Journal articles on the topic 'Man-woman relationships – South Africa'

Aim: This paper examines financial, emotional, and physical responsibilities elderly women are being asked to take on due to the incapacity of their adult children to care for the next generation; such incapacity is likely to increase as the HIV/AIDS epidemic worsens. Methods: This paper combines quantitative and qualitative data. Census data from the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance system (AHDSS) describe the presence of the elderly (specifically women over the age of 60 and men over the age of 65) in households in the Agincourt study site. Semi-structured interviews with 30 female residents aged 60—75 complement the census data by exploring the roles that older women, in particular, are playing in their households. Results: An elderly man and/or woman lives in 27.6% of households; 86% of elders live with non-elders. Households with a woman over the age of 60 resident (as opposed to those without) are twice as likely to have a fostered child living in the household and three times as likely to have an orphaned child in the household. Elderly women face financial, physical, and emotional burdens related to the morbidity and mortality of their adult children, and to caring for grandchildren left behind due to adult children's mortality, migration, (re)marriage, and unemployment. Conclusions: Older women provide crucial financial, physical, and emotional support for ill adult children and fostered and orphaned grandchildren in their households. As more prime-aged adults suffer from HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, these obligations are likely to increase.

AbstractTwo Hemicycliophora species, H. lutosa and H. typica, found in samples from fallow soil and sugarcane soil in South Africa, were studied morphologically and, for the first time, molecularly. Diagnostic PCR-IT-rRNA-RFLP profiles generated by five restriction enzymes are provided. Study of phylogenetic relationships using D2-D3 expansion segment of 28S rRNA gene sequences revealed that H. lutosa was related to H. poranga. Hemicycliophora lutosa and H. poranga are compared morphologically. SEM photographs are given for H. typica and for H. lutosa for the first time. The male of H. typica represents a first report for South Africa.

This study aimed to explore perspectives on the meaning of love and sexual relations amongst young men in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Gaining insights into these perspectives will help to understand the sexual behaviors of these young men better and to eventually develop more effective HIV prevention interventions. Focus group discussions were conducted in two study areas using a predetermined semistructured discussion guide. The findings indicate that the phenomenon of romantic relationship try-outs together with the idea of “feeling under pressure” to propose love to more than one woman seem to be accepted practices that often lead to multiple concurrent sexual partners and therefore potentially risky sexual behaviors. The fear of impregnating a woman is seen to be of a more significant concern than acquiring a sexually transmitted infection due to the stigma and embarrassment associated with pregnancy outside marriage. Given these findings, it is recommended that future studies investigate perspectives on sexuality and reproductive health in male populations in great detail prior to the development of behavioral change interventions because failure to do so may hamper well-intended but poorly targeted health interventions.

Human figure drawings done by 415 urban black children were compared with the figures of people drawn by children in 1938 and 1950. Though children from five to eight years of age showed no change in performance over the 50-year time-span, there was a significant improvement in the Goodenough scores obtained by contemporary children of school age in comparison with the historical samples. Whilst it is feasible that betterment of the wider social milieu of black people in South Africa may be associated with these changes, no significant relationships between Draw-a-Man scores and socio-economic status could be demonstrated for the older children in the 1988 sample. For this group, test performance showed some relationship with scholastic achievement. The Draw-a-Man test appears to have some validity as a general cognitive measure amongst local black children between the ages of five and eight years. The test seems to be unsuitable for children over eight years of age because, from this age onwards, it underestimates abilities to a marked extent.

Intensive research carried out over the last 20 years on the biology and control of the Australian bush fly, Musca vetustisima, a widespread and irritating pest of man in that region, has provided a wealth of information about the community relationships of fauna in the cow dung pats which provide the breeding habitat of the fly. The extension of this project to South Africa and to Southern Spain in the search for exotic dung beetles or allied controlling agents to deal with both the bush fly and the blood-sucking buffalo fly, Haematobia, has given this programme a wider significance.

Viewed in the context of an older-growing population, pressure on health-care and social (family and community) resources, and a perceived changed intergenerational ‘care contract’, relationships are often the only avenue open to address the care needs of both older and younger generations in economically deprived environments. This study explored how empathy manifested in the care experiences of older people (8 women and 1 man, aged between 60 and 85 years) in relation to middle adolescents (aged 16 years and younger). Empathy is proposed as an essential quality that can benefit care in any relationship, and indications of this were obtained by applying the Mmogo-method®, a projective visual data collection method. Textual data were analysed thematically, and visual data were analysed using Roos and Redelinghuys’ method of analysis. Findings indicated that older people viewed the relational interactions from a self-centred perspective and in a linear manner, referred to mid-adolescents in judgemental terms, and expressed conditional acceptance of these younger people. The findings indicated the antithesis (the opposite) of empathy, with the implication that older people might not give or elicit empathy in relation to younger people, particularly when the latter reach independence and exercise their autonomy. A lack of giving and receiving empathy holds serious implications for the future care needs of older people.

Section 211(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 provides that no recognition of customary norms may be upheld if such norms are in conflict with either the constitution or any other law that deals specifically with customary law: “The courts must apply customary law when that law is applicable, subject to the Constitution and any legislation that specifically deals with customary law.” The current Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 deals explicitly with the recognition of customary marriages which are concluded in accordance with customary law (s 1). Customary law is defined as the “customs and usages traditionally observed among the indigenous African peoples of South Africa and which form part of the culture of those peoples”. It follows from a further reading of section 1 that a customary marriage is reserved for those indigenous African peoples who observe such customs and usages. It is provided in section 10(4) that “[d]espite subsection (1), no spouse of a marriage entered into under the Marriage Act, 1961, is, during the subsistence of such marriage, competent to enter into any other marriage”. This must be read with the definitions contained in section 1: “‘customary law’ means the customs and usages traditionally observed among the indigenous African peoples of South Africa and which form part of the culture of those peoples; ‘customary marriage’ means a marriage concluded in accordance with customary law”. Without the requisite legal competency, no legal subject can enter into any relationship to which the law may attach any consequences. Nobody can enter into a customary marriage if any of the presumed future spouses is already in a civil marriage according to the Marriage Act 25 of 1961, not even if the two parties are married to each other. According to the custom of various indigenous nations, if a man enters into a valid customary marriage with a woman who had never been married before but who is the mother of children born out of wedlock (spurii), the metaphor applies that he “who takes the cow also acquires the calf”. He will as part and parcel of the lobola ceremony be seen as the adopting stepfather of his wife’s children, with all the accompanying consequences. He will automatically be responsible for the future maintenance of those children as his adoptive children and they will acquire all rights and privileges that are bestowed on a child, including the right to inheritance and the right to his family name. As a consequence of this new relationship, all legal ties with the biological father of the adopted child are severed and the biological father will no longer be responsible for the maintenance of his offspring. In January 2019 an erstwhile law professor from UNISA who still retained his German citizenship, was gravely ill and cared for on life-support at a hospital in the Pretoria district. While in hospital, he tied the marriage knot with Miss Vilakazi, a Zulu woman with whom he had been in a relationship for the past five years. Miss Vilakazi was a spinster, but she had a Zulu daughter who was born out of wedlock more than eight years previously out of a relationship with an erstwhile Zulu lover. This child had been in the care of her maternal grandmother in Natal and, according to Zulu customary norms, was considered part of the house of her maternal grandfather, Vilakazi. She consequently carried the name Vilakazi as her registered surname on her official birth certificate. The marriage, which was conducted on 29 January 2019 in the hospital in Pretoria, was concluded with adherence to all the requirements of Act 25 of 1961. The civil marriage was duly registered as such. The late professor passed away in the hospital barely three weeks later on 19 February 2019. Less than 24 hours before the demise of the professor a purported customary marriage was concluded, apparently on behalf of the professor with the recently married Mrs Schulze by proxy by a friend of his in the Newcastle district in Natal after having paid R60 000 as ilobolo. The ceremony was concluded with the ceremonial slaughtering of the prescribed goat. However, during this ceremony the groom was not present but on life support in a Pretoria hospital and not necessarily compos mentis – the court was told that he was represented by a friend. Zulu customary law, however, does not recognise a marriage concluded by proxy with a substitude bridegroom as was known in Roman-Dutch law as “a wedding with the glove”. Neither the Marriage Act nor the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, however, recognises a second marriage after the conclusion of a civil marriage by any of the purported newly weds – even if both “spouses” had been present in person. The mother of the late Professor Schulze, after his demise in South Africa, amended her last will in Germany and appointed her lifelong partner as sole beneficiary of her significant estate. She passed away in Germany in October 2019. In November 2019 the recently married Mrs Schulze, on behalf of her minor daughter, successfully approached the high court in Pietermaritzburg, where Zaca AJ issued an order compelling the South African department of home affairs to issue the daughter with a new birth certificate that reflects the late Professor Schulze as her father. Notwithstanding the unease of the officials at home affairs with this court order, the minister of home affairs, Mr Motsoaledi, personally intervened in August 2020 and the new birth certificate was issued as requested. Relying on this newly issued birth certificate, the applicant claims an amount of not less than R8 million in Germany from the estate of the late mother of Professor Schulze. For this purpose, the applicant relies on a principle in German law, the Pflichtteilsanspruch, according to which any descendant of the deceased has a right to a prescribed portion, a so-called legitimate portion of the estate, if not mentioned or sufficiently bestowed in the last will. This raises a number of seriously flawed legal arguments that are analysed in this article. It is submitted that the perceived lobola marriage ceremony conducted on behalf of the late professor on 18 February 2019 in Newcastle, less than 24 hours before his demise, is void because of the explicit constitutional provision and the relevant section 10(4) of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998, which excludes any competency to enter into a customary marriage if any of the parties involved is already married. At the date of the perceived lobola ceremony, Mrs Schulze had already been civilly married to Professor Schulze for more than three weeks and thus both spouses lacked the necessary competency to enter into a valid customary marriage. Whether a valid customary marriage could have been concluded at all with a man who did not live according to the customs and usages of the Zulu, is also highly questionable. Because the perceived lobola marriage is a nullity, no legal consequences can flow from this nullity and the so-called customary adoption of the daughter (“the calf with the cow”) is a nullity too. At no stage was any of the requirements for a valid adoption as governed by the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 adhered to. The minister of home affairs should have immediately given notice of appeal after the unconvincing judgment of Zaca AJ was handed down in January 2020. As the responsible minister, he should guard the upholding of the constitution and the applicable legal provisions unambiguously contained in the relevant section 10(4) of Act 120 of 1998. It is a pity that the so-called adherence to the principles of the “rule of law” is not even paid lip service in this case. Bennett, as a renowned expert on customary law, correctly pointed out that the legal orders are not unconnected. It may never be assumed that the people concerned are unaware of how to manipulate the resources offered them by legal pluralism (A Sourcebook of African Customary Law for Southern Africa (1991) 50).

This article reflects upon abuse within intimate relationships with specific emphasis on research pertaining to the phenomena of coercive control, Stockholm syndrome and the compliant victim of the sexual sadist, advanced in order to explain the non-physical aspects of abuse within intimate relationships. The battered woman syndrome is accordingly revisited with specific emphasis on the non-visible aspects of abuse within intimate relationships which are often underestimated and overlooked. The latter is illustrated against the backdrop of the controversial South African case of S v Visser which was the first South African criminal case where these theories were addressed.

This essay aims generally at examining the relationship between literary discourse and nation-building. In specific terms, the aim has been to show the place of the post-apartheid South African woman in the development and progress of her nation. Using the theoretical paradigm of liberal feminism, the premise is defended that woman in post-apartheid society, as she is depicted in None to Accompany Me, Red Dust, and Playing in the Light, is not a passive observer of political and social issues in her society. Rather, she is a veritable partner for national development, nation-building, and social progress. Consequently, she also participates in the development of South African society alongside her male counterpart. The above authors thus portray the South African woman at the nucleus of policy-making and decision-taking in her society. This affirmative portrayal reinforces the view that gender construction is an old dogma and should be discarded for meaningful development to flow in the post-apartheid context.

The article examines the expression of a person living in the area of the Southern South Aukštaitian, describing the appearance and physical characteristics, features of the character and temper, social status and relationships based on the material in the two-volume Comprehensive Dictionary of the Southern South Aukštaitian Subdialects (Vol I published in 2016, Vol II in 2019).To begin with, the study includes all sentences that use the word man. It is also based on the examples where it is replaced by pronouns (I, you, he, she etc.), kinship terms (mother, father, brother, sister, grandson, granddaughter, aunt, uncle etc.), nouns that designate individuals by the gender (boy, girl, woman, woman, man etc.) and other. All the sentences in the dictionary that speak of man are analysed.The lexicographic data show that a person (man, woman, child) is an individual living in the Southern South Aukštaitian area. He/she is a kind-hearted, sincere, open, tolerant, cheerful and witty, hardworking and creative representative of the people and dialect; also energetic and persevering, though not always physically strong and capable.The analysis carried out reveals the genesis of the concept of man, and shows the attitude of several generations to man. The illustrative sentences highlight the stereotypical image of a person living in the Southern South Aukštaitian area (cheerful, generous, and hardworking, believes in God and is superstitious, values the family etc.) and show the new emerging traits (laziness, drinking, stealing, disobeying, immoral and dishonest etc.). The analysis of the dialectical discourse reveals the difference between the archaic and contemporary approaches; the ongoing changes in material and spiritual life are revealed.The material in the dictionary reveals the wonderful harmony of man and nature, which has been formed over several centuries, with the community living in a relatively isolated, closed environment. The worldview of man living in the area of the Southern South Aukštaitian area is interwoven with the old mythological world, the mysteries of the Catholic faith, and the realities of the present. Although the world is changing, old values and customs are disappearing and villages are abandoned, people are optimistic about the world. Work, family, faith in God and man are their greatest values.

The main theme of flamenco songs - urban folklore of Andalusia - is the relationship between a man and a woman. Couplets, written in the form of three or quatrains, tell about the evolution of feeling and serve as a source of information about the cultural, ideological and linguistic characteristics of the south of Spain. The authors of the couplets are representatives of an ethnoculturally heterogeneous socially vulnerable stratum of urban society. The purpose of the article is to understand the formation, existence and disintegration of the union of a man and a woman through the prism of a folk song. The material was the collection of A. Machado Alvarez, published in 1881, reflecting the manners and relationships of people of the 19th century.

With the enactment of the Civil Unions Bill in 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world, and the first in Africa, to legalize same-sex marriage. While supporters of the bill hailed the decision as signaling the end of discrimination against homosexual couples, critics slammed it as undermining traditional marriage between a man and woman. The attitudes and beliefs of a sample of South African students regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage were investigated. A survey was conducted among a sample of 150 undergraduate students at a predominantly black university in the Western Cape. Results showed that 71% viewed same-sex marriages as strange and supported religious groups opposed to such marriages. Close to 40% supported discrimination against homosexuals with 46% indicating that they should be denied the right to adopt children. It is concluded that, despite having legal protection, public acceptance of homosexuals and same-sex marriage may be quite limited in South Africa.

Kochin (2002:8) makes the following interesting observation regarding the life of the main character, David Lurie, in Coetzee’s novel, “Disgrace” (1999), and his observation will be explored in detail when analysing the novel, and in particular the presentation of masculinities: “Lurie has no relationship of depth with men. His one effort is with Isaacs, Melanie’s father, and seems to be more of a quest for the sources of Melanie’s beauty than the expression of a desire for friendship with a man.” The focus of my investigation is on male-male relationships and the way in which they impact on the other characters in the novel. What contribution does the novel make to the debate on masculinity within the context of South African literary studies?

In this article the authors discuss in broad strokes the work of two theorists, namely Nigerian sociologist Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí and Argentinian philosopher Maria Lugones to argue that a specific logic of sexualisation accompanied, permeated and coloured the colonial project of racialising the ‘native’. The sexual wound which to a great extent explains the abjection of the racialised body, is a key aspect of the colony and should therefore also be a central theme in any properly critical discourse on decolonisation in Africa. After drawing on Oyĕwùmí and Lugones to make their central argument, the authors apply this framework to the problem of sexual violence in South Africa. Understanding the nature of the sexual-racial wound of coloniality will not only ensure that the problem of sexual violence gets properly addressed as a central question of decolonisation, but will also suggest new ways of concretely addressing the problem. In particular, the dominant discourse needs to shift away from the ‘emasculated man’ trope and towards a critical feminist decoloniality which views the radical dehumanisation of native woman as key to colonial violence understood as a world-destructive.

This article aims to discuss the symbols which may have direct relationship with power and status in a novel, Disgrace. The setting of this novel is in South Africa where the transition era was taken place from apartheid to democracy. In this era, power and status are becoming important issue to discuss. To emphasize the two issues in a literary work, the author uses symbols. There are many symbols that can be found in this novel. Among the symbols which exist, three of them have correlation with power and status. Those symbols are sex, dogs and one of the characters in this novel, Peter. Those three symbols will be analyzed by using Stuart Hall’s theory about representation. This study comes to conclusion that the first symbol, sex, is a representation of man’s power over woman. The second symbol, dog, is a representation of lower social status. The third symbol, Petrus, is a representation of changing status of Black people in South Africa.

SUMMARYAnoplocephalid tapeworms of the genus Bertiella Stiles and Hassall, 1902 and Anoplocephala Blanchard, 1848, found in the Asian, African and American non-human primates are presumed to sporadic ape-to-man transmissions. Variable nuclear (5.8S-ITS2; 28S rRNA) and mitochondrial genes (cox1; nad1) of isolates of anoplocephalids originating from different primates (Callicebus oenanthe, Gorilla beringei, Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes and Pongo abelii) and humans from various regions (South America, Africa, South-East Asia) were sequenced. In most analyses, Bertiella formed a monophyletic group within the subfamily Anoplocephalinae, however, the 28S rRNA sequence-based analysis indicated paraphyletic relationship between Bertiella from primates and Australian marsupials and rodents, which should thus be regarded as different taxa. Moreover, isolate determined as Anoplocephala cf. gorillae from mountain gorilla clustered within the Bertiella clade from primates. This either indicates that A. gorillae deserves to be included into the genus Bertiella, or, that an unknown Bertiella species infects also mountain gorillas. The analyses allowed the genetic differentiation of the isolates, albeit with no obvious geographical or host-related patterns. The unexpected genetic diversity of the isolates studied suggests the existence of several Bertiella species in primates and human and calls for revision of the whole group, based both on molecular and morphological data.

AbstractAids management programmes in South Africa focus primarily on people under the age of 48. Local theologies, too, address mainly the needs of HIV-infected people between the ages of 15 and 50. This article, then, argues for theological attention to women over the age of 50 who remain voiceless and isolated in their bodies. Although Body Theology as developed by Lisa Isherwood does not deal with the HIV-infected body as such, the insights of this theology, in dialogue with the experiences of HIV-infected women over 50, are used here to construct a basic theology for empowering the four 'bodies' of the older woman living with HIV: the physical body is to be embodied as a site of resistance and enjoyment, the symbolic body as a site of relationship and beauty; the political body as the site of energy, and the spiritual body as the site of recreation and resurrection. Women over 50 are in special need of theological care because of the loneliness ensuing from the fact that, in this age group, the women/men ratio in South Africa is 100 to 70. This renders older women vulnerable to illicit sexual encounters.

IntroductionWomen who choose to conceive a baby with a partner living with HIV or a partner whose HIV serostatus is unknown in HIV-endemic settings need prevention strategies to mitigate HIV acquisition during conception and pregnancy.Methods and analysisWe are conducting a single-arm longitudinal study offering oral tenofovirdisoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for periconception use to 350 HIV-uninfected women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. PrEP is offered as part of woman-centred safer conception programme that promotes couples-based HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral therapy for partners who are HIV-infected, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and safer conception strategies, such as limiting condomless sex to peak fertility. We enrol HIV-uninfected women who are not currently pregnant, in a stable relationship (≥6 months) with a partner living with HIV or of unknown serostatus, and personal or partner plans for pregnancy in the next 12 months. We follow enrolled women for 12 months. Women who become pregnant are followed through pregnancy outcome, independent of their decisions regarding PrEP use. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the uptake of and adherence to PrEP during the periconception period and pregnancy. Secondary outcomes include the uptake of other safer conception strategies. We also measure clinical outcomes including HIV seroconversion rates and pregnancy and infant outcomes. Finally, we will explore conduct and evaluate qualitative interviews in 25 participants to further inform our conceptual framework for periconception PrEP uptake and adherence among HIV-exposed women in South Africa.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa) and the Institutional Review Board of Partners Healthcare (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). Study findings will be made available to interested participants. Results will be presented to local health officials and stakeholders at meetings. Investigators will share the results at meetings and in manuscripts. De-identified quantitative data will be made available.Trial registration numberThe protocol is registered with the South African Health Products Regulatory Agency (SAHPRA, formerly known as the Medicine Controls Council, MCC#20170131) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03194308); Pre-results.

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, including variants, is global; hence the name “pandemic”. However, its experience varies between continents, regions, nations, as well as between socio-cultural groups within the same nation. If we target the population fringe that corresponds to a privileged third of our European capitals, it appears that its “resilience” in the face of the crisis is undoubtedly different from that of the inhabitants of Africa, Asia and South America. This choice will undoubtedly teach us less about humanity in general than about the Western man, city-dweller, graduate of higher education. However, this selective look could teach us about a fragility that threatens the human condition as such, and this, under three aspects: the relationship to death, the relationship to freedom, the relationship to authority. To each corresponds a form of revelation.

This article explores how Black LGBTQ-identified and other gender nonconforming South Africans juxtapose the queer with the customary as they constitute forms of biofinancial personhood that are paradigmatic of capitalisms globally. These hybrid forms of personhood inadvertently index the secret normativities of so-called antinormative theories of performativity within Euro-American queer theory. Everyday South Africans foreground practices of cross-context citation in the register of “unsuccessful” performatives. Their experiences underscore Jacques Derrida’s diagnosis of the performative’s structure as irreducibly contingent; its structural rule is the possibility of the failure of the performative, rather than its success. The cultural milieus of postapartheid South Africa are also spaces where financial instruments like derivatives, social theory, and pharmaceuticals actively produce queer connections and contestations through the circulation of ostensibly universal subjects, be they the risk-bearing patient, the scholar, or the (biological) human. In South Africa, citational sexualities are performative of both constitutional and customary cultural spheres when juxtaposing multiple gender and sexual identities within hybrid forms of queer personhood. Through an examination of the figure of the gay woman—not a lesbian or trans subject but, rather, a gay man who is also, alternately a woman—the author argues that sexualities that bridge the paradoxical impasse between constitutional and customary cultural life are, like all performatives, first and foremost citational. Such citational sexualities are considered in clinical contexts where many Black gay women were coded as men who have sex with men in global health HIV science. In this vein, new forms of global biofinancial connectivity expressed by biomedicalizing risk-hedging practices, personhood, and subjectivities—what the author terms derivative subjectivity—implicitly depend on the suppressed presence of cross-cultural citationality of sexuality and gender that are customarily queer.

Segmented, filamentous bacteria (SFBs) form a group of bacteria with similar morphology and are identified on the basis of their morphology only. The relationships of these organisms are unclear as the application of formal taxonomic criteria is impossible currently due to the lack of an in vitro technique to culture SFBs. The intestine of laboratory animals such as mice, rats, chickens, dogs, cats and pigs is known to harbour SFBs. To see whether this extends to other animal species, intestines from 18 vertebrate species, including man, were examined. SFBs were detected with light microscopy in the cat, dog, rhesus monkey, crab-eating macaque, domestic fowl, South African claw-footed toad, carp, man, laboratory mouse and rat, wood mouse, jackdaw and magpie. These results suggest that non-pathogenic SFBs are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Among apparently identical animals, there was considerable variation in the degree of SFB colonization. It is suggested that SFB colonization could serve as a criterion of standardization of laboratory animals.

In A.D. 385, after more than a decade together, Augustine parted from his in many ways mysterious first partner, ‘la mère d'Adeodat’. The woman (hereafter ‘Anonyma 1’) was taken away from him. She returned to Africa vowing never to have sexual relations with another man, and left the child with Augustine. But he was unable to tolerate celibacy and took another woman (henceforth ‘Anonyma 2’) to while away the two years until his marriage. In the meantime he still missed his first one, and the wound left by the separation failed to heal. Many scholars have cited and discussed Augustine's description of the episode, but few have commented on the language, which is highly significant, or its implications for Augustine's biography. This article will begin with a selective commentary on Conf. 6.15.25 and continue with a reinterpretation of a key text in Augustine's marital theology. It will then trace some of the broader legal and historical issues raised by Augustine's account in the Confessions to make some new suggestions about the chronology, constraints, and nature of his relationship with Anonyma 1. This study, it is hoped, will be of general interest to Romanists for the insight into the ambiguities of Roman marriage and quasi-marital relationships provided by Augustine's Confessions.

The colours of poem and paint: Antjie Krog in conversation with Marlene Dumas Antjie Krog engages South African born painter Marlene Dumas in an intertextual dialogue in her most recent anthology Kleur kom nooit alleen nie. This series of poems is titled “skilderysonnette” (sonnets of a painting). Six of the nine of Krog’s “word paintings” are eponymous with Dumas’s paintings and therefore almost require an examination of the interplay of the respective texts. This article examines the relationship between the relevant poems and paintings. The specific conversation between Krog’s word texts and Dumas’s paintings within the context of Krog’s anthology ultimately indicates intriguing similarities. It includes, inter alia, the struggle of both artists with the problem of “belonging” – Krog from an African perspective and Dumas from a European angle. Both are also concerned with the politics of colour. The politics of sex also figures in both their oeuvres in the third instance. The complexity of sexuality, eroticism and love is examined in the work of both these artists and is ultimately expressed in the voice/vision of the emancipated woman.

Human dignity has been the marrow of our Constitution and our constitutional state since 1994. The inherent dignity of man is also a key principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The Kantian categorical imperatives continue to provide guidance regarding the meaning of human dignity. At the very least, people are entitled to be regarded as moral subjects and not as objects: as subjects with absolute and inherent worth and therefore also as moral subjects of equal worth. The juridical core of the pathology of apartheid was the extensive and sustained attempt to deprive the majority of South Africans of the right to self-identification and self-determination. It amounted to an inversion of the Kantian imperatives. A reversal of this inversion has been attempted over the past ten years. The Constitution not only elevates human dignity to a specially entrenched value, but also affords it special protection in the context of fundamental rights. It is furthermore a specific consideration in the limitation of rights and in the development of the common law. It applies not only to the state/subject relationship, but also to "horizontal" relationships and it must be taken into account in the interpretation of the Constitution. Constitutional jurisprudence has established that the Constitution is more than a formal document, but that it also represents an objective, normative value system. Thus the foundational norm of human dignity radiates into all areas of the law. The role of human dignity in the interpretation and application of norms applicable to remedial or restitutionary equality, as well as in the achievement of constitutional equilibrium in the "horizontal" operation of the Bill of Rights, has also been established. The realization of human dignity is but in its initial stages: civil society, including educational institutions, are called upon to make their contribution to the process.

AbstractWhat is the place of imagination in archaeology? This paper works with a set of materials from the deep archive of the South African archaeologist John Goodwin (1900–59) to explore the relationship between archaeology and imagination. The first half of the paper focuses on a short story written by Goodwin, describing the accidental creation and subsequent ‘uncreation’ of an indigenous person of the Cape (described in the story as a ‘Hottentot’) by the gods on Olympus. The second half of the paper describes two encounters in life between Goodwin and indigenous people of the Cape (the first with the so-called ‘Tweerivieren Bushmen’, exhibited in life at the Empire Exhibition of 1936; the second with the human remains from Oakhurst Cave). Encounters in life, in death and in imagination, the terms of these three episodes double and repeat one another in the different forms of writing to which they give rise (the imagined world of the short story, and the ‘bare description’ of Goodwin's archaeological texts). At the centre of each is the haunted figure of the ‘Bushman’/‘Hottentot’, a being whose status is figured as a kind of ‘death-in-life’. In my telling, forms of actual and epistemic violence are never far from these events. Looking, showing and telling are described as activities which range across a set of characteristic sites: the body, the archive and the grave. In so doing, they summon their counterparts, the categories of the unspeakable and the untellable.

The Languages, Literacy and Communication learning area of Curriculum 2005 endorses “intercultural understanding, access to different world views and a critical understanding of the concept of culture” (National Department of Education, 2001:44). Although this curriculum is learner-centred and tries to create a better balance in the previously asymmetrical relationship between teacher and student, it does place great demands on the educator to avoid reinforcing cultural and multipolitical ideals which are not concomitant with the principles of a multicultural democracy. Since learners are expected to respond to the aesthetic, affective, cultural and social values in texts, the educator has to act responsibly in choosing texts which promote the values inherent in Curriculum 2005. Implicit in the curriculum statement is a commitment to critical pedagogy in the literature classroom with the general aim of promoting societal transformation. As the cultural assumptions underlying particular texts are often not known or shared by all learners, it is important for the educator to facilitate an examination of these assumptions in order to promote cultural understanding and values such as religious tolerance. This article will therefore investigate the development of cultural and critical literacies in the South African literature classroom with particular focus on So Long a Letter by the postcolonial African Muslim woman writer, Mariama Ba.

AbstractThis article consists of a series of reflections about the nature of sexuality in East Africa framed in response to the theories put forward by J. C. Caldwell and his collaborators. It argues that their views fail to grasp the way sexual restraints and restrictions form the basis of the moral order in East African societies. Their model of a distinctively African sexual system overemphasises descent in a way that systematically underplays the importance of marriage and reduces ancestor cults to exclusive concern with lineage, reproduction and continuity. By contrast, it is argued with reference to the Gisu of Uganda, ancestral beliefs in their general form are associated with the overall templates for correct social living and these hinge not on lineality but on sexuality and its control. In this light, most East African cultures can be labelled ‘respect cultures’, in that they see their social orders as rooted in respect, respect which implies deference, attention to proper decorum and above all self-restraint. The rules problematise sexuality. The article then turns to the sacred power attributed to coitus itself. This is addressed by looking at the metaphor of the mingling of bloods, widely used of sexual intercourse in East Africa. In the last section of the article attention is paid to the contrast between consanguinity and alliance and the idea that the union of man and woman serves as the prototype of contractual relationships.

Prayer is an integral part of the believer's communion with God. It reflects different dimensions and functions in the faith-relationship between God and man. Worship, praise, thanksgiving, intercession, petition, confession and trust are only a few to be mentioned. A neglected aspected of the prayer experience is the lament. Prayer is, in this sense, an exposure of the self and the circumstances of the petitioner before God. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the theological meaning of the lament as prayer for the individual and the faith community. Prayer is also understood within the broader scope of different expressive human deeds. It is a process which mediates perspective and essential change in the life of the believer and faith community. In a final application it is argued that the lament-prayer can contribute to change and renewal in a transitional and disturbed South African church and society.

The recent process of structural transformation on all levels of society in South Africa urges theological reflection to participate. In this instance the crucial issue of capital punishment is at stake. After a brief survey of viewpoints and arguments concerning the issue, prominent and mostly debated Biblical texts are analysed. Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21:24, for example are read within their cultural frameworks and theological contexts. The same is done with Matthew 5:21-22; 15:4; 26:52; John 7:53-8:11 and Romans 13:1-7. The conclusion is that Old Testament references to capital punishment are to be understood contextually. A final theological decision rests on the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus Christ which put man in a new relationship with God but also to each other . That does not mean that punishment has to be is abolished as such, but any punishment has to be executed through the new God given ethos of love, demonstrated in the meaning of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

AbstractSpeaking of Mary's womb, Hans Urs von Balthasar draws attention to the place where the Word 'staked out' a space in a human being in order there itself to become man (human), as the child of a mother. In similar vein we are directed to the mystery that Catholic and Orthodox Christians have always overtly recognized: Mary's unique place among human beings as the one who 'contains the uncontainable God.' If this mystery lies at the heart of our faith, then at the heart of that heart is God's grace. In grace God selects a poor, Galilean girl to be the locus of what Christians believe to be the most extraordinary thing that has ever happened. There is much to learn about 'grace, space and race' through reflection on what occurred in Mary's womb, not least in the relationship between immanence and transcendence. This and other themes which have their origin here provide both the imagery and the theological undergirding for other themes – more concrete, specific, and contemporary – that we might explore in a theology of place in (South) Africa today.

Background: As antiretroviral treatment (ART) becomes more widely available in low and middle income countries, the relationship between treatment and sexual risk behaviour in these countries has also become more important. Methods: This is a prospective study of all treatment-naϊve patients (n = 735) recruited from all three public hospitals in Uthukela health district in KwaZulu-Natal and followed up at 6 and 12 months of being on ART. Results: No evidence of increased risky sexual behaviours over time was found, from before commencing on ART, to 6 and 12 months on ART. Specifically, a significant reduction in risk taking was reported regarding sex without a condom in the past 3 months (P = 0.001) and unprotected sex with HIV-negative or unknown HIV status persons (P = 0.003). The number of sexual partners did, however, not significantly reduce over time. Some socio-demographic factors were associated with unprotected sex (being a man: odds ratio 1.7 (1.1–2.7), lower education: 0.4 (0.2–0.8)), one health factor (higher CD4 cell counts: 2.6 (1.1–6.1)) and social-behavioural factors (higher stigma: 1.2 (1.1–1.3), alcohol use at last sex: 6.9 (1.8–26.1)) and lower ART adherence: 0.5 (0.2–0.08)), while HIV knowledge (ART optimism, duration since known HIV-positive, HIV disease and treatment related knowledge), HIV symptoms and depression were not associated with unprotected sex. Conclusions: This prospective study with a large sample of persons on ART showed evidence of inhibition of risky sexual behaviours over time. Although unsafe sexual behaviours had decreased, some proportion did not practice safe sex.

Ugandan and South African contemporary women’s narratives reflect on the rapid pace of change in the social lives of women in two countries that are contending with the aftermath of conflict and violence. This article will interrogate how contemporary women writers such as Goretti Kyomuhendo ( Whispers from Vera), Zukiswa Wanner ( The Madams and Behind Every Successful Man) and Cynthia Jele ( Happiness is a Four-Letter Word) are embracing chick-lit as a form of writing, while simultaneously short-circuiting this genre to create an experimental form that allows them to reflect on the realities of women and engage with the contradictions, complexities and ambiguities of contemporary feminine subjectivities. Although chick-lit as a genre has been dismissed as trivial and frivolous, ostensibly because it deals with women’s experiences, this article argues that this particular form of chick-lit is more political and attempts to disrupt the original chick-lit by offering a critique of society. It articulates how women see themselves and their relationships with their parents, spouses and, most importantly, female friends; reflects on the challenges that modern women face in the work environment; interrogates women’s realities concerning love, marriage and motherhood; explores concepts of sexual desire and intimacy; and negotiates the dilemmas of a patriarchal society, while also confronting issues of class and race. These contemporary women writers are adopting this genre because it allows them to reflect on realities that are complex and uncertain, to transform gender relations, to redefine the roles of women and to construct new feminine subjectivities.

South Africa celebrated twenty years of democracy in 2014 following more than 100 years of colonization and institutionalized discrimination through Apartheid. A ‘broken’ family structure is one of the pathetic legacies left by political instability in post-colonial and post war countries globally. This phenomenon of broken families is evident in South Africa following the period of discrimination against Black people and the systematic migrant labor system that was sponsored by and for the Apartheid government. The migrant labor system separated fathers from their families and men left their families in the rural communities to work in the burgeoning mines and factories in urban areas. The current democratic State has a responsibility to strengthen broken families through policies and intervention informed by research evidence. There is an emerging body of research on Father Connections in post-war and post-colonial settings. This special issue brings together eight articles on Father Connections in South Africa. The articles present data from diverse but interesting research; for example the piece by Nduna M and Taulela M focuses on the experiences of ‘discovering’ biological fathers for youth who grew up with absent and unknown fathers. The participants that the article draws from are young women from a small town, in Mpumalanga. Through narrative analysis, the article explores how young people deal with finding out who their biological fathers are. In the article by Selebano N and Khunou G, the experiences of young fathers from Soweto are explored. It is illustrated in this article that, there are strong ties between young men’s experiences and the community values, history and culture where they experience fatherhood. The article by Langa M interestingly looks at narratives and meaning makings of young boys who grew up without fathers. Langa looks at how young boys can adopt alternative ideas of what it means to be a man in contexts that would otherwise be assumed to automatically lead to an embrace of hegemonic notions of masculinities. On a similar note the article by Nduna M focuses on experiences of young people who grow up without a father entering into endeavours to find and use their father’s surname. The article looks at how the signifying paternal ancestry is developed and maintained in contexts of father absence, through pursuing an absent father’s surname as the ‘right surname’. The article by Lesch E and Ismail A focuses on the significant question of the father daughter relationship and examines constraining constructions of fatherhood for daughters with a specific focus on the Cape Winelands community in South Africa. In Chauke P and Khunou G‘s contribution on the media’s influence on societal notions of fatherhood in relation to the maintenance system is examined. The article looks at how cases of maintenance are dealt with in print media. Franklin A & Makiwane M’s article provides a significant examination of male attitudes of family and children. This article begins to speak to the transformations of expectations of men in families. This transformation is addressed through a look at racially disaggregated quantitative data. Mthombeni A reviews a book, Good Morning Mr. Mandela by Zelda Le Grange where she examines some of the challenges of fatherhood in South Africa’s past and present.

In Hobbes’ Leviathan, he portrays man as a rationally angry and dangerous creature capable of hurting another in order to remain alive. He says human interpersonal relations are mostly characterized by brutality in what he called “Man against man” in order words man is another man’s wolf. According to him human interpersonal relations are substantiated by the fear of bad or sudden death and so, every human seeks for ways to either remain alive or to maintain his status quo. Anger, resentments, protests and violence are clearly part of the human life and one of the reasons every human must be careful to gather his human arsenal in order to deter another from killing him. Man cannot in any way deal with the other without these ingredients ever present in interpersonal human relations. Though pejorative with many negative defects as Hobbes sees it, they have also brought some common good to societies and countries whose governments are experts in crisis management. However, the same is not the case for countries with haughty governments ruled by mostly dictatorships, which underrate their citizens and use the military to deter them from fighting for their rights. This article shall seek to firstly understand the conceptual background of civil society by examining different definitions of what it means. Secondly, it shall look at two fundamental factors that make civil societies very important and powerful for state development as well as destruction, however, will discuss them separately as one will be deeply discussed in the later parts of the study. Thirdly, it shall shallowly review the relationship between the civil society and democracy in Nigeria which will serve as a preview to understand the foreseen projection that the civil society and democracy in tandem engenders development. Secondly, at the core lies the tireless and selfless service of a powerful civil society vis-à-vis to maintain social order, unity, and social cohesion as well as keep the spirit of nationalism aflame. Lastly, this article shall concentrate on the most vital part of the study which is the military wing of civil societies. This study will show that when the civil society organization is pushed to its limits, it has the power to bring no small trouble to their host governments and domestic affairs sometimes crossing international boundaries and leading to serious international security issues and humanitarian crises. To fully understand this part, the study shall stroll through political exclusion, isolation, opportunity, greed and violence as possible incentives to arouse the devastating military wing of the civil society. Furthermore, the most comprehensive and elaborate study to use to explain this will be the analysis of Collier and Hoeffler’s account of civil war studies but this will be mentioned in passing. To avoid auto repetition, an article earlier published by me titled “Investigating the causes of civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa, Case study: South Sudan and the Central African Republic” shall be cited. More so, this study shall look at carefully localized independent and dependent variables which shall be used in the comparative method to review the verifiable effects of the military wing of the civil society in Cameroon and Burkina Faso. “When the enabling factor fails to a haughty government, then civilian enacted military action is the only solution. However, the effects of this civilian enacted military action differs from place to place and there is no assurance of how positively democratic or devastating they could be” The independent variables shall be political isolation, political exclusion and polarization. And the dependent variable shall be the democracy and secession.

Thomas Hardy is distinguished by his contemporaries for the fact that the subjects of his novels are taken from the rural environment in the agricultural region south of England. He calls his homeland Dorset, Wessex, in memory of former King Alfred the Great. Themes and subjects of his novels are attractive and dominant. In all of his most popular novels, Hardy describes, outlines, and portrays human beings who are faced with powerful attacks of devastating and mysterious forces. He was a serious novelist who sought to present the view of life throughout a novel. Frequently, his themes and subjects mix with the sequence of events that have extreme and fatal consequences, while he rarely fails to inspire the reader with his deep mercy to the characters who suffer in their live; he often cannot afford to reach the highest degree of tragic element. The author sends an indictment to his time: he firmly rejects the duality of morality according to which the behavior of a man and the behavior of a woman is differently estimated. Thomas Hardy’s world as a writer is completely realistic, even transparent because he is a rare master of description of the environment. His characters are creatures of their environment, presented in their mutual relationships, often with sharp psychological observations. “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” is based on a familiar motif, that of a fallen woman, where Tess represents the prejudices of the Victorian society. In the novel, Hardy portrays an innocent poor girl of a country, a victim of the combined forces of Victorian patriarchal society, of the hypocrisy of social prejudice and gender inequality, which shows his deep sympathy for Tessa, the protagonist of the novel, a symbol of women devastated without mercy in a world dominated by males. He shows that Tess is an example of the devastating effect of society's pressures on a pure girl, and that Angel and Alec are personifications of destructive attitudes towards women.

Thomas Hardy is distinguished by his contemporaries for the fact that the subjects of his novels are taken from the rural environment in the agricultural region south of England. He calls his homeland Dorset, Wessex, in memory of former King Alfred the Great. Themes and subjects of his novels are attractive and dominant. In all of his most popular novels, Hardy describes, outlines, and portrays human beings who are faced with powerful attacks of devastating and mysterious forces. He was a serious novelist who sought to present the view of life throughout a novel. Frequently, his themes and subjects mix with the sequence of events that have extreme and fatal consequences, while he rarely fails to inspire the reader with his deep mercy to the characters who suffer in their live; he often cannot afford to reach the highest degree of tragic element. The author sends an indictment to his time: he firmly rejects the duality of morality according to which the behavior of a man and the behavior of a woman is differently estimated. Thomas Hardy’s world as a writer is completely realistic, even transparent because he is a rare master of description of the environment. His characters are creatures of their environment, presented in their mutual relationships, often with sharp psychological observations. “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” is based on a familiar motif, that of a fallen woman, where Tess represents the prejudices of the Victorian society. In the novel, Hardy portrays an innocent poor girl of a country, a victim of the combined forces of Victorian patriarchal society, of the hypocrisy of social prejudice and gender inequality, which shows his deep sympathy for Tessa, the protagonist of the novel, a symbol of women devastated without mercy in a world dominated by males. He shows that Tess is an example of the devastating effect of society's pressures on a pure girl, and that Angel and Alec are personifications of destructive attitudes towards women.

First a Man - then a Christian. Grundtvig and Missonary ActivityBy K.E. BuggeThe aim of this paper is to clarify Grundtvig’s ideas on missionary activity in the socalled »heathen parts«. The point of departure is taken in a brief presentation of the poem »Man first - and then a Christian« (1838), an often quoted text, whenever this theme is discussed. The most extensive among earlier studies on the subject is the book published by Georg Thaning: »The Grundtvigian Movement and the Mission among Heathen« (1922). The author provides valuable insights also into Grundtvig’s ideas, but has, of course, not been able to utilize more recent studies.On the background of the revival movement of the late 18th and early 19th century, The Danish Missionary Society was established in 1821. In the Lutheran churches such activity was generally deemed to be unnecessary. According to the Holy Scripture, so it was argued, the heathen already had a »natural« knowledge of God, and the word of God had been preached to the ends of the earth in the times of the Apostles. Nevertheless, it was considered a matter of course that a Christian sovereign had the duty to ensure that non-Christian citizens of his domain were offered the possibility of conversion to the one and true faith. In the double-monarchy Denmark-Norway such non-Christian populations were the Lapplanders of Northern Norway, the Inuits in Greenland, the black slaves in Danish West India and finally the native populations of the Danish colonies in West Africa and East India. Under the influence of Pietism missionary, activity was initiated by the Danish state in South India (1706), Northern Norway (1716), and Greenland (1721).In Grundtvig’s home the general attitude towards missionary work among the heathen seems to have reflected traditional Lutheranism. Nevertheless, one of Grundtvig’s elder brothers, Jacob Grundtvig, volunteered to become a missionary in Greenland.Due to incidental circumstances he was instead sent to the Danish colony in West Africa, where he died after less than one year of service. He was succeeded by his brother Niels Grundtvig, who likewise died within a year. During the period when Jacob Grundtvig prepared himself for the journey to Greenland, we can imagine that his family spent many an hour discussing his future conditions. It is probable that on these occasions his father consulted his copy of the the report on the Greenland mission published by Hans Egede in 1737. It is a fact that Grundtvig imbibed a deep admiration for Hans Egede early in his life. In his extensive poem »Roskilde Rhyme« (1812, published 1814), the theme of which is the history of Christianity in Denmark, Grundtvig inserted more than 70 lines on the Greenland mission. Egede’s achievements are here described in close connection with the missionary work of Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg in Tranquebar, South India, as integral parts of the same journey towards the celestial Jerusalem.In Grundtvig’s famous publication »The Church’s Retort« (1825) he describes the church as an historical fact from the days of the Apostles to our days. This historical church is at the same time a universal entity, carrying the potential of becoming the church of all humanity - if not before, then at the end of the world. A few years later, in a contribution to the periodical .Theological Monthly., he applies this historicaluniversal perspective on missionary acticity in earlier times and in the present. The main features of this stance may be summarized in the following points:1. Grundtvig rejects the Orthodox-Lutheran line of thought and underscores the Biblical view: That before the end of time the Gospel must be preached out into all comers of the world.2. Our Lutheran, Biblically founded faith must not lead to inactivity in this field.3. Correctly understood, missionary activity is a continuance of the acts of the Apostles.4. The Holy Spirit is the intrinsic dynamic power in the extension of the Christian faith.5. The practical procedure in this extension work must never be compulsion or stealth, but the preaching of the word and the free, uninhibited decision of the listeners.We find here a total reversion of the Orthodox-Lutheran way of rejection in principle, but acceptance in practice. Grundtvig accepts the principle: That missionary activity is a legitimate and necessary Christian undertaking. The same activity has, however, both historically and in our days, been marred by unacceptable practices, on which he reacts with forceful rejection. To this position Grundtvig adhered for the rest of his life.Already in 1826, Grundtvig withdrew from the controversy arising from the publication of his .Retort.. The public dispute was, however, continued with great energy by the gifted young academic, Jacob Christian Lindberg. During the 1830s a weekly paper, edited by Lindberg, .Nordisk Kirke-Tidende., i.e. Nordic Church Tidings, became Grundtvig’s main channel of communication with the public. All through the years of its publication (1833-41), this paper, of which Grundtvig was also an avid reader, brought numerous articles and reports on missionary activity. Among the reasons for this editorial practice we find some personal motives. Quite a few of Grundtvig’s and Lindberg’s friends were board members of the Danish Missionary Society. Furthermore, one of Lindberg’s former students, Christen Christensen Østergaard was appointed a missionary in Greenland.In the present paper the articles dealing with missionary activity are extensively reported and quoted as far as the years 1833-38 are concerned, and the effects on Grundtvig of this incessant .bombardment. of information on missionary activity are summarized. Generally speaking, it was gratifying for Grundtvig to witness ho w many of his ideas on missionary activity were reflected in these contributions. Furthermore, Lindberg’s regular reports on the progress of C.C. Østergaard in Greenland has continuously reminded Grundtvig of the admired Hans Egede.Among the immediate effects the genesis of the poem »First the man - then the Christian« must be mentioned. As already observed by Kaj Thaning, Grundtvig has read an article in the issue of Nordic Church Tidings, dated, January 8th, 1838, written by the Orthodox-Lutheran, German theologian Heinrich Møller on the relationship between human nature and true Christianity. Grundtvig has, it seems, written his poem in protest against Møller’s assertion: That true humanness is expressed in acceptance of man’s fundamental sinfulness. Against this negative position Grundtvig holds forth the positive Johannine formulations: To be »of the truth« and to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Grundtvig has seen a connection between Møller’s negative view of human nature and a perverted missionary practice. In the third stanza of his poem Grundtvig therefore inserted some critical remarks, clearly inspired by his reading of Nordic Church Tidings.Other immediate effects are seen in the way in which, in his sermons from these years, Grundtvig meticulously elaborates on the Biblical argumentation in favour of missionary activity. In this context he combines passages form the Old and New Testament - often in an ingenious, original manner. Finally must be mentioned the way in which Grundtvig, in his hymn writing from the middle of the 1830s, more often than hitherto recognized, interposes stanzas dealing with the preaching of the Gospel to heathen populations.Turning from general observations and a study of immediate impact, the paper considers the effects, which become apparent in a longer perspective. In this respect Grundtvig’s interpretation of the seven churches mentioned in chapters 2-3 of the Book of Revelation is of crucial importance. According to Grundtvig, they symbolize seven stages in the historical development of Christianity, i.e. the churches of the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the English, the Germans and the »Nordic« people. The seventh and last church will reveal itself sometime in the future.This vision, which Grundtvig expounds for the first time in 1810, emerges in his writings from time to time all through his life. The most impressive literary monument describing the vision is his great poem, »The Pleiades of Christendom« from 1856-60.In 1845 he becomes convinced that the arrival of the sixth stage is revealed in the breakthrough of a new and vigourous hymn-singing in the church of Vartov. As late as the spring of 1863 Grundtvig voices a contented optimism in a church-historical lecture, where the Danish missions to Greenland and to Tranquebar in South India are characterized as .signs of life and good omens.. Grundtvig here refers back to his above-mentioned »Roskilde Rhyme« (1812, 1814), where he had offered a spiritual interpretation of the names of persons and localities involved in the process. He had then observed that the colony founded in Greenland by Hans Egede was called »Good Hope«, a highly symbolic name. And the church built by the missionaries in Tranquebar was called »Church of the New Jerusalem«, a name explicitly referring to the Book of Revelation, and thus welding together his great vision and his view on missionary activity. After Denmark’s humiliating defeat in the Danish-German war of 1864, the optimism faded away. Grundtvig seems to have concluded that the days of the sixth and .Nordic. church had come to an end, and the era of the seventh church was about to commence. In accordance with his poem on »The Pleiades« etc. he localizes this final church in India.In Grundtvig’s total view missionary activity was the dynamism that bound his vision together into an integrated process. Through the activity of »Denmark’s apostle«, Ansgar, another admired mis-sionary, the universal church had become a locally rooted reality. Through the missions of Hans Egede and Ziegenbalg the Gospel was carried out to the ends of the earth. The local Danish church thus contributed significantly to the proliferation of a universal church. In the development of this view, Grundtvig was inspired as well as provoked by his regular reading of Nordic Church Tidings in the 1830s.

Education in Oceania continues to reflect the embedded implicit and explicit colonial practices and processes from the past. This paper conceptualises a cultural approach to education and leadership appropriate and relevant to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As elementary school leaders, we highlight Kanne Lobal, a traditional Marshallese navigation practice based on indigenous language, values and practices. We conceptualise and develop Kanne Lobal in this paper as a framework for understanding the usefulness of our indigenous knowledge in leadership and educational practices within formal education. Through bwebwenato, a method of talk story, our key learnings and reflexivities were captured. We argue that realising the value of Marshallese indigenous knowledge and practices for school leaders requires purposeful training of the ways in which our knowledge can be made useful in our professional educational responsibilities. Drawing from our Marshallese knowledge is an intentional effort to inspire, empower and express what education and leadership partnership means for Marshallese people, as articulated by Marshallese themselves. Introduction As noted in the call for papers within the Waikato Journal of Education (WJE) for this special issue, bodies of knowledge and histories in Oceania have long sustained generations across geographic boundaries to ensure cultural survival. For Marshallese people, we cannot really know ourselves “until we know how we came to be where we are today” (Walsh, Heine, Bigler & Stege, 2012). Jitdam Kapeel is a popular Marshallese concept and ideal associated with inquiring into relationships within the family and community. In a similar way, the practice of relating is about connecting the present and future to the past. Education and leadership partnerships are linked and we look back to the past, our history, to make sense and feel inspired to transform practices that will benefit our people. In this paper and in light of our next generation, we reconnect with our navigation stories to inspire and empower education and leadership. Kanne lobal is part of our navigation stories, a conceptual framework centred on cultural practices, values, and concepts that embrace collective partnerships. Our link to this talanoa vā with others in the special issue is to attempt to make sense of connections given the global COVID-19 context by providing a Marshallese approach to address the physical and relational “distance” between education and leadership partnerships in Oceania. Like the majority of developing small island nations in Oceania, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has had its share of educational challenges through colonial legacies of the past which continues to drive education systems in the region (Heine, 2002). The historical administration and education in the RMI is one of colonisation. Successive administrations by the Spanish, German, Japanese, and now the US, has resulted in education and learning that privileges western knowledge and forms of learning. This paper foregrounds understandings of education and learning as told by the voices of elementary school leaders from the RMI. The move to re-think education and leadership from Marshallese perspectives is an act of shifting the focus of bwebwenato or conversations that centres on Marshallese language and worldviews. The concept of jelalokjen was conceptualised as traditional education framed mainly within the community context. In the past, jelalokjen was practiced and transmitted to the younger generation for cultural continuity. During the arrival of colonial administrations into the RMI, jelalokjen was likened to the western notions of education and schooling (Kupferman, 2004). Today, the primary function of jelalokjen, as traditional and formal education, it is for “survival in a hostile [and challenging] environment” (Kupferman, 2004, p. 43). Because western approaches to learning in the RMI have not always resulted in positive outcomes for those engaged within the education system, as school leaders who value our cultural knowledge and practices, and aspire to maintain our language with the next generation, we turn to Kanne Lobal, a practice embedded in our navigation stories, collective aspirations, and leadership. The significance in the development of Kanne Lobal, as an appropriate framework for education and leadership, resulted in us coming together and working together. Not only were we able to share our leadership concerns, however, the engagement strengthened our connections with each other as school leaders, our communities, and the Public Schooling System (PSS). Prior to that, many of us were in competition for resources. Educational Leadership: IQBE and GCSL Leadership is a valued practice in the RMI. Before the IQBE programme started in 2018, the majority of the school leaders on the main island of Majuro had not engaged in collaborative partnerships with each other before. Our main educational purpose was to achieve accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), an accreditation commission for schools in the United States. The WASC accreditation dictated our work and relationships and many school leaders on Majuro felt the pressure of competition against each other. We, the authors in this paper, share our collective bwebwenato, highlighting our school leadership experiences and how we gained strength from our own ancestral knowledge to empower “us”, to collaborate with each other, our teachers, communities, as well as with PSS; a collaborative partnership we had not realised in the past. The paucity of literature that captures Kajin Majol (Marshallese language) and education in general in the RMI is what we intend to fill by sharing our reflections and experiences. To move our educational practices forward we highlight Kanne Lobal, a cultural approach that focuses on our strengths, collective social responsibilities and wellbeing. For a long time, there was no formal training in place for elementary school leaders. School principals and vice principals were appointed primarily on their academic merit through having an undergraduate qualification. As part of the first cohort of fifteen school leaders, we engaged in the professional training programme, the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL), refitted to our context after its initial development in the Solomon Islands. GCSL was coordinated by the Institute of Education (IOE) at the University of the South Pacific (USP). GCSL was seen as a relevant and appropriate training programme for school leaders in the RMI as part of an Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded programme which aimed at “Improving Quality Basic Education” (IQBE) in parts of the northern Pacific. GCSL was managed on Majuro, RMI’s main island, by the director at the time Dr Irene Taafaki, coordinator Yolanda McKay, and administrators at the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) RMI campus. Through the provision of GCSL, as school leaders we were encouraged to re-think and draw-from our own cultural repository and connect to our ancestral knowledge that have always provided strength for us. This kind of thinking and practice was encouraged by our educational leaders (Heine, 2002). We argue that a culturally-affirming and culturally-contextual framework that reflects the lived experiences of Marshallese people is much needed and enables the disruption of inherent colonial processes left behind by Western and Eastern administrations which have influenced our education system in the RMI (Heine, 2002). Kanne Lobal, an approach utilising a traditional navigation has warranted its need to provide solutions for today’s educational challenges for us in the RMI. Education in the Pacific Education in the Pacific cannot be understood without contextualising it in its history and culture. It is the same for us in the RMI (Heine, 2002; Walsh et al., 2012). The RMI is located in the Pacific Ocean and is part of Micronesia. It was named after a British captain, John Marshall in the 1700s. The atolls in the RMI were explored by the Spanish in the 16th century. Germany unsuccessfully attempted to colonize the islands in 1885. Japan took control in 1914, but after several battles during World War II, the US seized the RMI from them. In 1947, the United Nations made the island group, along with the Mariana and Caroline archipelagos, a U.S. trust territory (Walsh et al, 2012). Education in the RMI reflects the colonial administrations of Germany, Japan, and now the US. Before the turn of the century, formal education in the Pacific reflected western values, practices, and standards. Prior to that, education was informal and not binded to formal learning institutions (Thaman, 1997) and oral traditions was used as the medium for transmitting learning about customs and practices living with parents, grandparents, great grandparents. As alluded to by Jiba B. Kabua (2004), any “discussion about education is necessarily a discussion of culture, and any policy on education is also a policy of culture” (p. 181). It is impossible to promote one without the other, and it is not logical to understand one without the other. Re-thinking how education should look like, the pedagogical strategies that are relevant in our classrooms, the ways to engage with our parents and communities - such re-thinking sits within our cultural approaches and frameworks. Our collective attempts to provide a cultural framework that is relevant and appropriate for education in our context, sits within the political endeavour to decolonize. This means that what we are providing will not only be useful, but it can be used as a tool to question and identify whether things in place restrict and prevent our culture or whether they promote and foreground cultural ideas and concepts, a significant discussion of culture linked to education (Kabua, 2004). Donor funded development aid programmes were provided to support the challenges within education systems. Concerned with the persistent low educational outcomes of Pacific students, despite the prevalence of aid programmes in the region, in 2000 Pacific educators and leaders with support from New Zealand Aid (NZ Aid) decided to intervene (Heine, 2002; Taufe’ulungaki, 2014). In April 2001, a group of Pacific educators and leaders across the region were invited to a colloquium funded by the New Zealand Overseas Development Agency held in Suva Fiji at the University of the South Pacific. The main purpose of the colloquium was to enable “Pacific educators to re-think the values, assumptions and beliefs underlying [formal] schooling in Oceania” (Benson, 2002). Leadership, in general, is a valued practice in the RMI (Heine, 2002). Despite education leadership being identified as a significant factor in school improvement (Sanga & Chu, 2009), the limited formal training opportunities of school principals in the region was a persistent concern. As part of an Asia Development Bank (ADB) funded project, the Improve Quality Basic Education (IQBE) intervention was developed and implemented in the RMI in 2017. Mentoring is a process associated with the continuity and sustainability of leadership knowledge and practices (Sanga & Chu, 2009). It is a key aspect of building capacity and capabilities within human resources in education (ibid). Indigenous knowledges and education research According to Hilda Heine, the relationship between education and leadership is about understanding Marshallese history and culture (cited in Walsh et al., 2012). It is about sharing indigenous knowledge and histories that “details for future generations a story of survival and resilience and the pride we possess as a people” (Heine, cited in Walsh et al., 2012, p. v). This paper is fuelled by postcolonial aspirations yet is grounded in Pacific indigenous research. This means that our intentions are driven by postcolonial pursuits and discourses linked to challenging the colonial systems and schooling in the Pacific region that privileges western knowledge and learning and marginalises the education practices and processes of local people (Thiong’o, 1986). A point of difference and orientation from postcolonialism is a desire to foreground indigenous Pacific language, specifically Majin Majol, through Marshallese concepts. Our collective bwebwenato and conversation honours and values kautiej (respect), jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity), and jouj (kindness) (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). Pacific leaders developed the Rethinking Pacific Education Initiative for and by Pacific People (RPEIPP) in 2002 to take control of the ways in which education research was conducted by donor funded organisations (Taufe’ulungaki, 2014). Our former president, Dr Hilda Heine was part of the group of leaders who sought to counter the ways in which our educational and leadership stories were controlled and told by non-Marshallese (Heine, 2002). As a former minister of education in the RMI, Hilda Heine continues to inspire and encourage the next generation of educators, school leaders, and researchers to re-think and de-construct the way learning and education is conceptualised for Marshallese people. The conceptualisation of Kanne Lobal acknowledges its origin, grounded in Marshallese navigation knowledge and practice. Our decision to unpack and deconstruct Kanne Lobal within the context of formal education and leadership responds to the need to not only draw from indigenous Marshallese ideas and practice but to consider that the next generation will continue to be educated using western processes and initiatives particularly from the US where we get a lot of our funding from. According to indigenous researchers Dawn Bessarab and Bridget Ng’andu (2010), doing research that considers “culturally appropriate processes to engage with indigenous groups and individuals is particularly pertinent in today’s research environment” (p. 37). Pacific indigenous educators and researchers have turned to their own ancestral knowledge and practices for inspiration and empowerment. Within western research contexts, the often stringent ideals and processes are not always encouraging of indigenous methods and practices. However, many were able to ground and articulate their use of indigenous methods as being relevant and appropriate to capturing the realities of their communities (Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Fulu-Aiolupotea, 2014; Thaman, 1997). At the same time, utilising Pacific indigenous methods and approaches enabled research engagement with their communities that honoured and respected them and their communities. For example, Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian researchers used the talanoa method as a way to capture the stories, lived realities, and worldviews of their communities within education in the diaspora (Fa’avae, Jones, & Manu’atu, 2016; Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Aiolupotea, 2014; Vaioleti, 2005). Tok stori was used by Solomon Islander educators and school leaders to highlight the unique circles of conversational practice and storytelling that leads to more positive engagement with their community members, capturing rich and meaningful narratives as a result (Sanga & Houma, 2004). The Indigenous Aborigine in Australia utilise yarning as a “relaxed discussion through which both the researcher and participant journey together visiting places and topics of interest relevant” (Bessarab & Ng’andu, 2010, p. 38). Despite the diverse forms of discussions and storytelling by indigenous peoples, of significance are the cultural protocols, ethics, and language for conducting and guiding the engagement (Bessarab & Ng’andu, 2010; Nabobo-Baba, 2008; Sualii-Sauni & Aiolupotea, 2014). Through the ethics, values, protocols, and language, these are what makes indigenous methods or frameworks unique compared to western methods like in-depth interviews or semi-structured interviews. This is why it is important for us as Marshallese educators to frame, ground, and articulate how our own methods and frameworks of learning could be realised in western education (Heine, 2002; Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014). In this paper, we utilise bwebwenato as an appropriate method linked to “talk story”, capturing our collective stories and experiences during GCSL and how we sought to build partnerships and collaboration with each other, our communities, and the PSS. Bwebwenato and drawing from Kajin Majel Legends and stories that reflect Marshallese society and its cultural values have survived through our oral traditions. The practice of weaving also holds knowledge about our “valuable and earliest sources of knowledge” (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019, p. 2). The skilful navigation of Marshallese wayfarers on the walap (large canoes) in the ocean is testament of their leadership and the value they place on ensuring the survival and continuity of Marshallese people (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019; Walsh et al., 2012). During her graduate study in 2014, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner conceptualised bwebwenato as being the most “well-known form of Marshallese orality” (p. 38). The Marshallese-English dictionary defined bwebwenato as talk, conversation, story, history, article, episode, lore, myth, or tale (cited in Jetnil Kijiner, 2014). Three years later in 2017, bwebwenato was utilised in a doctoral project by Natalie Nimmer as a research method to gather “talk stories” about the experiences of 10 Marshallese experts in knowledge and skills ranging from sewing to linguistics, canoe-making and business. Our collective bwebwenato in this paper centres on Marshallese ideas and language. The philosophy of Marshallese knowledge is rooted in our “Kajin Majel”, or Marshallese language and is shared and transmitted through our oral traditions. For instance, through our historical stories and myths. Marshallese philosophy, that is, the knowledge systems inherent in our beliefs, values, customs, and practices are shared. They are inherently relational, meaning that knowledge systems and philosophies within our world are connected, in mind, body, and spirit (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014; Nimmer, 2017). Although some Marshallese believe that our knowledge is disappearing as more and more elders pass away, it is therefore important work together, and learn from each other about the knowledges shared not only by the living but through their lamentations and stories of those who are no longer with us (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014). As a Marshallese practice, weaving has been passed-down from generation to generation. Although the art of weaving is no longer as common as it used to be, the artefacts such as the “jaki-ed” (clothing mats) continue to embody significant Marshallese values and traditions. For our weavers, the jouj (check spelling) is the centre of the mat and it is where the weaving starts. When the jouj is correct and weaved well, the remainder and every other part of the mat will be right. The jouj is symbolic of the “heart” and if the heart is prepared well, trained well, then life or all other parts of the body will be well (Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). In that light, we have applied the same to this paper. Conceptualising and drawing from cultural practices that are close and dear to our hearts embodies a significant ontological attempt to prioritize our own knowledge and language, a sense of endearment to who we are and what we believe education to be like for us and the next generation. The application of the phrase “Majolizing '' was used by the Ministry of Education when Hilda Heine was minister, to weave cultural ideas and language into the way that teachers understand the curriculum, develop lesson plans and execute them in the classroom. Despite this, there were still concerns with the embedded colonized practices where teachers defaulted to eurocentric methods of doing things, like the strategies provided in the textbooks given to us. In some ways, our education was slow to adjust to the “Majolizing '' intention by our former minister. In this paper, we provide Kanne Lobal as a way to contribute to the “Majolizing intention” and perhaps speed up yet still be collectively responsible to all involved in education. Kajin Wa and Kanne Lobal “Wa” is the Marshallese concept for canoe. Kajin wa, as in canoe language, has a lot of symbolic meaning linked to deeply-held Marshallese values and practices. The canoe was the foundational practice that supported the livelihood of harsh atoll island living which reflects the Marshallese social world. The experts of Kajin wa often refer to “wa” as being the vessel of life, a means and source of sustaining life (Kelen, 2009, cited in Miller, 2010). “Jouj” means kindness and is the lower part of the main hull of the canoe. It is often referred to by some canoe builders in the RMI as the heart of the canoe and is linked to love. The jouj is one of the first parts of the canoe that is built and is “used to do all other measurements, and then the rest of the canoe is built on top of it” (Miller, 2010, p. 67). The significance of the jouj is that when the canoe is in the water, the jouj is the part of the hull that is underwater and ensures that all the cargo and passengers are safe. For Marshallese, jouj or kindness is what living is about and is associated with selflessly carrying the responsibility of keeping the family and community safe. The parts of the canoe reflect Marshallese culture, legend, family, lineage, and kinship. They embody social responsibilities that guide, direct, and sustain Marshallese families’ wellbeing, from atoll to atoll. For example, the rojak (boom), rojak maan (upper boom), rojak kōrā (lower boom), and they support the edges of the ujelā/ujele (sail) (see figure 1). The literal meaning of rojak maan is male boom and rojak kōrā means female boom which together strengthens the sail and ensures the canoe propels forward in a strong yet safe way. Figuratively, the rojak maan and rojak kōrā symbolise the mother and father relationship which when strong, through the jouj (kindness and love), it can strengthen families and sustain them into the future. Figure 1. Parts of the canoe Source: https://www.canoesmarshallislands.com/2014/09/names-of-canoe-parts/ From a socio-cultural, communal, and leadership view, the canoe (wa) provides understanding of the relationships required to inspire and sustain Marshallese peoples’ education and learning. We draw from Kajin wa because they provide cultural ideas and practices that enable understanding of education and leadership necessary for sustaining Marshallese people and realities in Oceania. When building a canoe, the women are tasked with the weaving of the ujelā/ujele (sail) and to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand long journeys and the fierce winds and waters of the ocean. The Kanne Lobal relates to the front part of the ujelā/ujele (sail) where the rojak maan and rojak kōrā meet and connect (see the red lines in figure 1). Kanne Lobal is linked to the strategic use of the ujelā/ujele by navigators, when there is no wind north wind to propel them forward, to find ways to capture the winds so that their journey can continue. As a proverbial saying, Kanne Lobal is used to ignite thinking and inspire and transform practice particularly when the journey is rough and tough. In this paper we draw from Kanne Lobal to ignite, inspire, and transform our educational and leadership practices, a move to explore what has always been meaningful to Marshallese people when we are faced with challenges. The Kanne Lobal utilises our language, and cultural practices and values by sourcing from the concepts of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity). A key Marshallese proverb, “Enra bwe jen lale rara”, is the cultural practice where families enact compassion through the sharing of food in all occurrences. The term “enra” is a small basket weaved from the coconut leaves, and often used by Marshallese as a plate to share and distribute food amongst each other. Bwe-jen-lale-rara is about noticing and providing for the needs of others, and “enra” the basket will help support and provide for all that are in need. “Enra-bwe-jen-lale-rara” is symbolic of cultural exchange and reciprocity and the cultural values associated with building and maintaining relationships, and constantly honouring each other. As a Marshallese practice, in this article we share our understanding and knowledge about the challenges as well as possible solutions for education concerns in our nation. In addition, we highlight another proverb, “wa kuk wa jimor”, which relates to having one canoe, and despite its capacity to feed and provide for the individual, but within the canoe all people can benefit from what it can provide. In the same way, we provide in this paper a cultural framework that will enable all educators to benefit from. It is a framework that is far-reaching and relevant to the lived realities of Marshallese people today. Kumit relates to people united to build strength, all co-operating and working together, living in peace, harmony, and good health. Kanne Lobal: conceptual framework for education and leadership An education framework is a conceptual structure that can be used to capture ideas and thinking related to aspects of learning. Kanne Lobal is conceptualised and framed in this paper as an educational framework. Kanne Lobal highlights the significance of education as a collective partnership whereby leadership is an important aspect. Kanne Lobal draws-from indigenous Marshallese concepts like kautiej (respect), jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity), and jouj (kindness, heart). The role of a leader, including an education leader, is to prioritise collective learning and partnerships that benefits Marshallese people and the continuity and survival of the next generation (Heine, 2002; Thaman, 1995). As described by Ejnar Aerōk, an expert canoe builder in the RMI, he stated: “jerbal ippān doon bwe en maron maan wa e” (cited in Miller, 2010, p. 69). His description emphasises the significance of partnerships and working together when navigating and journeying together in order to move the canoe forward. The kubaak, the outrigger of the wa (canoe) is about “partnerships”. For us as elementary school leaders on Majuro, kubaak encourages us to value collaborative partnerships with each other as well as our communities, PSS, and other stakeholders. Partnerships is an important part of the Kanne Lobal education and leadership framework. It requires ongoing bwebwenato – the inspiring as well as confronting and challenging conversations that should be mediated and negotiated if we and our education stakeholders are to journey together to ensure that the educational services we provide benefits our next generation of young people in the RMI. Navigating ahead the partnerships, mediation, and negotiation are the core values of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity). As an organic conceptual framework grounded in indigenous values, inspired through our lived experiences, Kanne Lobal provides ideas and concepts for re-thinking education and leadership practices that are conducive to learning and teaching in the schooling context in the RMI. By no means does it provide the solution to the education ills in our nation. However, we argue that Kanne Lobal is a more relevant approach which is much needed for the negatively stigmatised system as a consequence of the various colonial administrations that have and continue to shape and reframe our ideas about what education should be like for us in the RMI. Moreover, Kannel Lobal is our attempt to decolonize the framing of education and leadership, moving our bwebwenato to re-framing conversations of teaching and learning so that our cultural knowledge and values are foregrounded, appreciated, and realised within our education system. Bwebwenato: sharing our stories In this section, we use bwebwenato as a method of gathering and capturing our stories as data. Below we capture our stories and ongoing conversations about the richness in Marshallese cultural knowledge in the outer islands and on Majuro and the potentialities in Kanne Lobal. Danny Jim When I was in third grade (9-10 years of age), during my grandfather’s speech in Arno, an atoll near Majuro, during a time when a wa (canoe) was being blessed and ready to put the canoe into the ocean. My grandfather told me the canoe was a blessing for the family. “Without a canoe, a family cannot provide for them”, he said. The canoe allows for travelling between places to gather food and other sources to provide for the family. My grandfather’s stories about people’s roles within the canoe reminded me that everyone within the family has a responsibility to each other. Our women, mothers and daughters too have a significant responsibility in the journey, in fact, they hold us, care for us, and given strength to their husbands, brothers, and sons. The wise man or elder sits in the middle of the canoe, directing the young man who help to steer. The young man, he does all the work, directed by the older man. They take advice and seek the wisdom of the elder. In front of the canoe, a young boy is placed there and because of his strong and youthful vision, he is able to help the elder as well as the young man on the canoe. The story can be linked to the roles that school leaders, teachers, and students have in schooling. Without each person knowing intricately their role and responsibility, the sight and vision ahead for the collective aspirations of the school and the community is difficult to comprehend. For me, the canoe is symbolic of our educational journey within our education system. As the school leader, a central, trusted, and respected figure in the school, they provide support for teachers who are at the helm, pedagogically striving to provide for their students. For without strong direction from the school leaders and teachers at the helm, the students, like the young boy, cannot foresee their futures, or envisage how education can benefit them. This is why Kanne Lobal is a significant framework for us in the Marshall Islands because within the practice we are able to take heed and empower each other so that all benefit from the process. Kanne Lobal is linked to our culture, an essential part of who we are. We must rely on our own local approaches, rather than relying on others that are not relevant to what we know and how we live in today’s society. One of the things I can tell is that in Majuro, compared to the outer islands, it’s different. In the outer islands, parents bring children together and tell them legends and stories. The elders tell them about the legends and stories – the bwebwenato. Children from outer islands know a lot more about Marshallese legends compared to children from the Majuro atoll. They usually stay close to their parents, observe how to prepare food and all types of Marshallese skills. Loretta Joseph Case There is little Western influence in the outer islands. They grow up learning their own culture with their parents, not having tv. They are closely knit, making their own food, learning to weave. They use fire for cooking food. They are more connected because there are few of them, doing their own culture. For example, if they’re building a house, the ladies will come together and make food to take to the males that are building the house, encouraging them to keep on working - “jemjem maal” (sharpening tools i.e. axe, like encouraging workers to empower them). It’s when they bring food and entertainment. Rubon Rubon Togetherness, work together, sharing of food, these are important practices as a school leader. Jemjem maal – the whole village works together, men working and the women encourage them with food and entertainment. All the young children are involved in all of the cultural practices, cultural transmission is consistently part of their everyday life. These are stronger in the outer islands. Kanne Lobal has the potential to provide solutions using our own knowledge and practices. Connie Joel When new teachers become a teacher, they learn more about their culture in teaching. Teaching raises the question, who are we? A popular saying amongst our people, “Aelon kein ad ej aelon in manit”, means that “Our islands are cultural islands”. Therefore, when we are teaching, and managing the school, we must do this culturally. When we live and breathe, we must do this culturally. There is more socialising with family and extended family. Respect the elderly. When they’re doing things the ladies all get together, in groups and do it. Cut the breadfruit, and preserve the breadfruit and pandanus. They come together and do it. Same as fishing, building houses, building canoes. They use and speak the language often spoken by the older people. There are words that people in the outer islands use and understand language regularly applied by the elderly. Respect elderly and leaders more i.e., chiefs (iroj), commoners (alap), and the workers on the land (ri-jerbal) (social layer under the commoners). All the kids, they gather with their families, and go and visit the chiefs and alap, and take gifts from their land, first produce/food from the plantation (eojōk). Tommy Almet The people are more connected to the culture in the outer islands because they help one another. They don’t have to always buy things by themselves, everyone contributes to the occasion. For instance, for birthdays, boys go fishing, others contribute and all share with everyone. Kanne Lobal is a practice that can bring people together – leaders, teachers, stakeholders. We want our colleagues to keep strong and work together to fix problems like students and teachers’ absenteeism which is a big problem for us in schools. Demetria Malachi The culture in the outer islands are more accessible and exposed to children. In Majuro, there is a mixedness of cultures and knowledges, influenced by Western thinking and practices. Kanne Lobal is an idea that can enhance quality educational purposes for the RMI. We, the school leaders who did GCSL, we want to merge and use this idea because it will help benefit students’ learning and teachers’ teaching. Kanne Lobal will help students to learn and teachers to teach though traditional skills and knowledge. We want to revitalize our ways of life through teaching because it is slowly fading away. Also, we want to have our own Marshallese learning process because it is in our own language making it easier to use and understand. Essentially, we want to proudly use our own ways of teaching from our ancestors showing the appreciation and blessings given to us. Way Forward To think of ways forward is about reflecting on the past and current learnings. Instead of a traditional discussion within a research publication, we have opted to continue our bwebwenato by sharing what we have learnt through the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL) programme. Our bwebwenato does not end in this article and this opportunity to collaborate and partner together in this piece of writing has been a meaningful experience to conceptualise and unpack the Kanne Lobal framework. Our collaborative bwebwenato has enabled us to dig deep into our own wise knowledges for guidance through mediating and negotiating the challenges in education and leadership (Sanga & Houma, 2004). For example, bwe-jen-lale-rara reminds us to inquire, pay attention, and focus on supporting the needs of others. Through enra-bwe-jen-lale-rara, it reminds us to value cultural exchange and reciprocity which will strengthen the development and maintaining of relationships based on ways we continue to honour each other (Nimmer, 2017). We not only continue to support each other, but also help mentor the next generation of school leaders within our education system (Heine, 2002). Education and leadership are all about collaborative partnerships (Sanga & Chu, 2009; Thaman, 1997). Developing partnerships through the GCSL was useful learning for us. It encouraged us to work together, share knowledge, respect each other, and be kind. The values of jouj (kindness, love), kautiej (respect), and jouj eo mour eo (reciprocity) are meaningful in being and becoming and educational leader in the RMI (Jetnil-Kijiner, 2014; Miller, 2010; Nimmer, 2017). These values are meaningful for us practice particularly given the drive by PSS for schools to become accredited. The workshops and meetings delivered during the GCSL in the RMI from 2018 to 2019 about Kanne Lobal has given us strength to share our stories and experiences from the meeting with the stakeholders. But before we met with the stakeholders, we were encouraged to share and speak in our language within our courses: EDP05 (Professional Development and Learning), EDP06 (School Leadership), EDP07 (School Management), EDP08 (Teaching and Learning), and EDP09 (Community Partnerships). In groups, we shared our presentations with our peers, the 15 school leaders in the GCSL programme. We also invited USP RMI staff. They liked the way we presented Kannel Lobal. They provided us with feedback, for example: how the use of the sail on the canoe, the parts and their functions can be conceptualised in education and how they are related to the way that we teach our own young people. Engaging stakeholders in the conceptualisation and design stages of Kanne Lobal strengthened our understanding of leadership and collaborative partnerships. Based on various meetings with the RMI Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) team, PSS general assembly, teachers from the outer islands, and the PSS executive committee, we were able to share and receive feedback on the Kanne Lobal framework. The coordinators of the PREL programme in the RMI were excited by the possibilities around using Kanne Lobal, as a way to teach culture in an inspirational way to Marshallese students. Our Marshallese knowledge, particularly through the proverbial meaning of Kanne Lobal provided so much inspiration and insight for the groups during the presentation which gave us hope and confidence to develop the framework. Kanne Lobal is an organic and indigenous approach, grounded in Marshallese ways of doing things (Heine, 2002; Taafaki & Fowler, 2019). Given the persistent presence of colonial processes within the education system and the constant reference to practices and initiatives from the US, Kanne Lobal for us provides a refreshing yet fulfilling experience and makes us feel warm inside because it is something that belongs to all Marshallese people. Conclusion Marshallese indigenous knowledge and practices provide meaningful educational and leadership understanding and learnings. They ignite, inspire, and transform thinking and practice. The Kanne Lobal conceptual framework emphasises key concepts and values necessary for collaborative partnerships within education and leadership practices in the RMI. The bwebwenato or talk stories have been insightful and have highlighted the strengths and benefits that our Marshallese ideas and practices possess when looking for appropriate and relevant ways to understand education and leadership. 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Social innovations are activities aiming at implementation of social objectives, including mainly the improvement of life of individuals and social groups, together with public policy and management objectives. The essay indicates and discusses the most important contemporary problems, solving of which requires social innovations. Social innovations precondition the progress of civilisation. The world needs not only new technologies, but also new solutions of social and institutional nature that would be conducive to achieving social goals. Social innovations are experimental social actions of organisational and institutional nature that aim at improving the quality of life of individuals, communities, nations, companies, circles, or social groups. Their experimental nature stems from the fact of introducing unique and one-time solutions on a large scale, the end results of which are often difficult to be fully predicted. For example, it was difficult to believe that opening new labour markets for foreigners in the countries of the European Union, which can be treated as a social innovation aiming at development of the international labour market, will result in the rapid development of the low-cost airlines, the offer of which will be available to a larger group of recipients. In other words, social innovations differ from economic innovations, as they are not about implementation of new types of production or gaining new markets, but about satisfying new needs, which are not provided by the market. Therefore, the most important distinction consists in that social innovations are concerned with improving the well-being of individuals and communities by additional employment, or increased consumption, as well as participation in solving the problems of individuals and social groups [CSTP, 2011]. In general, social innovations are activities aiming at implementation of social objectives, including mainly the improvement of life of individuals and social groups together with the objectives of public policy and management [Kowalczyk, Sobiecki, 2017]. Their implementation requires global, national, and individual actions. This requires joint operations, both at the scale of the entire globe, as well as in particular interest groups. Why are social innovations a key point for the progress of civilisation? This is the effect of the clear domination of economic aspects and discrimination of social aspects of this progress. Until the 19th century, the economy was a part of a social structure. As described by K. Polanyi, it was submerged in social relations [Polanyi, 2010, p. 56]. In traditional societies, the economic system was in fact derived from the organisation of the society itself. The economy, consisting of small and dispersed craft businesses, was a part of the social, family, and neighbourhood structure. In the 20th century the situation reversed – the economy started to be the force shaping social structures, positions of individual groups, areas of wealth and poverty. The economy and the market mechanism have become independent from the world of politics and society. Today, the corporations control our lives. They decide what we eat, what we watch, what we wear, where we work and what we do [Bakan, 2006, p. 13]. The corporations started this spectacular “march to rule the world” in the late 19th century. After about a hundred years, at the end of the 20th century, the state under the pressure of corporations and globalisation, started a gradual, but systematic withdrawal from the economy, market and many other functions traditionally belonging to it. As a result, at the end of the last century, a corporation has become a dominant institution in the world. A characteristic feature of this condition is that it gives a complete priority to the interests of corporations. They make decisions of often adverse consequences for the entire social groups, regions, or local communities. They lead to social tensions, political breakdowns, and most often to repeated market turbulences. Thus, a substantial minority (corporations) obtain inconceivable benefits at the expense of the vast majority, that is broad professional and social groups. The lack of relative balance between the economy and society is a barrier to the progress of civilisation. A growing global concern is the problem of migration. The present crisis, left unresolved, in the long term will return multiplied. Today, there are about 500 million people living in Europe, 1.5 billion in Africa and the Middle East, but in 2100, the population of Europe will be about 400 million and of the Middle East and Africa approximately 4.5 billion. Solving this problem, mainly through social and political innovations, can take place only by a joint operation of highly developed and developing countries. Is it an easy task? It’s very difficult. Unfortunately, today, the world is going in the opposite direction. Instead of pursuing the community, empathic thinking, it aims towards nationalism and chauvinism. An example might be a part of the inaugural address of President Donald Trump, who said that the right of all nations is to put their own interests first. Of course, the United States of America will think about their own interests. As we go in the opposite direction, those who deal with global issues say – nothing will change, unless there is some great crisis, a major disaster that would cause that the great of this world will come to senses. J.E. Stiglitz [2004], contrary to the current thinking and practice, believes that a different and better world is possible. Globalisation contains the potential of countless benefits from which people both in developing and highly developed countries can benefit. But the practice so far proves that still it is not grown up enough to use its potential in a fair manner. What is needed are new solutions, most of all social and political innovations (political, because they involve a violation of the previous arrangement of interests). Failure to search for breakthrough innovations of social and political nature that would meet the modern challenges, can lead the world to a disaster. Social innovation, and not economic, because the contemporary civilisation problems have their roots in this dimension. A global problem, solution of which requires innovations of social and political nature, is the disruption of the balance between work and capital. In 2010, 400 richest people had assets such as the half of the poorer population of the world. In 2016, such part was in the possession of only 8 people. This shows the dramatic collapse of the balance between work and capital. The world cannot develop creating the technological progress while increasing unjustified inequalities, which inevitably lead to an outbreak of civil disturbances. This outbreak can have various organisation forms. In the days of the Internet and social media, it is easier to communicate with people. Therefore, paradoxically, some modern technologies create the conditions facilitating social protests. There is one more important and dangerous effect of implementing technological innovations without simultaneous creation and implementation of social innovations limiting the sky-rocketing increase of economic (followed by social) diversification. Sooner or later, technological progress will become so widespread that, due to the relatively low prices, it will make it possible for the weapons of mass destruction, especially biological and chemical weapons, to reach small terrorist groups. Then, a total, individualized war of global reach can develop. The individualisation of war will follow, as described by the famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck. To avoid this, it is worth looking at the achievements of the Polish scientist Michał Kalecki, who 75 years ago argued that capitalism alone is not able to develop. It is because it aggressively seeks profit growth, but cannot turn profit into some profitable investments. Therefore, when uncertainty grows, capitalism cannot develop itself, and it must be accompanied by external factors, named by Kalecki – external development factors. These factors include state expenses, finances and, in accordance with the nomenclature of Kalecki – epochal innovations. And what are the current possibilities of activation of the external factors? In short – modest. The countries are indebted, and the basis for the development in the last 20 years were loans, which contributed to the growth of debt of economic entities. What, then, should we do? It is necessary to look for cheaper solutions, but such that are effective, that is breakthrough innovations. These undoubtedly include social and political innovations. Contemporary social innovation is not about investing big money and expensive resources in production, e.g. of a very expensive vaccine, which would be available for a small group of recipients. Today’s social innovation should stimulate the use of lower amounts of resources to produce more products available to larger groups of recipients. The progress of civilisation happens only as a result of a sustainable development in economic, social, and now also ecological terms. Economic (business) innovations, which help accelerate the growth rate of production and services, contribute to economic development. Profits of corporations increase and, at the same time, the economic objectives of the corporations are realised. But are the objectives of the society as a whole and its members individually realised equally, in parallel? In the chain of social reproduction there are four repeated phases: production – distribution – exchange – consumption. The key point from the social point of view is the phase of distribution. But what are the rules of distribution, how much and who gets from this “cake” produced in the social process of production? In the today’s increasingly global economy, the most important mechanism of distribution is the market mechanism. However, in the long run, this mechanism leads to growing income and welfare disparities of various social groups. Although, the income and welfare diversity in itself is nothing wrong, as it is the result of the diversification of effectiveness of factors of production, including work, the growing disparities to a large extent cannot be justified. Economic situation of the society members increasingly depends not on the contribution of work, but on the size of the capital invested, and the market position of the economic entity, and on the “governing power of capital” on the market. It should also be noted that this diversification is also related to speculative activities. Disparities between the implemented economic and social innovations can lead to the collapse of the progress of civilisation. Nowadays, economic crises are often justified by, indeed, social and political considerations, such as marginalisation of nation states, imbalance of power (or imbalance of fear), religious conflicts, nationalism, chauvinism, etc. It is also considered that the first global financial crisis of the 21st century originated from the wrong social policy pursued by the US Government, which led to the creation of a gigantic public debt, which consequently led to an economic breakdown. This resulted in the financial crisis, but also in deepening of the social imbalances and widening of the circles of poverty and social exclusion. It can even be stated that it was a crisis in public confidence. Therefore, the causes of crises are the conflicts between the economic dimension of the development and its social dimension. Contemporary world is filled with various innovations of economic or business nature (including technological, product, marketing, and in part – organisational). The existing solutions can be a source of economic progress, which is a component of the progress of civilisation. However, economic innovations do not complete the entire progress of civilisation moreover, the saturation, and often supersaturation with implementations and economic innovations leads to an excessive use of material factors of production. As a consequence, it results in lowering of the efficiency of their use, unnecessary extra burden to the planet, and passing of the negative effects on the society and future generations (of consumers). On the other hand, it leads to forcing the consumption of durable consumer goods, and gathering them “just in case”, and also to the low degree of their use (e.g. more cars in a household than its members results in the additional load on traffic routes, which results in an increase in the inconvenience of movement of people, thus to the reduction of the quality of life). Introduction of yet another economic innovation will not solve this problem. It can be solved only by social innovations that are in a permanent shortage. A social innovation which fosters solving the issue of excessive accumulation of tangible production goods is a developing phenomenon called sharing economy. It is based on the principle: “the use of a service provided by some welfare does not require being its owner”. This principle allows for an economic use of resources located in households, but which have been “latent” so far. In this way, increasing of the scope of services provided (transport, residential and tourist accommodation) does not require any growth of additional tangible resources of factors of production. So, it contributes to the growth of household incomes, and inhibition of loading the planet with material goods processed by man [see Poniatowska-Jaksch, Sobiecki, 2016]. Another example: we live in times, in which, contrary to the law of T. Malthus, the planet is able to feed all people, that is to guarantee their minimum required nutrients. But still, millions of people die of starvation and malnutrition, but also due to obesity. Can this problem be solved with another economic innovation? Certainly not! Economic innovations will certainly help to partially solve the problem of nutrition, at least by the new methods of storing and preservation of foods, to reduce its waste in the phase of storage and transport. However, a key condition to solve this problem is to create and implement an innovation of a social nature (in many cases also political). We will not be able to speak about the progress of civilisation in a situation, where there are people dying of starvation and malnutrition. A growing global social concern, resulting from implementation of an economic (technological) innovation will be robotisation, and more specifically – the effects arising from its dissemination on a large scale. So far, the issue has been postponed due to globalisation of the labour market, which led to cheapening of the work factor by more than ten times in the countries of Asia or South America. But it ends slowly. Labour becomes more and more expensive, which means that the robots become relatively cheap. The mechanism leading to low prices of the labour factor expires. Wages increase, and this changes the relationship of the prices of capital and labour. Capital becomes relatively cheaper and cheaper, and this leads to reducing of the demand for work, at the same time increasing the demand for capital (in the form of robots). The introduction of robots will be an effect of the phenomenon of substitution of the factors of production. A cheaper factor (in this case capital in the form of robots) will be cheaper than the same activities performed by man. According to W. Szymański [2017], such change is a dysfunction of capitalism. A great challenge, because capitalism is based on the market-driven shaping of income. The market-driven shaping of income means that the income is derived from the sale of the factors of production. Most people have income from employment. Robots change this mechanism. It is estimated that scientific progress allows to create such number of robots that will replace billion people in the world. What will happen to those “superseded”, what will replace the income from human labour? Capitalism will face an institutional challenge, and must replace the market-driven shaping of income with another, new one. The introduction of robots means microeconomic battle with the barrier of demand. To sell more, one needs to cut costs. The costs are lowered by the introduction of robots, but the use of robots reduces the demand for human labour. Lowering the demand for human labour results in the reduction of employment, and lower wages. Lower wages result in the reduction of the demand for goods and services. To increase the demand for goods and services, the companies must lower their costs, so they increase the involvement of robots, etc. A mechanism of the vicious circle appears If such a mass substitution of the factors of production is unfavourable from the point of view of stimulating the development of the economy, then something must be done to improve the adverse price relations for labour. How can the conditions of competition between a robot and a man be made equal, at least partially? Robots should be taxed. Bill Gates, among others, is a supporter of such a solution. However, this is only one of the tools that can be used. The solution of the problem requires a change in the mechanism, so a breakthrough innovation of a social and political nature. We can say that technological and product innovations force the creation of social and political innovations (maybe institutional changes). Product innovations solve some problems (e.g. they contribute to the reduction of production costs), but at the same time, give rise to others. Progress of civilisation for centuries and even millennia was primarily an intellectual progress. It was difficult to discuss economic progress at that time. Then we had to deal with the imbalance between the economic and the social element. The insufficiency of the economic factor (otherwise than it is today) was the reason for the tensions and crises. Estimates of growth indicate that the increase in industrial production from ancient times to the first industrial revolution, that is until about 1700, was 0.1-0.2 per year on average. Only the next centuries brought about systematically increasing pace of economic growth. During 1700- 1820, it was 0.5% on an annual average, and between 1820-1913 – 1.5%, and between 1913-2012 – 3.0% [Piketty, 2015, p. 97]. So, the significant pace of the economic growth is found only at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Additionally, the growth in this period refers predominantly to Europe and North America. The countries on other continents were either stuck in colonialism, structurally similar to the medieval period, or “lived” on the history of their former glory, as, for example, China and Japan, or to a lesser extent some countries of the Middle East and South America. The growth, having then the signs of the modern growth, that is the growth based on technological progress, was attributed mainly to Europe and the United States. The progress of civilisation requires the creation of new social initiatives. Social innovations are indeed an additional capital to keep the social structure in balance. The social capital is seen as a means and purpose and as a primary source of new values for the members of the society. Social innovations also motivate every citizen to actively participate in this process. It is necessary, because traditional ways of solving social problems, even those known for a long time as unemployment, ageing of the society, or exclusion of considerable social and professional groups from the social and economic development, simply fail. “Old” problems are joined by new ones, such as the increase of social inequalities, climate change, or rapidly growing environmental pollution. New phenomena and problems require new solutions, changes to existing procedures, programmes, and often a completely different approach and instruments [Kowalczyk, Sobiecki, 2017].

We investigated the relations between environmental features (biotic and abiotic) and small mammal communities in the Groendal Wilderness Area, South Africa. Habitat architecture (expressed as both horizontal and vertical foliage density) and total plant canopy cover (especially shrub canopy cover) are the most important correlates of small mammal community structure at this site. The mechanisms for these relationships are complex, probably involving physiological, social and anti-predator effects as well as reflecting nutritional resources. Furthermore, man and fire influence small mammal community structure. These effects are as a result of altered plant community composition and structure by plantation and pasture establishment and burning. In order to maintain a diversity of small mammal communities, management should ensure a mosaic of diverse vegetation communities.

Life stories of married woman: A possibility to transformation. Feminist scholarship in various disciplines has shown that women tend to internalise dominant social and religious discourse with regard to their lesser worth and value as human beings and members of society. The focal point of this article is to demonstrate how the place and role allocated to women, specifically in marital relationships, can be experienced as harmful. This article makes use of the life history research method in combination with the emancipatory analysis model of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in order to demonstrate this. Interviews were done with five women of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa, a fairly conservative and traditional Afrikaans speaking South African faith community. In spite of having lived with this mindset all of their lives, the women were able to express in which ways they experienced the dominant discourse as harmful. If social and religious views devalue a certain group of people, transformation is required. In the case of women, respectfully listening to their life stories and experiences can contribute to their own healing as well as to the transformation of their social and religious environment and the practice of the church.

Okot p’Bitek was born on 9 June 1931 to Jebedayo Opii of the Pacua clan in Patiko and Cerina Lacwaa of Palaro-Rajab. In the discussion on his biography, I follow a holistic approach using a chronological methodology which focuses on his education and life until his death on 20 July 1982. I premise my research on autoethnography which is a form of qualitative research in which the author uses self-reflection and writing to explore anecdotal and personal experience while acknowledging and valuing his/her relationships with other people. My personal knowledge of and shared culture with Okot have added value to my biographical structuring. I collected data using questionnaires and personal and group interviews with Okot’s family members, friends and colleagues in Makerere and Nairobi Universities, lecturers in Bristol and Oxford, and teachers in the various schools he attended in Uganda. I also researched his writings and writings about him in various libraries at different institutions, including the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of South Africa, Oxford University, Makerere University and the University of Nairobi, where Okot’s original manuscripts are archived. The data collected is intended to inform scholars about Okot the man. This article is divided into two parts: Okot’s biography and the importance of this biographical study.

This article examines experiences of men who are victims of gender-based violence where women are perpetrators. There are masculinity expectations that if a man is in pain, he is not allowed to show his agony or cry in public, as suggested in the Sepedi proverb Monna ke nku o llela teng. These expectations make it difficult for male victims of domestic violence to report the abuse. Gender-based violence has to do with the abuse that is suffered by partners who are in relationships. This violence includes, but is not limited to physical, sexual, psychological, economic harm, and includes actions such as threats and coercion. Men usually do not speak out about their experiences due to the stigma attached to them being victims of female-perpetrated domestic abuse, as this study has shown. This article is based on the study of men who reported their experiences of abuse at the hands of their partners. The study was conducted in Vuwani within the Makhado Local Municipality, Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The data showed that male victims of domestic violence are reluctant to speak out about their ordeal due to fear of being ridiculed by significant others in the society, such as their family members, peers and police officials.

South Africa is known as the rainbow nation because of its variety of culture and religion. In essence South Africa is a spiritual nation, and 85.7% of her people affiliate to a Christian belief system. Despite this, crimes against women and children run rampant as some traditional male roles advocate patriarchal values that at times negatively affect relations between men and women. This article postulates that specific patriarchal values inform the development of a masculine identity, in spite of the fact that most South African families are headed by female caregivers. At the same time, however, most of these families are affected by extreme poverty and father absence; therefore, many boys are raised without an adequate male role model. This article, emanating from a broader study, explores the relationship between the development of a masculine identity amidst father absence, influenced by rapid colonisation and in the context of a specific religion and culture. It reflects on some of the narratives of the research participants that relates specifically to the theme of ‘what it means to be a real man’, eliciting the dominant discourses around masculinity and femininity in South Africa, informed by religion, traditional culture and pop culture. This article then postulates that religiosity in South Africa is not removed from the social function and performance of the social constructs of masculinity, cultural values and parental involvement and that these constructs interact with each other in a special way to produce what we come to know as the South African man.

The call for the decolonisation of South African space that started to resound throughout South Africa in 2015 has, for a large part, centred on the institutional and historical legacy of Cecil John Rhodes. The Rhodes Must Fall movement has, for example, demonstrated the degree to which Rhodes is still entangled with the South African landscape. Although this movement has largely exposed the race-based prejudices of Rhodes’ imperialist endeavours for South(ern) Africa, Rhodes’ legacy also carries overt biases towards gender and sexuality. As this article demonstrates, the spectre of Rhodes’ alleged homosexuality has haunted him not only during his lifetime, but has persisted to the present day. The concept of Rhodes as a homosexual man stands in a complex relationship to the public image of imperialist, statesman and entrepreneur that he and key agents in the British Empire have tried to foster. However, in the wake of a crumbling British Empire, Rhodes have been left exposed to critics who have strategically used him as an example of the way in which decolonisation can be exacted upon a memorialised legacy. As this article demonstrates, Rhodes’ entanglement with the ideas surrounding race, gender and sexuality that were prevalent during his life had a direct impact on his conduct in South Africa. When it comes to the active decolonisation of South African spaces and institutional discourses, Rhodes’ whiteness, masculinity and possible homosexuality present a complex picture of the history of empire-building – of British dreams to paint Africa red.

The lacuna around race in (white) Christian theological anthropology has often been pointed out. The canon of academic systematic theology seldom reflects on the implication of modern race and racism for our theological anthropologies and, therefore, fails to provide adequate resources for dealing with one of the most fundamental problems of modern theological anthropology � that the modern human was conceived through a white racial lens. Black theology, in its various streams, has responded with a theological anthropology that consciously disrupted a modern anthropology which thought of �man� as white (and male). This article analyses the sustained work around theological anthropology of South African Black Theologian Simon Maimela. Maimela over a number of years attempted to articulate the theological problem of white anthropology, or the anthropological problem of white theology, in South Africa. Two dominant pillars are identified in Maimela�s theological anthropology and these are connected to the influence of Black theology and African theology on his work, and his attempt at drawing these traditions together. Maimela�s theological critique on whiteness will be discussed and key contemporary implications noted.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: While the article is most explicitly situated in the discipline of systematic theology, it challenges dominant narratives on what the theological problem with apartheid was, which also has implications for the broader fields of whiteness studies and critical race studies in South Africa.

The gun is not just an object and or a weapon; it has particular, deep relations with those who carry and possess it. The gun is embedded in the mentality of the man who uses it. Once gun life is inculcated in the mind, it is difficult to leave it behind. In post-apartheid South Africa, gangs and the use of guns have continued unabated. Despite this continued relationship between gangs and guns, studies have skirted around the ways in which guns are experienced and embodied in a context which is imbued with violence. Guns define the gang members who carry them in their everyday lives, as well as the spaces in which gangs operate. Importantly, understanding the spaces of gangs, such as the streets, is critical to understanding the ways in which they help gangs to forge a particular relationship with guns. This article is based on an ethnography of the black township Gugulethu in Cape Town, South Africa.