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This paper proposes that the dissemination of marginal archival resources can be informed by forms of socioeconomic precarity experienced by their creators and primary subjects. To account for these modes of circulation, the author proposes the notion of a precarious archive. The concept is developed with reference to the Kewpie Collection, an official though marginal archival resource containing photographs as well as recordings and transcripts of interviews with the photographs' collector, Kewpie. The Collection depicts a group of self-described gays and girls living in District Six, a multicultural, inner-city area of apartheid Cape Town, before and during the District's physical destruction by the Nationalist government. By the early 1980s, the girls were among the sixty thousand residents forcibly removed from the District because they were legally classified 'Coloured'. The circulation of materials constituting the Kewpie Collection is characterised as precarious in two senses. First, the materials have been available to diverse uses incorporating a range of identificatory claims, often in terms in which Kewpie does not describe herself. Second, Kewpie's account of the girls' experiences of precarity has been de-emphasised and her photographs celebrated as evidence of the ability of gay lives to flourish in the lost District. The author instead reads these photographs as one example of the girls' efforts to imagine new forms of social existence in the absence of sustaining infrastructure and thereby enable liveability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the relationship between race and language in South Africa, specifically within Cape Town's Hip-Hop community. The author reflects on the significance of Kaaps, a dialect spoken in the Cape Flats, and its recognition as one of South Africa's official languages. They also discuss the complex dynamics between English, Afrikaans, and indigenous languages within the Hip-Hop scene. The essay emphasizes the importance of language in self-expression and identity, while acknowledging the diverse cultural expressions and multilingual nature of South Africa. [Extracted from the article]

The Grade 9 South African history curriculum teaches the history of the Holocaust as an introduction to the study of apartheid. Students are taught how racial identities are constructed, codified into law, and weaponized for the purposes of discrimination and genocide. They are taught that racialized discrimination can happen anywhere—not only in South Africa—and that we must be vigilant lest it happens again. Curriculum developers—supported by international literature (e.g. UNESCO publications)—believe that learning about the Holocaust will act as a "bridge" to learning about apartheid. 1 By teaching young South Africans difficult history that is emotionally, geographically, and temporally removed from their own country, educators believed that students will be better prepared to study the complex history of apartheid. Yet what is the impact of this comparative approach? 2 The author's ten-month ethnographic study explores how Grade 9 students in one majority-White history classroom in Cape Town learned about the Holocaust and apartheid. Developing Epstein's idea of an "interpretive frame," 3 this empirical study contributes to ongoing debates on whether and how genocides and other atrocities can be meaningfully compared in the history classroom. 4 Furthermore, it questions whether using Holocaust education as a "bridge" 5 to domestic injustices and persecution will significantly improve historical understanding, tolerance, and moral reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African War of 1899−1902, between Great Britain and the Boer states, marked by British victory, garnered extensive international attention, thus offering a compelling case study on the influence of modern propaganda globally. European and American audiences closely monitored the conflict between the ‘mighty’ British Empire and the ‘little white Christians’. Employing critical analysis, this article scrutinises Ottoman intellectuals’ pro-British propaganda and their stance on the war. Utilising sources like Young Turk publications and memoirs, particularly focusing on Ismail Kemal Vlora’s work ‘The Question of Transvaal’ (1900), it sheds light on their efforts to legitimise British imperialism in South Africa and beyond. Vlora played a pivotal role in leading the Anglophile faction amongst Ottoman statesmen and intelligentsia and his writings offer crucial insights into their perspectives. This study aims to comprehend the views of Anglophile Ottoman intellectuals on colonialism, imperialism, and civilisation, alongside their advocacy for Britain. Centred on Ottoman perspectives of the war, with supplementary attention to colonial South African history, this research unveils how and why the Southern African conflict impacted Ottoman intelligentsia. This study is embedded within the broader context of the South African War’s substantial international ramifications, emphasising its relevance to global historical discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study reported on here was to explore the implementation of learner integration and its challenges in a selected former Model C school. This is an expansion of the findings of a larger study, "Understanding and enhancing of learner integration in a selected ex-model C school" by Theresia Joakim Kanyopa. Based on South Africa's history, the term "former Model C" (also ex Model C) is still commonly used to describe those schools that were formerly Whites-only but are now multiracial schools. Learner integration is a major issue in global contemporary education practice. Contemporary literature on learner integration in former Model C schools reveals complex impediments. Some of the impediments are essentially beyond the capabilities and competencies of learners, teachers and principals. In this article we argue that the lack of an effectively designed practice is central to the impediments to learner integration. This was a qualitative case study grounded within the critical research paradigm, hence the critical emancipatory research (CER) theoretical framework was adopted. We used purposive and convenience sampling to select the research site and participants. Four Grade 11 learners (2 boys and 2 girls) were purposively selected because of their availability and willingness to participate in the study. Their ages were between 16 and 19 years. Data were generated through interviews and reflective writing. Importantly, to achieve successful learner integration in former Model C schools, we affirm that these schools must revise their practices, programmes and policies to create an integrative learning environment that ensures learner safety and an environment that supports, develops end enhances their academic goals. The findings from the study indicate that learner integration in former Model C schools can be successfully done by valuing the learners' diversities regardless of their backgrounds, ethnic groups, status or races. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social and political history of South Africa yielded massive transformation in the higher education landscape, including access to education and the merger of universities. Despite the many successes of transformation, it brought with it challenges such as increasing participation, student retention, throughput, and graduation rates; changes in government funding models; declining student subsidies and providing quality education with limited resources. The South African higher education sector is multi-faceted, and students have a wide range of higher education options. This study explored factors influencing decision-making of first-year students when selecting a university. Data was collected from first-year students and employees at a University of Technology. Through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the researchers analysed the complex factors that guide students' decision-making when selecting a university. The findings revealed that factors significantly influencing decision-making on university selection are, the reputation and quality of university programmes offered, response time and support provided by staff; location; and infrastructure and facilities. This research is significant in that it will assist higher education institutions, particularly marketing and communications departments to be more responsive to students' needs by shifting toward active engagement in its marketing and recruitment approaches to attract, retain, and satisfy students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses specifically on post-apartheid representations of Eugene de Kock, who is seen as one of the bookends to the first, more optimistic, phase of South Africa's post-apartheid moment. The other bookend, also discussed briefly here, is Nelson Mandela, the country's first democratically elected president. De Kock was a notorious apartheid-era assassin and commanding officer of Vlakplaas, infamously associated with the extra-judicial torture and execution of anti-apartheid freedom fighters in the 1980s. I isolate this time-frame, from Mandela to de Kock, to comment specifically on what can be seen as a distortion of temporality in South African public life – a kind of disjuncture between time and history, to use David Scott's formulation (2). I argue that this distortion is characteristic of the post-revolutionary present, not only in South Africa, but in many other parts of the world where a struggle for freedom terminates in a neoliberal order. The figure of the prison is central to this discussion: indeed, the prison is understood as one of the privileged sites where meaning is made and contested in the imagination of a national identity. Also central to this discussion is Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela's remarkably prescient 2003 book about her encounters with de Kock in the 'C-Max' section of Pretoria Central prison, A Human Being Died That Night. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the historical significance of ox wagons in South Africa and their impact on urban heritage. Despite the introduction of railways, ox wagons continued to be used for transportation until the early 1900s. They played a crucial role in the diamond diggings and the development of cities like Pretoria and Johannesburg. During the Second South African War, ox wagons were used to supply troops, and the article highlights the contributions of African and "Coloured" transport drivers during this time. The author emphasizes the lasting imprint of ox wagons on South Africa's urban landscape. [Extracted from the article]

• Forty-seven Quercus species (oaks) were recorded in South Africa. • Several taxa are naturalising and invading in South Africa. • Naturalisation is limited to the urban-wildland interface and riparian corridors. • Riverbank steepness can mediate oak naturalisation in a riparian corridor. • iNaturalist is a useful tool for studying the invasion ecology of alien species. Hundreds of species of alien trees have been introduced and widely cultivated in South Africa, and many species have become invasive. Despite their long residence time and widespread cultivation, little is known about the introduction history, current status, and invasion ecology of oaks (genus Quercus) in South Africa. This study reviews various aspects of the genus Quercus in South Africa. We determine the number of oak species present, assess their introduction status, map their distribution, highlight areas of putative naturalisation, and evaluate the usefulness of the community science platform iNaturalist for assessing these factors. We also conducted a field study to elucidate environmental factors that can mediate invasibility in a riparian zone. A literature search was conducted to review events associated with the introduction, cultivation and naturalisation of oaks and associated pests and diseases in South Africa. Records of Quercus species in South Africa were collated from herbaria, arboreta, the Southern African Plant Invader Atlas, the Plants of Southern Africa database and iNaturalist. A field study was conducted along the Eerste River in Stellenbosch to elucidate the role of environmental factors in mediating naturalisation. We found records of 47 Quercus taxa in South Africa which were refined to a list of 22 to 34 species likely present. The earliest record was for Quercus robur in 1656 but first records for most species date from between the late 1800s to the early 1900s. More than 99 % of presence and naturalisation records were of the ten commonly cultivated species. Quercus palustris, Q. robur , and Q. suber were categorised as invasive, and putative naturalisation was documented for Q. acutissima, Q. canariensis, Q. cerris, Q. ilex , and Q. nigra. Most naturalisation occurred at the urban-wildland interface and in riparian vegetation in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Steepness of the riverbank was found to affect seedling recruitment in riparian areas. iNaturalist records shed new light on the presence, distribution, and introduction status of Quercus species in South Africa. However, taxonomic complexity and data quality complicated attempts to develop a robust inventory of Quercus in South Africa. Molecular studies are needed to achieve better resolution. Nonetheless, this study has greatly improved our understanding of the distribution and status of oaks in South Africa, with implications for their management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural heritage practitioners and activists in South Africa engage in community autoethnography both in process and in the product. We spent over seven years collaborating with post-conflict museums that include community autoethnographic products in their tours and/or exhibits. This collaborative research focused on oral storytelling as adopted by the museum guides. This storytelling includes community visual autoethnographic products that engage the viewer in a performative manner. One example of such products is cairns. These sacred sites are similar in structure to those found in the landscapes across the world, including in South Africa, and are mostly linked to the indigenous hunter-gatherers or the early herders or farmers. However, the cairns focused upon in this paper memorialize three historical eras in the South African history of conflict and reconciliation: colonial conflict between the Voortrekkers and the British and the isiZulu-speaking people in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1800s; forced removals in Cape Town in the 1960s to 1980s; and the dawn of democracy in the 1990s after the release of President Nelson Mandela. The research identifies some of the elements of cairns that give them global relevance, and posits guidelines for post- and present-conflict communities on how cairns as community autoethnographic heritage sites can still evolve and stimulate sustainable community relevance and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the midst of the twentieth century, a South African musician and composer named Solomon Linda wrote "Mbube." "Mbube" never prospered to the heights reached by its foreign progeny, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Disney accrued millions of dollars capitalizing on Linda's magnum opus, while Linda died a pauper. In the aftermath, the postcolonial Republic of South Africa remains scarred and reminiscent of the abject atrocities of Western encroachment. Thus, when the American-incubated doctrine of fair use, a provision that allows for the usage of copyrighted works for an infinite number of purposes, introduced itself at the doors of the National Assembly of Parliament, it was to no one's surprise that the South African public strongly resisted the doctrine which they feared would expose their works to Western exploitation. As a result, President Ramaphosa reserved the fair use doctrine, and referred the Bill back to parliament for breach of international law and deprivation of the constitutional right of property. This Article examines these two postulations, inter alia, and confutes the omnipresent misconceptions of fair use that have been promulgated throughout South Africa by several competing interest groups. It begins by delving into the history of copyrights in South Africa all the way to the introduction of the fair use doctrine in 2015. The Article then discusses the context revolving around the introduction of fair use, which portrays the numerous perceptions projected by the South African copyright industry, the academic sector, tech companies and conglomerates, the print disabled, and US and European delegates. Those that impugn the doctrine conjecture that it is in breach of the Berne Convention's Three-Step Test, deprives authors of their constitutional right to property, is incongruous with other specific copyright exceptions, and is incoherent and uncertain. This Article proves that these postulations are baseless and stem exogenously from competing copyright industries and alliances to generate a dubiety visà-vis its legal status. This dubiety is devised to repel the proliferation of the fair use doctrine globally, while it remains intact and unimpinged domestically. This Article concludes that South Africa should base its legislative affairs solely on its own interests, impervious to the cynical perspectives of exogenous nations and alliances that could care less about its affluence or the welfare of its people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a current MA study that addresses the research problem, "What issues and insights about the role of digital archives in the preservation of South African cultural history are raised via the production of an archival documentary and archival website on the life and art of the late sculptor Mr. Bonginkosi Michael Gasa?". This study hopes to show, through the presentation of research and archival material curated thus far, not only the importance of the role archival documentary film and the digital platform play in the preservation of heritage but also how this archival project promotes the idea of an African gaze, which is essential for preserving an authentic cultural voice and heritage. This study is conducted by following a practice-led slant, meaning the research primarily leads to new information about the practice. In this case, the practice will investigate the key elements that go into the production of an archival documentary and secondly the digital archiving of the project online. Mr Bonginkosi Michael Gasa was a sculptor who passed away on the 18th of April 2019 at the age of 55. The film about Mr. Gasa will be reported in a critical reflexive MA dissertation, which will also serve to elucidate the critical, theoretical, and cultural matrix from which the film emerges. The documentary film will be preserved on a website, which will also serve as an online repository, curation, and record of Mr. Gasa's sculptures. In detailing the study thus far, this paper aims to highlight the potential of digital archives to preserve marginalized voices, such as Michael Bonginkosi Gasa, whose life and work would otherwise remain largely unknown. Moreso, this paper and study hope to show that archives exist to be used for present and future generations, and in this way, to preserve our national heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Second World War was characterised by battles and intelligence networks, it also involved cases of treason and military legal processes – and South Africa was no exception. The South African involvement in the war produced high treason cases, but trials of those historical figures who worked “behind the scenes” are occasionally neglected within academic literature on the South African history surrounding the Second World War. An example of such is the case of high treason of four Afrikaner men accused of broadcasting propaganda from Radio Zeesen to South Africa in Afrikaans, with the aim of jeopardising the South African war effort. This propaganda was carried out strategically within the context of existing Afrikaner resistance against participation in the war. The four accused were Sidney Erich Holm, Jan Adriaan Strauss, Johannes Jacobus Snoek, and Michael Johannes Pienaar. This article focuses on the trials of the four men accused as a series of lesser-known cases in South African history. The aim of the article is to provide a historical narrative of the cases. After providing the necessary contextualisation, the positions of the prosecution and defence, as well as the verdicts of the trials will be outlined. The objective of this article is not to offer a detailed analysis of the criminal justice procedure or the laws surrounding the cases, but rather to make a historiographic contribution to an overlooked aspect of South African history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generational experiences create unique contextualised meanings for society. This is the case with millennials in South Africa, many of whom use social media to organise their lives and engage with issues pertinent to them, such as South Africa being a rainbow nation. Some of these millennials are history teachers who, when at work, have to teach an official history which may contradict some of their social media engagements. This motivated this article of which the aim was to identify the dominant conversations when relating to the rainbow nation among a selected group of Black millennial history teachers. In this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) we used a qualitative approach in which 10 participants were involved in photo elicitation, semi-structured interviews, and focus-group discussions. Data were thematically analysed. The findings reflect millennials mainly engaged with violence, coloniality, victory, unity, and identity. The findings further suggest that the discourses were both contending and overlapping. We argue that millennial history teachers in South Africa hold different views about the rainbow nation: even though they paint the notion with predominant negativity, there is evidence of underlying positivity about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of lockdown measures as a response to the spread of COVID-19 has increased the vulnerability of households to several human security issues. Using a desktop systematic review approach, the paper attempts an explanation of violence and unrest from the theoretical lens of the frustration-aggression theory. It discusses violence as a form of agency in South Africa and contextualises contemporary experiences in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic and the July 2021 protest, as well as the implication of such violence for the South African socio-political and economic sphere going forward. The paper argues that while South African history is bedevilled by violence, the vulnerability of the people due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic provided a breeding ground for frustration and the eventual violent unrest in many parts of South Africa. Therefore, the extensive looting of malls, warehouses, and distributors that greeted the July 2021 protest was only a product of South Africa's historical inequality and worsening state of affairs. The paper concludes that the unrest was mainly triggered by structural and historical socio-economic configurations rooted in extreme poverty and wide economic inequality. That becomes apparent in unemployment, deprivations, physical hardships, a failing or collapsing state, and state institutions and services underlined by neo-patrimonial practices and political failures, thereby leading to violence as a response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of Sol Plaatje's Mafeking Diary, one of the best-known episodes of the South African War of 1899-1902. This article sets out the reasons why this should be celebrated. We look at how Plaatje's diary came to be written, at the ideas and assumptions that Plaatje brought to the task of writing it, and we describe its most important qualities and characteristics. Why is it that, compared with his other writings, Plaatje's diary has been relatively neglected and under-appreciated? We look for the answers in the inclination of historians to approach the diary as a source of evidence rather than as a work in its own right; of literary scholars to focus on literary forms more familiar than the indeterminate genre of the diary; and the way in which the weight of subsequent South African history has made it difficult for a wider reading public to appreciate the nuances of a work written over a century ago. We argue that the Diary needs to be understood in the context of the particular circumstances of the late nineteenth-century Cape Colony, and that it should be celebrated and enjoyed--as a piece of writing of the highest order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a tribute to Iain Robertson Smith, a historian of South Africa who passed away in December 2021. The author highlights Smith's contributions to South African historical writing and expresses the hope that his work will not be forgotten. Smith's academic career included teaching at various South African institutions and writing extensively on topics such as the South African war and trends in South African historical writing. He was known for his meticulous research and critical approach to scholarship. Smith's last major project focused on the concentration camps of the South African war. Overall, Smith was a respected and influential figure in the field of South African history. [Extracted from the article]

Myosorex varius is a South African generalist shrew, which has been found to consist of several genetic clades across its range. A northern clade inhabits the more mesic, summer-rainfall areas of grassland and savannah in the east of South Africa. A southern clade occupies areas of fynbos in the south, and can be further divided into a western subclade occupying winter-rainfall areas and an eastern subclade occupying areas with aseasonal rainfall. Non-South-African members of the African genus Myosorex primarily are limited to isolated montane habitats along the East African Rift System. Here, we used palaeoclimatic niche modelling to examine the effects of Pliocene and Pleistocene climate change on the distributions of M. varius, its clades and the genus as a whole. Results indicate that repeated cycles of range expansion during glacial periods and fragmentation during interglacials are responsible for current phylogeographic patterns within M. varius. Based on their close alignment with rainfall zones and lack of genetic mixing despite areas of contact, it is likely that these (sub)clades are locally adapted to their respective areas. Earlier climatic fluctuations allowed the genus to 'island hop' south from East Africa along the East African Rift System, expanding in range during cooler periods and retreating to montane refugia during warmer periods. Areas currently occupied by Myosorex species largely correspond with predicted montane refugia that have allowed them to survive previous warm periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes a keynote address given by Professor June Bam-Hutchison at a history teaching conference in South Africa. Professor Bam-Hutchison discusses the relevance of her previous book, focusing on xenophobia and racism in South Africa. She emphasizes the importance of "deep listening" in history education and challenges Western-based knowledge production processes to incorporate indigenous perspectives. The article also addresses the impact of colonialism on indigenous knowledge and the need for a more inclusive approach to historical understanding. It concludes by discussing the importance of listening to the disappearing sounds of nature and living for future generations. [Extracted from the article]

This article argues that complex substantive knowledge in South African school history textbooks may challenge learners who struggle with reading and comprehension. While debates continue about the balance of substantive and procedural knowledge, both fundamental elements of history knowledge (Lee, 2004), this study employs a qualitative analysis of the substantive content within a Bernsteinian framework. Seven purposively sampled history textbooks, covering grade 3 to grade 9, across the foundation, intermediate, and senior phases of the South African school curriculum are analysed using Maton's (2013) language descriptions of context and semantics as conceptual tools. Additionally, nominalisation techniques (Coffin, 2006) are used to examine language in the text. Findings indicate significant growth in substantive knowledge manifesting through time, space, context, and semantics.1 Substantive knowledge shifts from a rudimentary and contextualised nature to a more abstract and dense form, including domain-specific conceptual knowledge. Advancing grades produce decontextualised knowledge with heightened semantic density. Increased events under study accompany greater participant diversity. A History student working with these materials would need to be highly proficient in language skills and also capable of processing substantial volumes of abstract content knowledge. Alarming statistics from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Department of Basic Education, 2023) reveal that 81% of grade 4 learners struggle with comprehension in any language, ranking South Africa at the bottom of 57 countries. It is likely that learners would encounter difficulties with the substantive knowledge evident in these textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on the radical indigenous resistance tradition, which predated the emergence of Garveyism as a form of Afrikan philosophy of liberation is scarce in South African politics and history. Robert Edgar and Robert Vinson have contributed to the literature on the influence of Garveyism in South Africa in the 1920s. However, their scholarship does not delve into the emergence of the radical indigenous resistance tradition which was a reaction to conquest since 1652 in wars of colonization in South Africa. This paper seeks to remedy this gap by discussing this radical indigenous resistance tradition which we designate as the Indigenous Fundamentalist Tradition. This paper will utilize the historical analytical framework to provide a brief outline of the cause and elements of this tradition. We will rely on historical research design to discuss how, upon its arrival in the 1920s, Garveyism regalvanised this radical indigenous resistance tradition. The first objective of the paper is to foreground the convergence of the intellectual and political endeavours of people of Afrikan descent (continent and diaspora) in their struggle against global white supremacy. The second objective is to contribute to the eventual hegemony of the combined radicalism of the Indigenous Fundamentalist Tradition and Garveyism which is a marginalized issue in the literature on Afrikan nationalism and the Black Radical Tradition in South Africa. This paper will provide a brief intellectual portrait of Lembede to argue that through his political philosophy of Afrikanism he encapsulated the convergence of the Indigenous Fundamentalist Tradition and Garveyism. This is in order to lay the foundation for the foregrounding of Lembede's idea of Afrika for the Afrikans as an alternative paradigm regarding the national question in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central premise of this article is that the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence has not adequately interpreted and applied the environmental right enshrined in Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. In a time of socio-ecological crises, including due to climate change, and given the crucial role that environmental constitutionalism (the treatment of the environment as a proper subject of protection in constitutional texts, to be enforced by courts) can play in responding to the justice implications of such crises, the article argues that the Court should take up the mantle. To lay the foundation for the argument, the article briefly sketches the recent history of South Africa's environmental rights jurisprudence by contrasting the limited 'environmental rights moments' in the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence with several promising developments in the High Courts and the Supreme Court of Appeal. Thereafter, the article engages with transformative environmental constitutionalism as a nascent theoretical approach that could stimulate the emergence of justice-oriented environmental rights jurisprudence from the Constitutional Court in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to assess the role of political power and politics in selecting, creating and preserving Liberation Movement archives in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: A review of literature focusing on liberations archives was carried out. Findings: Politics and the associated power play an essential role in the selection, creation and preservation of liberation movement archives. The study found out that the African National Congress (ANC) selected the University of Fort Hare as the center to preserve liberation movements repatriated from all over the world to South Africa. The National Archives of South Africa did not play a role in the preservation of liberation movement archives. The study also noted that there existed an ineffective collaboration between the ANC and the National Archives of South Africa regarding the preservation of liberation movements archives. Research limitations/implications: The study focused on the liberation movement archives created by the ANC of South Africa only. Social implications: The establishment of liberation archives may promote social cohesion. Originality/value: The liberation movement archives are a part of the history of South Africa and present perspectives on the history of the liberation of South Africa. This study, which builds on the post-colonial scholarship on liberation movement archives, discussed the significance of liberation archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on Garveyism as a form of Afrikan philosophy of liberation is scarce in South African politics and history. Robert Edgar and Robert Vinson have laid the foundation for scholarship on the influence of the Garvey movement in South Africa. However, their scholarship does not delve into political philosophy as a component of Afrikan philosophy, especially the national-ideological tradition. This paper will rely on historical research design to discuss the political philosophy of Anton Lembede, who was influenced by Garveyism to formulate his political philosophy of Afrikanism. This paper will utilise the historical analytical framework to provide a brief intellectual portrait of Lembede to substantiate the argument that his political philosophy of Afrikanism was influenced by Garveyism. Because this paper is about the Black Radical Tradition in South Africa, it will depart from the fundamental premise that a radical indigenous tradition of resistance preceded the arrival of Garveyism in South Africa. The main objective of the paper is to delineate this indigenous radical tradition, which we call the Indigenous Fundamentalist Tradition. The second objective is to show that this resistance tradition was infused with Garveyism upon its arrival to lay the foundation for Lembede's Afrikanism as an expression of the Black Radical Tradition in South Africa. The main argument is that Lembede's political philosophy of Afrikanism is a combination of the indigenous radical tradition of resistance against conquest since 1652 and Garveyism through the battle cry of Afrika for the Afrikans. This regalvanisation encapsulates the combined impact of Garveyism, Lembede's Afrikanism, and the Black Radical Tradition as the Afrikan masses were radicalised and became more militant in confronting white supremacy and white settler colonialism in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"President Mandela's Admiral: The South African Navy's Story of the 1990s" is a book review that discusses the significance of Vice-Admiral Robert Simpson-Anderson's autobiography in South African naval historiography. The book provides a history of the South African Navy during the 1990s, focusing on Simpson-Anderson's tenure as chief of the Navy from 1992 to 2000. It highlights the challenges faced by the Navy during this period, including the transition to a democratic South Africa and the need to adapt to a broader national strategy. The book also explores Simpson-Anderson's relationships with political leaders, his efforts to re-establish naval partnerships, and the Navy's role in international events. Overall, the review recommends the book as an insightful and revealing read that contributes to an important era in South African naval history. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the reception of the contraceptive implant, Implanon, by healthcare workers and patients in family planning units in South Africa's public health sector. Based on observations conducted at public health facilities in the Eastern Cape Province, and on interviews with nurses and patients in the same province, the study explored real-world experiences of the implant. This article examines the strategies used by nurses to promote use of the device, and explores how patients themselves responded to a widescale, national rollout of the implant within government family planning services. The study examines the reception of Implanon in the context of the post-Apartheid era in South Africa, in which the vestiges of Apartheid-era healthcare provision, and lack thereof, continue to animate personal experiences of contraception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of marine protected areas (MPAs) depends on their governance and management. We review their history in South Africa and recognise four periods. Period 1 (1964–1994) provided initial protection but was based on exclusionary, preservationist policies, was ad hoc in the absence of a national plan, and neglected social considerations. Period 2 (1994–2010) began introducing people-oriented policies, focused on ecosystems rather than species, and was strengthened by the formation of a national coordinating body. Period 3 (2010–2019) heralded improvements in design, ecosystem representation and stakeholder engagement, yet fractured governance hindered coordination and management. Period 4 (Since 2019) added challenges in managing new offshore MPAs. Progress in achieving effective MPA governance and management was assessed over these periods for 17 components of governance and management, representing key issues for which changes could be identified throughout. Fifteen components indicated overall improvements—most notably legislation and policies, MPA establishment, planning and design, and staff training and skills—whereas progress for most of the other components was weaker. Zero net gains were recorded for enforcement and compliance, and for the staff complement. Our recommendations flow principally from components assessed as faring poorly. We conclude with eight critical needs: (1) specify detailed objectives for every MPA; (2) fast-track management plans for new MPAs; (3) improve law enforcement and compliance; (4) enhance participation of adjacent communities and other stakeholders; (5) address MPA-related social impacts and injustices, and improve benefit sharing; (6) ensure financial sustainability; (7) strengthen evaluations of management effectiveness; and (8) improve cooperation between government authorities responsible for MPAs and fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being an integral part of the country's sporting identity, the history of competitive archery remains a neglected area of South Africa's sports history. Following its establishment in the 1860s as an elitist recreational activity characterised by social gatherings and merrymaking, it gradually developed into a well-organised and nationally coordinated sport during the 20th century. En route, it intersected with issues such as race, gender, professionalism, and politics, all of which collectively shaped its South African character. Due to a lack of original archives, none of the affiliated members of Archery South Africa have thus far documented their own illustrious past. This article, using the literature on artefact biographies, reconstructs the history of both South African and Free State archery with the aid of a small number of artefacts in the collection of the National Museum, Bloemfontein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Africa, remnants of colonisation and the effects of coloniality have influenced childhood in ways dissimilar to those in other parts of the world. Objectives: This article contests against universalised theorising of children, advocates for Afrocentric approaches to childhood studies on African children, and makes a case for Afrocentric pedagogy in the psychology of child sexual violence and childhood trauma. Methodology: The arguments in this article are informed by a rapid review of doctoral research on the history of violence in South Africa and developmental theory to understand how children make meaning of the experience of sexual violence-related trauma. Results: South Africa's history of colonisation and Apartheid significantly contributes to child outcomes. Decolonial thought and African-centered theorising must be applied to childhood studies in Africa for a contextual understanding of African childhoods. They must centre on the needs and worldviews of Africans. Conclusion: Education is an instrument of enculturation; therefore, pedagogy should reflect the people it studies. The methods and practice in teaching childhood studies in psychology in Africa must humanise both children and professionals. Contribution: The article addresses the questions of relevance in childhood studies in Africa and advances recommendations for how academics and practitioners in childhood sexual violence and psychology should work with complex knowledge in childhood studies pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the disciplines and ages, the human body has been approached as complex, political, and mysterious. Caught in an intricate socio-cultural fabric, it acquires and projects multiple patterns of symbolism, seized by literature to convey deep realities and perplexing themes. The body has become to be recognised as an eloquent metaphor forpostcolonial writers, effectively staging the resistance to colonial practices and discourse. It isfrom the insides of such a body that the strange voice of a worm emerges and recounts its memories in Nadine Gordimer's short story, "Tape Measure," from Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories (2007). Drawing on the insights of trauma studies, this paperfocuses on the body as a metaphor to show how its use addresses the problematics of memory reconstruction and its limitations in the South African context. The unnatural voice of the worm articulates South African history as an abject "body" marked by "filthy" crimes, proposing the legacy of racism as an "excremental" practice that stains South African reality. The analogy finds its purchase in Julia Kristeva's theorisa-tion of the "abject" as "lack of cleanliness" and "monstrous"; history, thus, emerges as dark and deformed, and memories are hard to "expel." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African schools are governed by the South African Constitution of 1996 which prescribes the promotion of democratic values. This prescription cascades down to inform the Curriculum and Policy Statement (CAPS) that provides a curriculum policy framework for implementation. Schools are not only centring of learning that provide the rudiments and foundations of future learning, but indispensable centres for socialisation and transmission of social norms, values, and appropriate social behaviours. South African teachers have the mammoth task of being both the transmitters, role models, and teachers of democratic values as enshrined in the South African Constitution. The main question this study seeks to answer is: how can primary school history lessons be utilised to inculcate democratic values? Teaching democratic values through history lessons in primary schools remains a paradox, in the sense that, as a teacher you have to teach what is in the textbook, without being bias even though as a teacher you might you might have a different opinion on. Moreover, the inconsistencies in the era of fake news, conspiracy theories within the South African context, as well as challenges of racial polarisation, economic deprivation, unemployment, and heightened social inequality have exacerbated the inconsistencies in history teaching. Thus, teaching democratic values in South African primary schools has become more important than ever before to mitigate the plethora of these challenges. The present study engages the Qualitative Content Analysis method to analyse qualitative data from documented information in texts, media, and academic articles. It is underpinned by the Ubuntu African Philosophy and it concludes that there is an alignment between the democratic values and the CAPS Policy document. Findings also point to the critical role of history teachers to inculcate democratic values, and use appropriate knowledge that must be based on facts and evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The History Ministerial Task Team Report (HMTT) on the proposed compulsory school history in South Africa was made public in February 2018. Ever since, it has generated many debates and concerns among in- and pre-service history educators, History (of) Education scholars as well as the general public. Many of these concerns are premised on the fear that there is an attempt, at least by the state, through the work of the HMTT to (re)capture school history. This (re)capture, some argue, would deliver a school history that is both nationalist and patriotic in its approach, and glorifies only the African National Congress's (ANC) role in history, much in the same way as the apartheid curriculum glorified the role of the National Party (NP), Afrikaner nationalism and white supremacy thinking. However, we are convinced that there might as well be a different reading of the HMTT and its Report; thus, a different form of (re)capture. In this paper, we will explore, theorise and reflect on the HMTT's work and Report, as well as recent scholarly debates regarding the HMTT itself and its Report. This we do by employing the notion of (re)capture as our theoretical framework which is derived from the current 'state capture' discourse in South Africa. We then use this theoretical lens to review literature on the contested epistemic nature of school history, as well as to read and make sense of the HMTT and its Report. We conclude that those who argue that there are indeed attempts to (re)capture the school history for narrow nationalistic aspirations which are nativist in nature, provide us with a different reading of the HMTT and its report. We contend that the form of (re)capture advanced by the HMTT, and its Report is for a greater cause related to current calls for decolonisation and Africanisation of school history in post-apartheid South Africa -- where the colonised ways of knowing and being can also take centre stage in the historical literature and where cognitive, epistemic, existential, and ontological justice is realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History education in post-apartheid South Africa addresses topics that are highly salient to the concept of race. To make sense of colonialism, slavery, the Holocaust, and most notably apartheid, students require an understanding of what race is, and how it has been used to justify discriminatory and unjust behaviour. The South African Curriculum and Policy Statements for Grade 9 History therefore devotes two hours to a topic on "the definition of race" (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011a: 43). However, what are students learning about 'the definition of race' from their history education? In this article, we draw on our experience as a history educator and history education researcher to argue that students often develop inaccurate and unhelpful understandings of race. This is partially since both the South African history curricula and textbooks describe race as a "myth" (DBE, 2011a, 43; Bottaro, Cohen, Dilley, Duffett, & Visser, 2013) with no scientific or evolutionary basis. Hence, students who learn that race is a 'myth' understandably struggle to understand discourses and policies that refer to racial identity and are at risk of misunderstanding theories of evolution. While we agree that the concept of race has no legitimate scientific basis, we nonetheless argue that students require an historical understanding of race; one that demonstrates how racial identities have been constructed in different ways and for different purposes over time. Such an approach would introduce students to the extensive historiography of the construction of race (e.g. DuBois, 1940; Dubow, 1995). By understanding race as a construct rather than a myth, we suggest that students will be better able to engage with the legacies of racialised violence as well as the ways in which racial identity is a legitimate source of meaning for many South Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 37th South African Society for History Teaching (SASHT) Conference took place on October 3-4, 2023, at the University of Johannesburg. The conference focused on the theme of "History Education, where are we going?" and included presentations and discussions on various topics related to history education, such as the history curriculum, teaching challenges, historical consciousness, controversial issues, and sports history. The conference was attended by 70 participants, including preservice teachers, curriculum designers, postgraduate students, university lecturers, and historical researchers from South Africa and around the world. The keynote address highlighted the silences in South African history, particularly the absence of women and marginalized communities. The conference provided a valuable learning environment for both presenters and attendees, fostering discussions and multiple perspectives. The success of the conference was attributed to the collaboration between the organizing partners and the assistance of Dr. Valencia Mabalane's students. Networking opportunities were also created for both new and former conference attendees. [Extracted from the article]

"Red Road to Freedom: A History of the South African Communist Party, 1921–2021" by Tom Lodge is a comprehensive account of the South African Communist Party's (SACP) role in the country's struggle against apartheid and its contribution to the realization of post-apartheid democracy. The book draws from party records, personal archives, and members' histories to provide a nuanced understanding of the SACP's influence on various liberation movements, particularly the African National Congress (ANC). It covers the party's early years, underground activism, collaboration with the ANC, and its role in the armed struggle. The author also explores the party's relationship with trade unions, its internal divisions, and its ongoing commitment to Marxist-Leninist principles. The book concludes by examining the SACP's position in the post-communist era and its continued relevance in the face of neoliberal policies. [Extracted from the article]

This document provides brief biographical information about various contributors to the Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History. The contributors come from diverse academic backgrounds and research interests, including topics such as Francophone African literature, Russian literature, the Slave Bible, colonial and postcolonial studies, urban space in Hong Kong, postcolonial theory, British and French imperial history, British-Spanish economic and political relationships, British social history in colonial South Asia, South African history, and colonial and postcolonial encounters between France and North Africa. The document highlights the contributors' qualifications, research areas, and recent publications. [Extracted from the article]

After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South Africa, it is worthwhile considering how some of the concerns that originally animated that scholarship have evolved and also how such concerns are today reflected differently away from primary cities (where much earlier research was conducted). In this commentary, I explore the unique history of Stellenbosch, a university town/secondary city 50 km away from Cape Town. Stellenbosch's own unique history of—and recent developments with regard to—public (male) same-sex expression help set into relief earlier scholarship and also points towards some future research questions that may also be applicable elsewhere on the African continent. While, as made clear, Stellenbosch is in some key instances unique in terms of its sexualized and raced history both in South Africa and the wider continent, its position as what we might increasingly want to frame as a secondary city, its particular racial composition, and also its changing spaces of socio-sexual interaction since the COVID-19 pandemic gesture towards key areas of potentially generative wider research interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factors such as subsistence turnover, warfare, or interaction between different groups can be major sources of cultural change in human populations. Global demographic shifts such as the transition to agriculture during the Neolithic and more recently the urbanization and globalization of the twentieth century have been major catalysts for cultural change. Here, we test whether cultural traits such as patri/matrilocality and postmarital migration persist in the face of social upheaval and gene flow during the past 150 years in postcolonial South Africa. The recent history of South Africa has seen major demographic shifts that resulted in the displacement and forced sedentism of indigenous Khoekhoe and San populations. During the expansion of the colonial frontier, the Khoe-San admixed with European colonists and enslaved individuals from West/Central Africa, Indonesia, and South Asia, introducing novel cultural norms. We conducted demographic interviews among Nama and Cederberg communities representing nearly 3,000 individuals across three generations. Despite the history of colonial expansion, and the subsequent incorporation of Khoe-San and Khoe-San-descendant communities into a colonial society with strong patrilocal norms, patrilocality is the least common postmarital residence pattern in our study populations today. Our results suggest that more recent forces of integration into the market economy are likely the primary drivers of change in the cultural traits examined in our study. Birthplace had a strong effect on an individual's odds of migration, distance moved, and postmarital residence form. These effects are at least partially explained by the population size of the birthplace. Our results suggest that market factors local to birthplaces are important drivers of residence decisions, although the frequency of matrilocal residence and a geographic and temporal cline in migration and residence patterns also indicate the persistence of some historic Khoe-San cultural traits in contemporary groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jimmy Dixon was a notable personality in South African boxing in both the middle- and heavyweight division for more than a decade. As a result of his successes in the boxing ring, he was a highly regarded fighter. For lack of opportunity because of his race, Dixon, being of "mixed-race" or Coloured ethnicity, ventured overseas and successfully fought in both Argentina and Brazil for a brief period. Dixon's achievements are largely unknown beyond a brief mention in Chris Greyvenstein's publication, The Fighters, and grouping amongst the "dark pioneers" of South African boxing,. This article attempts to reconstruct Dixon's fighting career in order to place a fuller account of his eventful life in the mainstream of South Africa's sporting and boxing history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between October 29th and November 5th, 1910, The Pageant of South Africa was performed by a cast of thousands before mass audiences in a new stadium on Cape Town's Green Point common. It was recorded on film as well as in numerous still photographs. Well-rehearsed amateur actors reenacted "living tableaux" from the past--playing San and Khoekhoe, Portuguese and Dutch and Malay, British and Boers and Basotho. The period after the 1860s was represented by a masque or dance of figures symbolising war and strife, eventually dispersed by the "rainbow children" of peace and unity. The show drew on the current fad for "New Pageantry" in Britain and North America, but was organised by a committee of the Cape Town city council financed by the new Union government, with a scenario derived from George McCall Theal's popular single volume history of South Africa (7th edition 1910). A pioneer short feature film made of the pageant captivated bioscope audiences during the boom of newly constructed cinemas in southern Africa and overseas, and helped to institutionalise the outline of white Cape-centred historiography in schools and popular imagination. But the "liberal" premise of the film was overtaken by corrective-narratives, stressing Transvaal and KwaZulu-Natal heritage, in longer more sophisticated "historical epic" movies produced soon afterwards: De Voortrekkers, or Winning a Continent (1916) and The Symbol of Sacrifice (1918). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper initiates a watermark database that authenticates dates and origins for paper at the Cape Colony during the period of Dutch administration (1652–1795). Since surveys of watermarks used in mainland Europe do not adequately correspond to those used at the Cape, it is important to examine paper from the Cape. This article presents the first survey of such watermarks by studying the paper used by the Dutch East India Company (the VOC) to minute the Resolusies (Resolutions) of the Council of Policy meetings, connecting those watermarks with the dates of specific governors, commissioners, and chambers. The survey accomplishes three tasks: it allows for the tracing of paper routes and knowledge networks in the early modern world, it reinforces the reliability of historical records for this period of Cape and South African history, and it improves accuracy for establishing sources for the paper and its watermarks, wherever they ultimately end up. Since the Cape did not have a printing press until after the period of Dutch administration, the weight of handwritten tradition was important in the communication and dissemination of ideas, more so than elsewhere in the colonial world. A watermark database based on VOC archives would therefore be a valuable aid to the study of the manuscript culture of this region, which is still too little known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article reinterprets historical works on the history of medicine in South Africa and how present-day Afrikaner home-based healing therapies known as Boererate engage with this history. By reinterpreting historical sources, we illustrate how Boer women in concentration camps during the South African War were waging an ideological war. We argue that there is a distinction between the creolised medicines that Boer women took into the concentration camps and the body of knowledge — Boererate — that emerged from the camps after the women were released. The article brings archival research and interviews with interlocutors into conversation to show how a knowledge system like Boererate has persisted through time and become very popular in online forums and Facebook groups during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article is part of a wider project investigating Boererate in historical and diverse contemporary contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isabel Hofmeyr's latest book begins with stories around and about the colonial port, though the initial spotlight is on decidedly nonnarrative texts such as classification lists of cargo items, customs handbooks, and what she intriguingly calls the "book-as-form," namely diaries and registers. These, she says, "offered one unwitting model of colonial writing in which a template from the metropolis was filled with local scribblings" (12). The port is, by definition, a liminal, watery, zone, with uncertain borders between land and sea, but which often acts as the site of border policing that regulates entry into and out of the colony and nation-state. It is a powerfully evocative place around which to set Hofmeyr's ambitious and wide-ranging book, and the port's polysemous implications allow her to intervene across a series of disparate fields: climate humanities, postcolonial studies, object-oriented ontology, South African literary histories, and studies of custom and copyright. It is a masterly and original revisioning of what it means to do book history, offering a radically new method of reading. Even more importantly, it proposes a new definition of the book as object: as customs cargo, as charismatic "thing" that creates literary canonicity far from the metropole, and as an epidemiological vector of "contamination" in the mind of the colonial customs official on the alert for seditious or obscene texts, among other suggestive meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite that counselling psychologists represent a substantial group of registered psychologists in South Africa, literature specifically on the sub-speciality within the country is limited. The aim of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive summary of the literature available on counselling psychology in South Africa and examine the extent to which literature is available from a lifespan or career-stage perspective. Three electronic databases (EBSCOhost, Sabinet®, and PubMed) were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2021. Titles and abstracts were reviewed, and data extracted and synthesised thematically. Of 507 citations identified, 10 met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate that literature on counselling psychology in South Africa is scarce, subject to methodological limitations, and dominated by a small number of authors conducting multiple analyses on the same sets of data. Furthermore, literature on counselling psychologists at key career stages across the professional lifespan is largely missing from the professional discourse. Emphasis is instead placed on counselling psychology as embedded in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, professional identity, the contemporary status of the profession, professional threats and challenges, and the profession's future promise. Our review highlights the need for more empirically informed studies making use of different methodologies, involving multiple authors with diverse backgrounds, tracking employment trends, and soliciting first-person accounts of counselling psychologist's experiences at key career stages. Without doing so, ideas about how best to support and utilise this particular group of practitioners may be misguided, in turn compromising the successful provision of mental health care within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African Historical Journal (SAHJ) is celebrating its 75th anniversary, although it is actually 54 years old. The journal was established in 1969 by a group of South African historians who aimed to bring together English-speaking and Afrikaner professional historians. In its early years, the journal primarily featured narrowly focused and empirical articles, with little emphasis on the history of black Africans or social history. However, over time, the journal began to include more diverse perspectives and topics, reflecting changes in the discipline. It has also expanded its scope to include the Southern African region. Despite some challenges, the SAHJ has evolved and continues to be a valuable resource for historians. [Extracted from the article]