Finally, we will study the influence of these different “traditions” on pupils and students’ behavior.

The period from 1500 to 1800 was a particularly busy phase in the history of the East African coast. It was a time which witnessed massive demographic shifts in the interior regions, as well as heavy southern Arab immigration and external meddling from Portuguese and Umani interlopers. It saw the destruction of the medieval entrepot of Kilwa Kisiwani and a decline, followed by a slow resurgence, in the fortunes of another medieval powerhouse, Mombasa. Throughout this phase, the ancient northern coastal city of Pate enjoyed a pivotal, even at times a paramount, role in the affairs of the coast. Before the middle 1500s the town seems to have been of insufficient consequence to attract much attention. Thereafter, however, the city-state capitalized on mainland alliances with powerful Orma confederations like the “Garzeda” to become a major center for regional trade, as well as a crucial strategic location in the competing religious and political ambitions of Portugal and various Arab states. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries Pate clearly was the most important state in the Lamu archipelago. Arguably, too, it was the most powerful Swahili sultanate on the entire coast.Given the significance of Pate in the affairs of the East African coast from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries, scholars long have realized that a history of the sultanate is exigent to an understanding of the entire coast during this time. What would seem to be fortunate to this end is that historians have the Pate chronicles as a research aid. Taken together, these constitute the most detailed indigenous history of any coastal city-state up to the onset of the colonial era. However, as attested by the difficulties Chittick encountered in his attempts to work with them, these documents present the historian with a superabundance of (often confusing) information. Confronted with this, Chittick concluded that the only possible value of these chronicles was as a source of/for children's fables. Thus surmised, a historian of this important Swahili sultanate would seem to be left with very little indeed.

Abstract This article engages the work of two prominent but recently deceased scholars of African Christianity—the Gambian Lamin Sanneh and the Cameroonian Fabien Eboussi Boulaga. It argues that their reinterpretation of Christianity is designed to develop an imagination of resistance in the context of western domination in Africa. Sanneh approaches the matter from a historical perspective through which he narrates the emergence of a new form of Christianity, leading to his important distinction between “world Christianity” and “global Christianity.” Boulaga approaches the issue from the perspective of philosophical theology, through which he developed the “Christic model” as central to appropriating the Christian faith in Africa. The paper argues that one can hardly understand why Sanneh distinguishes between global and world Christianity and why Boulaga develops the radical Christic model, if one fails to locate their work within the framework of problematizing dynamics of western domination in Africa.

Abstract Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.] is an important staple legume in the diet of many households in sub-Saharan Africa. Its production, however, is negatively impacted by many insect pests including bean pod borer, Maruca vitrata F., which can cause 20–80% yield loss. Several genetically engineered cowpea events that contain a cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) for resistance against M. vitrata were evaluated in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Ghana (West Africa), where cowpea is commonly grown. As part of the regulatory safety package, these efficacy data were developed and evaluated by in-country scientists. The Bt-cowpea lines were planted in confined field trials under Insect-proof netting and artificially infested with up to 500 M. vitrata larvae per plant during bud formation and flowering periods. Bt-cowpea lines provided nearly complete pod and seed protection and in most cases resulted in significantly increased seed yield over non-Bt control lines. An integrated pest management strategy that includes use of Bt-cowpea augmented with minimal insecticide treatment for protection against other insects is recommended to control pod borer to enhance cowpea production. The insect resistance management plan is based on the high-dose refuge strategy where non-Bt-cowpea and natural refuges are expected to provide M. vitrata susceptible to Cry1Ab protein. In addition, there will be a limited release of this product until a two-toxin cowpea pyramid is released. Other than South African genetically engineered crops, Bt-cowpea is the first genetically engineered food crop developed by the public sector and approved for release in sub-Saharan Africa.

<em>Bruchidius</em> <em>raddianae</em> (Anton &amp; Delobel 2003), a species of seed beetle spread in Northern Africa, was detected for the first time in Europe in some localities of the Southern Iberian Peninsula in 2007. In Spain this coleopteran lives on the shrubs of the South African acacia tree, <em>Vachellia</em> <em>karroo</em> (Hayne) Banfi &amp; Galasso, currently present in the Southern Iberian Peninsula. From seeds of <em>V. karroo</em> collected in October 2015, in Lampedusa island, Italy, where this plant is widely spread, 45 specimens of this coleopteran emerged. This observation represents the first record o<em>f B. raddianae</em> in Italy and the second one for Europe.

Oeuvre de liturgie et d’anthropologie esthétique, cette publication révèle la vitalité d’une communauté chrétienne d’Afrique centrale (du Congo Kinshasa, à Cikapa) qui affronte ses problèmes de survie, dans une liturgie eucharistique dominicale, émaillée de contes comme quatrième lecture. Ces contes y apparaissent comme un moment important de Révélation en Afrique et un moyen mnémotechnique puissant d’éducation et d’action populaire. Y est interprétée, de manière critique et métaphorique, la vie des sociétés postcoloniales, dominées par un capitalisme commercial sauvage avec ses méthodes immorales d’accumulation, au détriment de la majorité et au service d’une minorité interne liée à l’impérialisme. La vie apparaît aussi dans la créativité artistique même des contes qui ne sont jamais figés et dans la manière vivante de les déclamer. Les contes sont une constante réinterprétation de la vie dans le miroir culturel africain et chrétien.

One of the principal objectives of foreign settlements in nineteenth-century West Africa was the establishment of extensive regular trade with Africans, especially residents of the distant, fabled interior. The attainment of this goal, however, proved very difficult. The most spectacular success was achieved by the British settlement at Sierra Leone, which in the early 1820s managed to establish substantial regular trade with the distant hinterland. Its early efforts to achieve this objective, however, were unsuccessful. Until 1818 the development of long-distance trade with the hinterland was impeded by the desultory nature of such efforts, Sierra Leone's opposition to slave trading, competition from established coastal marts, obstructions caused by intermediate states and peoples, and the weaknesses and limitations of the Colony's policy towards commerce and the interior. By 1821, however, the marked decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, the active co-operation of Futa Jallon and Segu, two major trading states in the hinterland, and certain other important developments in the Colony and the interior, combined to establish such trade on a regular basis.

Abstract Focusing on the representation of the masculinity of dictator figures in Cheik Aliou Ndao's Mbaam dictateur (1997) and Baba Galleh Jallow's Angry Laughter (2004), this article explores the imbrication of social realities, power structures and literary expression that characterizes these texts as dictator-novels. It considers the writers' reappropriation of the border between animal and human as a means by which to level an allegorical political critique in the guise of a fable. In so doing, it emphasizes their representation of the hypermasculine body of the dictator and its centrality to emerging nation states that are defined by class and ethnic relations. Finally, its focus turns to the importance of voice to examine the aesthetic of these two dictator-novels, which is of equal importance to our understanding of these texts as their thematic representation. The article thus takes these two literary works as case studies for the dictator-novel at the turn of the twenty-first century to examine the ways in which African writers use the dictator-novel to express the disenchantment of citizens with the long and faltering process of decolonization that, in many countries across Africa, had seen the emergence not of an ideal postcolonial democracy, but instead of a de-humanizing neo-colonial autocracy.

Between the 1940s and 1960s, Arthur Rubloff established a formidable presence in Chicago real estate development and in the city’s urban renewal programs. And yet, not even a skilled operator like Rubloff and members of his network of business executives possessed the savvy, clout, and resources to bring all or most of their projects to a successful conclusion. Nor were the fabled Mayor Richard J. Daley and his allies in the Central Area Committee able to achieve the prerequisite unity to “renew” downtown Chicago. Rubloff surely brought greater heft and glitz to his high-priced proposals than African Americans and Puerto Ricans could muster to defend their homes and modest businesses from renewal projects. Renewal politics in downtown Chicago turned into a decades-long, grinding affair.

Several Australian and African Acacia shrubs and trees have been intentionally introduced into the Mediterranean basin for different purposes, but some species become invasive, such as Vachellia karroo (Hayne) Banfi and Galasso (syn. Acacia karroo) (Fabales: Fabaceae). The seed beetles, belonging to family Bruchidae, have a significant ecological and economic importance, either because they can be plant pests or, on the other hand, be used as biocontrol agents against invasive plant species. Bruchidius raddianae (Anton and Delobel, 2003) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) is native to tropical and subtropical areas, but it has been recently reported from Cádiz and Málaga (southern Spain, 2007) and in the Lampedusa Island (Italy, 2015) from seeds of pods collected from V. karroo. This paper reports 104 specimens reared from seeds collected from V. karroo in Faro (southern Portugal) from August to October 2019, expanding the B. raddianae’ European distribution limits. This is also the first report of its presence in Portugal and the third in Europe.

The article gives an overview of the small and archaic tribe Baphieae (Fabaceae, Fabales). The study is devoted to the taxonomic revision of the Baphieae tribe and and the phylogenetic relationships within the group based on the morphological, anatomical, palynological and molecular characteristics. It was carried out on the basis of studying about 5,000 herbarium leaves in 12 European and African botanical institutions. The study was performed using the morphological-geographical and molecular-phylogenetic analysis methods. The article provides information on the morphological features of the species included in the tribe, their geographical distribution and chemical composition. The results of phylogenetic analysis have been presented. According to it, it can be argued that the tribe Baphieae is a monophyletic group occupying a relatively isolated position among the subfamily of moths, based on morphological and molecular characteristics. The proposals for a new structure of the tribe have been made. The identification of several phylogenetic lineages within the tribe and the basal position of the genus Dalhousiea have been substantiated. Further studies have been identified.

The years 2003-04 mark the centennial observance of a debate that emerged in Paris, Freetown, and Monrovia over whether or not the Liberian Benjamin Anderson trekked to the fabled town of Musadu in 1868. Musadu, now situated about five miles northwest of Beyla in Guinea-Conakry, or eighty-five miles northwest of the Liberian border town of Yekepa, represented Liberia's interiormost claim in the nineteenth century. Anderson's challenger was a captain in the French army named Henri d'Ollone, who went to West Africa in the late 1890s and surveyed some of the land that the French had recently conquered. Anderson won the debate, given the fact he was still alive and could prove that he went to Musadu, and because eminent persons such as the French diplomat-scholar Maurice Delafosse, and perhaps even the famed pan-Africanist Edward W. Blyden, came to his defense.The controversy was set in the context of Britain, France, and Liberia's competing claims for land during the heyday of the western conquest of Africa. This paper examines the main contours of the debate, sets the debate in historical context, and republishes the most important primary sources so readers can examine the case more closely for themselves. While some have mentioned the controversy that emerged between d'Ollone and Anderson, the first detailed examination of what happened has been published in Fairhead et. al. (2003:79-88). This paper is a followup to that study.

In the low-P soil of the fynbos biome, plants have evolved several morphological and physiological P acquisition and use mechanisms, leading to variable uptake and use efficiencies. We expected that plants grown in low-P soils would exhibit greater P acquisition traits and hypothesised that Aspalathus linearis (Burm. f.) R. Dahlgren, a cluster-root-forming species adapted to drier and infertile soils, would be the most efficient at P acquisition compared with other species. Three fynbos Fabales species were studied: A. linearis and Podalyria calyptrata (Retz.) Willd, both legumes, and Polygala myrtifolia L., a nonlegume. A potted experiment was conducted where the species were grown in two soil types with high P (41.18 mg kg–1) and low P (9.79 mg kg–1). At harvest, biomass accumulation, foliar nutrients and P acquisition mechanisms were assessed. Polygala myrtifolia developed a root system with greater specific root length, root hair width and an average root diameter that exuded a greater amount of citrate and, contrary to the hypothesis, exhibited greater whole-plant P uptake efficiency. However, P. calyptrata had higher P use efficiency, influenced by N availability through N2 fixation. Specific root length, root length and root : shoot ratio were promising morphological traits for efficient foraging of P, whereas acid phosphatase exudation was the best physiological trait for solubilisation of P.

On 23 January 295 a young recruit named Maximilian, a Christian by religion and twenty-one years old, appeared in court before Dion, proconsul of Africa, in the town of Theveste in Numidia. He was accused of refusing a summons to serve in the Roman army. Maximilian was accompanied to court by his father, Fabius Victor, described in the record as a temonarius, i.e. ‘an agent who collected the temo, or tax levied for the outfitting of military recruits’; the latter was obliged to present his son for army service if he could not find another suitable recruit. Maximilian, although pressed by the proconsul to submit himself to the formalities leading to induction into the army, stubbornly resisted and was finally sentenced to death. His execution followed immediately.

Six facultatively anaerobic, non-motile lactic acid bacteria were isolated from spontaneous cocoa bean fermentations carried out in Brazil, Ecuador and Malaysia. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that one of these strains, designated M75T, isolated from a Brazilian cocoa bean fermentation, had the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity towards Weissella fabaria LMG 24289T (97.7 %), W. ghanensis LMG 24286T (93.3 %) and W. beninensis LMG 25373T (93.4 %). The remaining lactic acid bacteria isolates, represented by strain M622, showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity towards the type strain of Fructobacillus tropaeoli (99.9 %), a recently described species isolated from a flower in South Africa. pheS gene sequence analysis indicated that the former strain represented a novel species, whereas pheS, rpoA and atpA gene sequence analysis indicated that the remaining five strains belonged to F. tropaeoli ; these results were confirmed by DNA–DNA hybridization experiments towards their respective nearest phylogenetic neighbours. Additionally, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry proved successful for the identification of species of the genera Weissella and Fructobacillus and for the recognition of the novel species. We propose to classify strain M75T ( = LMG 26217T = CCUG 61472T) as the type strain of the novel species Weissella fabalis sp. nov.

The ammonoids from the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) Dalle à <i>Merocanites</i> of Timimoun (Gourara, Algeria) are described. The following new ammonoid taxa are introduced: subfamily Hammatocyclinae n. subfam., <i>Hammatocyclus pollex</i> n. sp., <i>Hammatocyclus corrugatus</i> n. sp., <i>Neopericyclus arenosus</i> n. sp., <i>Ammonellipsites pareyni</i> n. sp., <i>Ammonellipsites menchikoffi</i> n. sp., <i>Ammonellipsites conradae</i> n. sp., <i>Muensteroceras fabrei</i> n. sp., <i>Eurites commutatus</i> n. sp., <i>Eurites pondus</i> n. sp., subfamily Trimorphoceratinae n. subfam., <i>Trimorphoceras</i> n. gen., <i>Trimorphoceras crassilens</i> n. sp., <i>Trimorphoceras absolutum</i> n. sp., <i>Trimorphoceras molestum</i> n. sp., <i>Obturgites</i> n. gen., <i>Obturgites polysarcus</i> n. sp., <i>Obturgites oligosarcus</i> n. sp., <i>Dzhaprakoceras dzhazairense</i> n. sp., and <i>Merocanites merocanites</i> n. sp. These species occur in one very prolific horizon and can be attributed to the North African <i>Ammonellipsites-Merocanites</i> Assemblage (<i>Fascipericyclus -Ammonellipsites</i> Genus Zone; Late Tournaisian to Early Viséan). They represent one of the most diverse ammonoid faunas known from this time interval. <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.200900011" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.200900011</a>

Background and aims – This study describes the dispersal traits of 302 species in five Afro-Arabian habitats from the hyper-arid hot desert of United Arabian Emirates (UAE).Methods – Diaspore size (diaspora length) was studied in relation to growth forms, dispersal modes, presence of structures for long distance dispersal, APG IV groups, phytogeography and dispersal phenology using ANOVA and Pearson χ2 test-statistical analyses.Results – Small diaspores were predominant (six orders of magnitude from 10-4 to 102). The major diaspores were found in Fabids phylogenetic APG IV group (1.80±0.41 cm) mainly trees and the minor in Commelinids (0.30±0.08 cm). The most dominant dispersal mode was semachory (43.7% of the total and 67.5% of the herbaceous species), followed by anemo-meteochory (28.8%) and barochory (23.8%). Semachores/barochores (67.5%) formed the largest groups from the Fabaceae, Poaceae, Boraginaceae, Brassicaceae and Amaranthaceae families. Savanna trees such as Acacia, Prosopis, Ziziphus sp. and Indigofera sp. produced large diaspores secondarily dispersed by vertebrates. Anemo-meteochoric species with small diaspores were predominantly semi-shrubs such as Haloxylon sp. Graminoids such as Stipa sp. and Stipagrostis sp., without structures for long-distance dispersal had diaspore appendages acted as “active drills” in soil cracks. Dryness (dry season) favours the efficient dispersion by the wind for the small shrub species with haired capsule (e.g. Aerva javanica), winged calyx (e.g. Astragalus squarrosus) or wings (e.g. Tribulus qatarensis). Most of the species studied (64.2%) dispersed in the dry season according to what was found in other arid region from the world. The longer dispersal phenology corresponded to Saharo-Arabian and Sudano-Decanian species which is related to the floristic richness of the study area. Species dispersal throughout the year indicates an important seed resource e.g. barochoric species with fleshy fruits or pods with nutrient structures (e.g. Senna italica and Indigofera sp.).Conclusions – In the hyper-arid hot desert of UAE, the dispersal spectra are close to those recorded in other arid environments but with particularities due to the presence of African floristic elements.

Denne artikkelen analyserer Erlend Loe og Alice Bjerknes Lima de Farias bildebok Rumpemelk fra Afrika (2012). Her foretar vi en tematisk analyse av det imaginære Afrika som presenteres gjennom hovedpersonens Afrika-reise. Reisen er en jakt etter det som blir betegnet som «rumpemelk». Bildeboka er postmoderne og plasserer seg i en tradisjon etter fabelen, der fantasi, lek og besjelte dyr er sentrale element, men parodi og intertekstualitet spiller også en sentral rolle i hvordan det imaginære Afrika gestaltes. Målet med artikkelen er å foreta en tematisk lesning som undersøker hvordan bildebokas intertekstuelle og parodiske dialog med tidligere Afrika-forestillinger i barnelitteraturen danner grunnlaget for det imaginære Afrika som presenteres i denne spesifikke boka. This article on Erlend Loe og Alice Bjerknes Lima de Faria’s picture book Rumpemelk fra Afrika (2012) is a thematic analysis of the imaginary Africa which is portrayed through the protagonist’s journey to Africa in search of what is termed “milk from the bum.” The picture book is a postmodern picture book, and can be placed in the tradition of the fable, where play and fantasy and animated animals are central ingredients, but parody and intertextuality also play a central role in how the imaginary Africa is rendered. This article’s intention is to analyse the way in which this picture book forms an intertextual and parodic dialogue with previous myths and pretexts of the tales of Africa in children’s literature in the creation of the specific imaginary Africa of this book.

Silent screams echo in South Africa, objecting to violence due to cultural and gender differences. Bitterness and anger increase as the cultures, knowledge systems and ways of being or ‘non-being’ are despised, demonised and declared substandard and irrational or even eliminated. Most of these individuals cannot afford to speak up, because belonging has become more important than being. It is inevitable that people would question their personhood and dignity when they find themselves in the space of intersection between culture, gender and violence. If the meaning of formosus is to bring out the beauty of each person, how is it that ‘non-being’ for some is better than being? In the fable of Hyginus, an alternative word for ‘being’ is ‘care’. Human beings’ existence is essentially dependent on care. The intersection between culture, gender and violence probes for the reformation of practical theological anthropology and, especially, a rethinking of the ministry of compassion. This article seeks to explore hermeneutics of renewal. The focus is on restoring and reforming the human being which can help non-beings to express their deepest quest for personhood and dignity. In this sense, dignity is defined as being one with all the multiplicities, systems and paradoxes of one’s own way of being, doing and knowing. The epistemology is from a pastoral care point of view.

Murray Forman’s text The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop provides insightful commentary on the workings of and relationship between place and space. To highlight the difference of scale between these two parameters, he writes that, “place defines the immediate locale of human interaction in the particular, whereas space is the expanse of mobile trajectories through which subjects pass in their circulation between or among distinct and varied places” (25). This statement reflects Doreen Massey’s earlier observation from her book Space, Place, and Gender that “one view of a place is as a particular articulation” of the spatial (5). These descriptions clarify how human action shapes, and is shaped by, what Forman describes as the “more narrowly circumscribed parameters” of place (25) and the broader realm of space. Clearly, these two terms describe interconnected components that are socially constructed and dynamic: that is, they operate at different scales but are constructed in time, constantly reshaped by human action and perception. “Space and time are inextricably interwoven,” states Massey. She continues: “It is not that the interrelations between objects occur in space and time; it is these relationships themselves which create/define space and time” (261). If place and space represent different scales of social interaction and space and time are interconnected, place and time must be linked as well.While this indicates that human experience and representation operate on different scales, it is important to note that these two factors are also interrelated. As Stuart Hall writes, “[I]t is only through the way in which we represent and imagine ourselves that we come to know how we are constituted and who we are” (473). There is no objective experience, only that which is subjectively represented through various means. Through depictions of these relationships between place, space, and time, rap music shapes listeners’ comprehension of these parameters. DJs, MCs, producers, and other creative artists express personal observations through the influence of both the local and global, the past and present. In rap lyrics and their musical accompaniment, countries, cities, neighbourhoods, and even specific government housing developments inform the music, but the identities of these places and spaces are not fixed – for the performers or for the audience. They are more than the backdrop for what happens, inanimate structures or coordinates of latitude and longitude. Their dynamic nature, and their representation in music, serves to continually redefine “how we are constituted and who we are” (473).In MC Solaar’s Léve-toi et Rap from his 2001 album Cinquième as and his song Nouveau Western, from 1994’s Prose Combat, this is demonstrated in two very different ways. Léve-toi et Rap, a personal history told in the first person, clearly demonstrates both American hip-hop lineage and the transnational influences of Solaar’s upbringing. This song serves as an example of the adoption of American musical and lyrical techniques as means through which personally empowering, often place-based stories are told. In Nouveau Western, the narrative demonstrates the negative effects of globalization through this story about a geographically and temporally transported American cowboy. This track employs musical materials in a way that reflects the more critical lyrical commentary on the repercussions of American cultural and economic power. Through the manner of his storytelling, and through the stories themselves, MC Solaar explicitly demonstrates his own agency in representing, and thus constructing the meaning of, dynamic place and space as they are defined from these two perspectives.As a Paris-based French rapper, MC Solaar often makes his affiliation to this geographic focal point significant in his lyrics. This is especially clear in Léve-toi et Rap, in which Parisian banlieues (HLM government housing projects), nightclubs, and other places figure prominently in the text. From the lyrics, one learns a great deal about this rapper and his background: MC Solaar was born in Senegal, but his parents brought him to France when he was young (MC Solaar, “Léve-toi et Rap”; Petetin, 802, 805). He grew up struggling with the isolation and social problems of the banlieues and the discrimination he faced as an immigrant. He began rapping, established a musical career, and now encourages others to rap as a means of making something constructive out of a challenging situation. In the excerpt below, MC Solaar explains these origins and the move to the banlieues (Solaar, “Lève-toi et rap;” All translations by the author).Lève-toi et rap elaborates on the connection between the local and global in rap music, and between place, space, and time. The lyrics and music represent these properties in part by appropriating American rap’s stylistic practices. The introductory chorus incorporates sampled lyrics of the American artists Lords of the Underground, the Beastie Boys, Nas, and Redman (Various Contributors, “‘Lève-toi et rap’ Direct Sample of Vocals/Lyrics,” whosampled.com.). A bassline originally recorded by the funk group The Crusaders grounds the musical accompaniment that begins with the first verse (partially printed above), in which MC Solaar begins to depict his own place and space as he has experienced it temporally.In this chorus, the first sample is “I remember way back in the days on my block” from Lords of the Underground’s song Tic-Toc. This leads to “Oh My God” and “Ah, Ah, Ah,” both samples from Q-Tip’s contribution to the Beastie Boys’ song Get It Together. “I Excel,” which appears in Nas’s It Ain’t Hard to Tell comes next. The last sample, “Who Got the Funk,” is from Can’t Wait by Redman (Lords of the Underground, “Tic-Tic;” Beastie Boys and Q-Tip, “Get It Together;” Nas, “It Ain’t Hard to Tell;” The Crusaders, “The Well’s Gone Dry”).Scratching begins the introductory chorus (printed below), which ends with a voice announcing “MC Solaar.” At this point, the sampled bassline from The Crusaders’ 1974 song The Well’s Gone Dry begins.[Scratching]I remember back in the days on my block... Lords of the UndergroundOh my God... Ah, Ah, Ah... Beastie Boys and Q-TipI excel… NasWho got the funk... RedmanMC Solaar[Crusaders sample begins] The rap samples all date from 1994, the year Solaar released his well-received album Prose Combat and most are strategically placed: the first sample originated in the last verse of Tic-Toc, the Q-Tip samples in the middle are from the middle of Get It Together, and the last sample, “I Excel,” is from the first line of It Ain’t Hard to Tell. As Lève-toi et rap continues, MC Solaar’s statement of the song title itself replaces the iteration “MC Solaar” of the first chorus. In a sense, “Lève-toi et rap” becomes the last sample of the chorus. Through these American references, Solaar demonstrates an affiliation with the place in which rap is commonly known to have originally coalesced. For French rappers consciously working to prove their connection to rap’s lineage, such demonstrations are useful (Faure and Garcia, 81-82). Achieved by sampling music and lyrics from 1974 and 1994 from sources that are not all that obvious to a casual listener, Solaar spatially connects his work to the roots of rap (Shusterman, 214). These particular samples also highlight a spatial relationship to particular styles of rap that represent place and space in particular ways. Nas and Lords of the Underground, for instance, have added to the discourse on street credibility and authenticity, while Q-tip has provided commentary on social and political issues. MC Solaar’s own story widens the parameters for illustrating these concepts, as he incorporates the personally significant places such as Senegal, Chad, and the Saint Denis banlieue to establish street credibility on a transnational scale; the lyrics also describe serious social and political issues, including the “skinheads” he encountered while living in Paris. Dynamic place is clear throughout all of this, as everything occurring in these places is meaningful in part because of the unavoidable relationship with the passing of time – Solaar’s birth, his upbringing, and his success occurred through his choices and social interactions in specific places.Looking more closely at the representation of place and time, Lève-toi et rap is less than straightforward. As discussed previously, some of the vocal samples are rearranged, demonstrating purposeful alteration of pre-recorded material; in contrast, the use of a repeated funk bassline sample during a clear narrative of Solaar’s life juxtaposes a linear story with a non-linear musical accompaniment. To this, MC Solaar made a contemporary textual contribution to later choruses, with the title of the song added as the chorus’s last line. Such manipulation in the context of this first-person narrative to express this movement supports the conclusion that, far from being a victim of political and economic forces, MC Solaar has used them to his advantage. After all, the title of the song itself, Lève-toi et rap, translates roughly to “get up and rap.”In addition to manipulating the materials of American rap and funk for this purpose, Solaar’s use of verlan, a type of slang used in the banlieues, brings another level of locality to Lève-toi et rap. The use of verlan brings the song’s association with French banlieue culture closer: by communicating in a dialect fluently understood by relatively few, rappers ensure that their message will be understood best by those who share the constellation of social and temporal relations of these housing developments (Milon, 75). Adding verlan to other slang and to unique grammatical rules, the rap of the banlieues is to some extent in its own language (Prévos, “Business” 902-903).Referring to MC Solaar’s 1994 album Prose Combat, André Prévos observed that this material “clearly illustrates the continuity of this tradition, all the while adding an identifiable element of social and personal protest as well as an identifiable amount of ‘signifying’ also inspired by African American hip-hip lyrics” (Prévos, “Postcolonial” 43). While it is clear at this point that this is also true for Lève-toi et rap from Cinquème as, Nouveau Western from Prose Combat demonstrates continuity in different way. To start, the samples used in this song create a more seamless texture. A sample from the accompaniment to Serge Gainsbourg’s Bonnie and Clyde from 1967 undergirds the song, providing a French pop reference to a story about an American character (Various Contributors, “Nouveau Western” whosampled.com). The bassline from Bonnie and Clyde is present throughout Nouveau Western, while the orchestral layer from the sample is heard during sections of the verses and choruses. Parts of the song also feature alto saxophone samples that provide continuity with the jazz-influenced character of many songs on this album.The contrasts with Lève-toi et rap continue with the lyrical content. Rather than describing his own process of acquiring knowledge and skill as he moved in time from place to place, in Nouveau Western MC Solaar tells the story of a cowboy named “Harry Zona” who was proud and independent living in Arizona, hunting for gold with his horse, but who becomes a victim in contemporary Paris. In the fabled west, the guns he carries and his method of transportation facilitate his mission: Il erre dans les plaines, fier, solitaire. Son cheval est son partenaire [He wanders the plains, proud, alone. His horse is his partner.]. After suddenly being transported to modern-day Paris, he orders a drink from an “Indian,” at a bistro and “scalps” the foam off, but this is surely a different kind of person and practice than Solaar describes Harry encountering in the States (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).After leaving the bistro, Harry is arrested driving his stagecoach on the highway and shut away by the authorities in Fresnes prison for his aberrant behaviour. His pursuit of gold worked for him in the first context, but the quest for wealth advanced in his home country contributed to the conditions he now faces, and which MC Solaar critiques, later in the song. He raps, Les States sont comme une sorte de multinationale / Elle exporte le western et son monde féudal / Dicte le bien, le mal, Lucky Luke et les Dalton [The States are a kind of multinational”/ “They export the western and its feudal way/ Dictate the good the bad, Lucky Luke and the Daltons] (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).Harry seems to thrive in the environment portrayed as the old west: as solitary hero, he serves as a symbol of the States’ independent spirit. In the nouveau far west [new far west] francophone comic book characters Lucky Luke and the Daltons sont camouflés en Paul Smith’s et Wesson [are camouflaged in Paul Smith’s and Wesson], and Harry is not equipped to cope with this confusing combination. He is lost as he negotiates le système moderne se noie l’individu [the modern system that drowns the individual]. To return to Bonnie and Clyde, these ill-fated and oft-fabled figures weren’t so triumphant either, and in Gainsbourg’s song, they are represented by 1960s French pop rather than by even a hint of local 1930s musical traditions. “Harry Zona” is not the only person whose story unfolds through the lens of another culture.While Solaar avoids heavy use of verlan or other Parisian slang in this song, he does use several American cultural references, some of which I have already mentioned. In addition, the word “western” refers to western movies, but it also serves as another term for the United States and its cultural exports. “Hollywood” is another term for the west, and in this context MC Solaar warns his listeners to question this fictional setting. Following his observation that John Wayne looks like Lucky Luke, “well groomed like an archduke,” he exclaims Hollywood nous berne, Hollywood berne! [Hollywood fooled us! Hollywood fools!]. This is followed by, on dit gare au gorille, mais gare à Gary Cooper [as they say watch out for the gorilla, watch out for Gary Cooper]. Slick characters like the ones Gary Cooper played have ultimately served as cultural capital that has generated economic capital for the “multinational” States that Solaar describes. As Harry moves “epochs and places,” he discovers that this sort of influence, now disguised in fashion-forward clothing, is more influential than his Smith and Wesson of the old west (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).It is important to note that this narrative is described with the language of the cultural force that it critiques. As Geoffrey Baker writes, “MC Solaar delves into the masterpieces and linguistic arsenal of his colonizers in order to twist the very foundations of their linguistic oppression against them” (Baker, 241). These linguistic – and cultural – references facilitate this ironic critique of the “new Far West”: Harry suffers in the grip of a more sophisticated gold rush (MC Solaar, “Nouveau Western”).Lève-toi et rap transforms musical and verbal language as well, but the changes are more overt. Even though the musical samples are distinctly American, they are transformed, and non-American places of import to MC Solaar are described with heavy use of slang. This situates the song in American and French cultural territory while demonstrating Solaar’s manipulation of both. He is empowered by the specialized expression of place and space, and by the loud and proud references to a dynamic upbringing, in which struggle culminates in triumph.Empowerment through such manipulation is an attractive interpretation, but because this exercise includes the transformation of a colonizer’s language, it ultimately depends on understanding rap as linked to some extent to what Murray Forman and Tricia Rose describe as “Western cultural imperialism” (Rose, 19; Forman, 21). Both Rose and Forman point out that rap has benefitted from what Rose describes as “the disproportionate exposure of U.S. artists around the world,” (Rose, 19) even though this music has provided an avenue through which marginalized groups have articulated social and political concerns (Rose, 19; Forman 21). The “transnational circulation of contemporary culture industries” that Forman describes (21) has benefitted multinational corporations, but it has also provided new means of expression for those reached by this global circulation. Additionally, this process has engendered a sense of community around the world among those who identify with rap’s musical and lyrical practices and content; in many cases, rap’s connection to the African diaspora is a significant factor in the music’s appeal. This larger spatial connection occurs alongside more locally place-based connections. Lève-toi et rap clearly manifests this sense of simultaneously negotiating one’s role as a global citizen and as an individual firmly grounded in the place and space of local experience.Even though rap has been a music of resistance to hegemonic social and economic forces for people around the world, it is nonetheless important to recognize that the forces that have disseminated this music on a global scale have contributed to the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Working within this system is almost always unavoidable for rappers, many of whom criticize these conditions in their music, but depend on these transnational corporations for their success. Paul A. Silverstein writes that “hip-hop formations themselves, while enunciating an explicit critique of both state interventionism and the global market, have directly benefited from both and, to be sure, simultaneously desire their end and their continuation” (47-48). This is very clear in Nouveau Western, which Silverstein writes “portrayed neo-liberalism as a ‘new Far West’ where credit cards replace Remingtons.” (48) That this critique has reached a large audience in the francophone world and elsewhere highlights the irony of the situation: under the current system of popular musical production and circulation, such material often must reach its audience through complicity with the very system it denounces. This view on the mixture of the local and global presented in these songs illustrates this confusing situation, but from another perspective, the representation of social interaction on varying scales connects to the factors that have contributed to rap since its inception. Local places and geographically broad spatial connections have been articulated in constantly changing ways through musical and lyrical sampling, original lyrical references, and the uses that creators, listeners, and the industry enact vis-à-vis global rap culture. Whether revealed through clear references to American rap that facilitate a personal narrative or through a more complicated critique of American culture, MC Solaar’s songs Lève-toi et rap and Nouveau Western expose some accomplishments of a French rapper whose work reveals personal agency both outside and within the “multinational” United States. ReferencesBaker, Geoffrey. “Preachers, Gangsters, Pranksters: MC Solaar and Hip-Hop as Overt and Covert Revolt.” The Journal of Popular Culture 44 (2011): 233-54.Beastie Boys and Q-Tip. “Get It Together.” Ill Communication. Grand Royal Records, 1994. CD.Faure, Sylvia, and Marie-Carmen Garcia. “Conflits de Valeurs et Générations.” Culture Hip Hop Jeunes des Cités et Politiques Publiques. Paris: La Dispute SNÉDIT, 2005. 69-83. Forman, Murray. “Space Matters: Hip-Hop and the Spatial Perspective.” The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2002. 1- 34. Hall, Stuart. “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?” Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, Edited by David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen. London: Routledge, 1996. 465-475. Lords of the Underground. “Tic-Tic.” Keepers of the Funk. Pendulum Records, 1994. CD.Massey, Doreen. Space, Place and Gender. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1994. 19-24.Milon, Alain. “Pourquoi le Rappeur Chante? Le Rap comme Expression de la Relégation Urbaine.” Cités 19 (2004): 71-80.MC Solaar (Claude M’Barali). “Lève-toi et rap.” Cinquème as. Wea International, 2001. CD.———. “Nouveau Western.” Prose Combat. Cohiba, 1994. CD.Nas. “It Ain’t Hard to Tell.” Illmatic. Columbia Records, 1994. CD.Petetin, Véronique. “Slam, Rap, et ‘Mondialité.” Études 6 (June 2009): 797-808.Prévos, André J.M. “Le Business du Rap en France.” The French Review 74 (April 2001): 900-21.———. “Postcolonial Popular Music in France.” Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop outside the USA. Ed. Tony Mitchell. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2001. 39-56. Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1994.Shusterman, Richard. “L’Estitique Postmoderne du Rap.” Rue Deseartes 5/6 (November 1992): 209-28.Silverstein, Paul A. “‘Why Are We Waiting to Start the Fire?’: French Gangsta Rap and the Critique of State Capitalism.” Black, Blanc, Beur: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the Francophone World. Ed. Alain-Philippe Durand. Oxford: Scarecrow Press, 2002. 45-67. The Crusaders. “The Well’s Gone Dry.” Southern Comfort. ABC/Blue Thumb Records, 1974. CD.Various Contributors. “‘Lève-toi et rap’ Direct Sample of Vocals/Lyrics.” whosampled.com.———. “‘Nouveau Western’ Direct Sample of Hook/Riff.” whosampled.com.Various Contributors. “MC Solaar – ‘Lève-toi et rap’ Lyrics.” Rap Genius.