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In the above title "vernacular" suggests opposite geographic origins and setting than those ascribed "town". It is now generally accepted that the term "vernacular" is an applicable and appropriate way to cluster and organise a certain cultural phenomenon (architecture) and is used for both farm and urban architecture: "vernacular farm architecture" and "vernacular urban architecture". This paper will focus on the changes in the vernacular farm architecture in the Vredefort Dome area (near the present towns of Parys, Vredefort and Potchefstroom), that reflect cultural development processes associated with the history of settlement in the southern African rural areas from 1850 to 1950. For many years, the Vredefort Dome was known as a prestigious area of settlement. Extensive numbers of game attracted hunter-gatherer groups, pre-colonial Bantu-speaking groups and more recently, European pioneers entering the area from around 1836. From 1845, European pioneer farm occupation livestock and agricultural development expanded exponentially until recent times. After 1850, the farmers and settlers (European pioneers) on the southern and northern sides of the Vaal River erected more permanent buildings and structures (including rondavels and rectangular dwellings), constructed with stone and, more commonly, clay. The landowner became both the architect and builder, selecting the most affordable ways to construct structures. Consequently, stone walls, sod walls, rammed-earth walls, walls of raw or sundried bricks, and walls of burnt and fired bricks are characteristic of the different vernacular building traditions. By 1889, with the influx of miners and capital to the Vredefort and Potchefstroom diggings, a period of temporary economic prosperity ensued. Economics in the area evolved during this period through a combination of agriculture-based activities and mining-based activities. Gold and diamond mining stimulated the regional economy and played a significant role in the establishment and development of towns. This growth was reflected in the presence of typical late nineteenth century vernacular farm architecture, in particular the introduction of galvanised (corrugated) iron roofs. On the farms, two broad, generic architectural traditions existed: "designed" architecture (formal structures), and rural, vernacular "architecture" (structures erected without the assistance of professional architects), typically constructed with building materials obtained from the immediate environment. The availability of corrugated iron can be considered the most notable technological development in the vernacular architecture of the nineteenth century. Thatched roofs on rectangular dwellings were replaced with Victorian-style corrugated iron roofs. The "corrugated-iron style" became the "new-vernacular" architecture, and with the addition of verandas, veranda-room houses became a distinguishing characteristic of the period. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, poverty and an economic depression had a negative impact on the building environment and therefore on the building of homes. In the Dome area, there were few, if any, wealthy residents who could employ the services of an architect for the design of their private homes. Consequently, the houses were simple and "old-fashioned", resulting in the birth of sub-branches of vernacular building traditions that already existed. The process of change affecting homes after the Second World War (1939-1945) can be seen in the area. The improvement of technology related to running water and sanitation, and the presence of electricity, made life more comfortable and had a notable effect on patterns of internal space utilisation. Some household activities moved from the outside of the home to the inside. Consequently, time and energy were saved, since water was no longer fetched from a water source, and the distance between the service points shortened considerably. The fitting of pipes to provide water to the service spaces in the house (kitchen and bathroom) caused a change in the interior layout of the farmhouse and a change to lifestyles. Floor plans of urban dwellings were replicated, and the "patchwork" architectural tradition (additions and extensions added to the original pioneer core) became common. Household water consumption, the presence and location of the kitchen and the bathroom and the fitting of pipes for running water related to the prosperity of each household and differed from farm to farm. It is notable that these changes did not occur among the homes of the labourers, probably as their accommodation was considered temporary. The Vredefort Dome was listed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 2005. It is the oldest and largest known meteorite impact structure on earth, about 120 km southwest from Johannesburg, and represents a unique geological phenomenon formed about 2 023 million years ago. The Vredefort dome area also contains other well-preserved and outstanding cultural phenomena such as San rock art, Late Stone Age and Late Iron Age sites - including objects, the floor and wall remains of Sotho-Tswana hut structures, animal kraals and smelting-furnaces. The historic sites contain the remains of abandoned homesteads, outbuildings and other structures such as cattle kraals, water furrows, irrigated gardens, the orchards and graveyards of immigrant farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is twofold. It is firstly to map the international discourse and experience regarding the issue of language of learning and teaching in education. Secondly, the article focuses on the South African question regarding the issue of language of learning and teaching in educational institutions, by employing the international framework constructed in the first section for purposes of illumination, interpretation, and assessment. The language medium in education remains a contentious issue in education, also in the South African context. The comparative method that was used for doing the mapping, namely, to examine and draw potentially valuable insights and perspectives from comparable international situations, is widely used for illuminating societal issues, also in education. Schools were instituted for the first time around 3 000 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt. During the first millennia in the history of these institutions, the dominant language of the political jurisdiction or entity in which the school was located was employed as the language of learning and teaching in schools. This was due to the political objectives of education and schooling as well as the social origins of the learners who attended the schools. Schools originated autochthonously in only a few places; most school systems in the world today can trace their roots back to the early mediaeval European prototype which was subsequently exported to the extra-European world by means of missionary activities and imperial (colonial) endeavours. It is important to keep this development in mind for an understanding of the subsequent course that the language of learning and teaching in schools followed. A departure from the mediaeval practice to use Latin as the language of learning and teaching in schools coincided with the Reformation in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, in particular the formation of nation-states in that part of the world since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The leaders of the Reformation promoted the use of the vernacular for reading and understanding the Bible, and for this reason agitated for the home language to become the language of teaching and learning in the schools. This ideal was never fully realised, however; even in Western Europe the dominant language of each nation was used as the language of teaching and learning. The notion of developing the vernacular as language of learning and teaching did not form part of the imperialist project of instituting schools in the colonies from the fifteenth century in the Americas and Asia, and from the nineteenth century in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, the official language of the colonial power in question was used as the language of learning and teaching in colonial schools. The empowerment of the vernacular to become the official language of the country, a hallmark of the formation of nation-states and of national education systems in the Global North, received at best scant attention or lip service when the nations of the Global South, especially in Africa (notably in Sub-Saharan Africa) and South Asia gained independence during the 1960s. The situation has since been exacerbated by the rise of English as international lingua franca in the past half century. The impact of this development can be detected in the education systems of the world, including those of the Global North: English has become a de facto universal second or third language in teaching and learning at most levels. English is also increasingly supplanting respectively French and Portuguese as languages of teaching and learning in institutions of education in francophone and lusophone Africa. This, as mentioned, is a direct result of the vernacular not having been developed and empowered to become the language of teaching and learning. The hegemonic position of English is also reinforced by widespread support for this language as medium of teaching and learning among parents. Parents are convinced that mastery of English will be advantageous for their children in the higher education context and later in the international commercial world. A plethora of scholarly investigations seem to indicate that the vernacular should be favoured as the language of learning and teaching in institutions of education. Their findings revolve around respect for human rights, including the right to use the home, mother or first language as medium of teaching and learning; the role of language of teaching and learning in ensuring that the vernacular maintains and even improves its status and currency in society; educational considerations, including the role that the mother language plays in cognitive development and the learning of the first language, the learning of a second language, and subsequently, the learning of English; also the issue of equality and equity in education, and the role and impact of the language of learning and teaching in the maintenance and production of human and social capital. In the second part of the article, the South African situation regarding the issue of language of teaching and learning is described, analysed, interpreted and assessed against the international framework outlined in the first part. The analysis and discussion presented reveal that the international considerations are valid for the issue of language of learning and teaching in South Africa as well. They also show that several contextual-ecological features of the South African pedagogical landscape cause the promotion of the vernacular as medium of teaching and learning to be of even greater urgency. These features include the poor output (achievement) levels of, and the concomitant high levels of attrition in the South African education system, the persistent unacceptably high unemployment rate, the high levels of social inequality, and the national priority of making education accessible to all. Recommendations are made as to how the development of the various vernaculars could be developed to become efficient media of teaching and learning. Two of the strategies that could be considered are to promote the use of the vernacular in teacher education, and to use some of the international aid that is being poured into the African continent for the purpose of developing the various vernaculars to grow into effective education media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of deficiencies in education in South Africa since 1994, voices have become louder in questioning the current education policy and delivery. This is an opportunity to reassess aspects of Bantu Education since 1952, especially the role of two key elements of Bantu education, namely community and parent involvement in the management of schools and vernacular as a medium of instruction. Current critics of education often refer to the dedication of teachers, parent involvement, the accountability of school management and performance of learners. These issues remind one of similar issues prevalent under Bantu education since 1952. This second part of the investigation into key elements of Bantu Education seeks to consider the role and contribution made under Bantu education to the foundations of community and parent involvement and mothertongue instruction since 1952 as a strategy for general education to black children. Verwoerd approached the development of black communities from the perspective of empowerment of ethnic communities as the building blocks of a strategy for peaceful co-existence in southern Africa. Separate development in South Africa sought to promote ethnic and cultural diversity whereby African traditions of different peoples could be cherished and developed by utilising the education of the different communities. This education provided for the use of ethnically differentiated vernacular as a strategy for community empowerment. The prerequisite for development was education. The state introduced a system of Bantu education to enhance school attendance and the level of literacy and education of all black children. This paper explains the utilisation of key elements such as community and parent involvement and vernacular tuition to facilitate community buy-in into general education for black children. In this second part the contribution of vernacular as an educational medium in the provision of education to black children is outlined. The paper shows the agency of the Department of Bantu Education in developing the different vernacular systematically in order to enhance the teaching and learning of advanced subject matter in schools and beyond. It also shows the support of communities in sending children to school to acquire formal education. The grand scheme of Bantu education was finally derailed because of the irreconcilability of the model of separate development and black majority rule, which was the slogan of post-independence Africa. Bantu education did in spite of the rejection of the political model of separate development, succeed in enhancing black literacy and education. The paper does not claim to deny shortcomings of the system of Bantu education, nor does it presume to address all the aspirations of the growing black elite, but it emphasises the key functionality of community and parent involvement and vernacular tuition (with systematic linguistic development to support such a policy) developed by Bantu education, which might be assessed anew. These aspects of Bantu education may be revisited as building blocks to address present shortcomings in the current education environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex questions have arisen about how Christian mission agencies function within a globalised context. The changing context has impacted on how the missio Dei has been worked out within these agencies and this has had implications of a theological and missiological nature in particular as to how the agencies have interacted with the church worldwide. This has lead to new paradigms of how mission is conceptualised. The growth of the church worldwide in newer soil has forced mission agencies such as the Wycliffe Global Alliance (WGA) to re-evaluate their place in the world. It has been assumed that as resources have decreased from parts of the world where the WGA has had its traditional roots, there are missiological factors in determining how this impacts on the WGA. There are many missiological implications for the WGA that come from influences in church history on the importance of the translatability of the gospel especially in the context of Bible translation. These have impacted the WGA’s understanding of itself and in particular of how it has interpreted and reinterpreted its Vision 2025. When the missio Dei converges with outcomes of globalisation there are numerous implications for an agency such as the WGA. Consequently, the article concludes that none of these matters can be ignored. Instead they must be explored and lessons learnt from them that can be passed along to others in similar situations.