Burial practices, African women, and Islam in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Early in 2003, African Muslims in Uitenhage’s township, Kwa-Nobuhle, learnt that Muslim women, led by Sheikh Nceba Salamntu, in South Africa’s Port Elizabeth New Brighton township, were allowed, contrary to previous practice, to follow a funeral procession right up to the graveyard. The resultant discomfort on the one hand, and excitement on the other caused by this event among Muslims in the township, forms the basis of this research. It gives focus to Muslim women, the ones most affected by their customary restriction from the gravesites. The researchi exposes the basis for women’s exclusion from funeral processions in the Muslim community. It was established that many of these Muslim women who challenged the practice were converts from Christianity to Islam. One of the bases for their action was that they were passive recipients of Islam. Furthermore, it was found that the exclusion of women from the funeral procession has no basis in Islamic writings

Phyllis Ntantala: An African Woman’s Leadership in the Struggle against a Pan-Eurocentric Education

The years 2021 and 2022 marked a significant period in the Pan-African struggle against the Pan-Eurocentric academy’s destruction of African dignity and freedom. 2021 marked the 70th anniversary of the Eiselen Commission’s report on Bantu Education. 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of the publication of Phyllis Ntantala’s autobiographical work, A Life’s Mosaic: The Autobiography of Phyllis Ntantala. Ntantala’s book documents African teachers’ and parents’ resistance to Bantu Education, which culminated in some African teachers being fired for refusing to “poison the minds” of African children. While the “heroism” of resistance to Bantu Education is well-recorded and celebrated, the “sheroism” of the struggle against Bantu Education is less illuminated and appreciated. This article, by examining Ntantala’s intellectual legacy in African people’s struggles for justice—including justice in education in South Africa, as well as in Europe and the United States of America—celebrates African sheroes’ institutional leadership in the struggles associated with education in politics and politics in education. A critical examination of Ntantala’s leadership against Bantu Education gives recognition to an important, yet often overlooked, aspect in ecolonisation and re-Africanisation struggles in education, namely, that colonialism did not only express itself through racism, but also sexis

Ancestor-reverence as a Basis for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance’s Quest to Re-humanise the World: An African Philosophical Engagement

Pan-Africanism is an ideological framework whose emphasis is on unity and liberation of all Africans who were colonised on the African continent, and those in the diaspora who were forcibly dislocated from Africa and dispersed as slaves. The African Renaissance is a pan-Africanist project that seeks to restore to the Africans the spiritual and material values that were dented by colonialists and enslavers. In 1963, a number of African states that had gained independence formed the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to pursue the goals of pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance. One of the major criticisms against the OAU and its successor, the African (AU), was and continues to be that their pan-Africanism is reduced to an elite project by reducing pan-Africanism to a government-to-government relationship, instead of a people-to-people relationship. This means that ordinary Africans are excluded from being directly engaged in finding solutions to the spiritual, political, economic and social ills that continue to haunt the African continent in their quest to re-humanise themselves following the dehumanising colonialism and slavery. Through a philosophical approach, an argument is made that a serious, critical examination of Ancestor-Reverence will expose its potential to give expression to a highly desired sense of African solidarity, people-to-people pan-Africanism, and a fulfilment of the African Renaissance’s quest for re-humanising not only Africans but the human race as a whole

Pan-African Linguistic and Cultural Unity

Abstract Contrary to the view that Africa is populated by many ethnic groups whose cultures and languages have no relation to one another, scientific research, as opposed to impressionistic arguments, points to the fact that African languages are connected, and by extension, demonstrate African cultural connectivity and unity. By making reference to both African and European scholars, this article demonstrates pan-African linguistic and cultural unity, and echoes pan-Africanist scholars’ call for African linguistic and cultural unity as a basis for pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.</jats:p

Studying and teaching ethnic African languages for Pan-African consciousness, Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance: A Decolonising Task

In order to conquer and subjugate Africans, at the 1884 Berlin Conference, European countries dismembered Africa by carving her up&nbsp; into pieces and sharing her among themselves. European colonialists also antagonised Africans by setting up one ethnic African&nbsp; community against the other, thus promoting ethnic consciousness to undermine Pan-African consciousness. European powers also imposed their own “ethnic” languages, making them not only “official”, but also “international”. Consequently, as the Kenyan&nbsp; philosopher, Ngũgῖ wa Thiong’o, persuasively argues, through their ethnic languages, European colonialists planted their memory&nbsp; wherever they went, while simultaneously uprooting the memory of the colonised. Cognisant of efforts in some South African institutions of higher learning to promote African languages for the purpose of promoting literacy in African languages, this article argues that while this exercise is commendable, ethnic African languages should be deliberately taught to “re-member” Africa and rediscover Pan-African consciousness. By doing this, African scholarship would be aiding Africans’ perennial and elusive quest for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance. Keywords: African Renaissance, Ethnic African Languages, Ethnic European Languages, European Colonialism, Pan-African&nbsp; Consciousness, Pan-Africanis

Searching for 'African' perspectives in South African media's discourse on Zimbabwe's challenges

The year 2000 witnessed an aggressive displacement of white farmers by Zimbabwe’s war veterans in pursuit of an unfulfilled African struggle for land repossession usurped by British colonialists led by Cecil John Rhodes in the 19th century. This turn of events received international media attention. Both in Africa and abroad, the media attacked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and called for Mugabe’s removal from power. Pressure was exerted on the Southern Africa Development Community-appointed mediator, Thabo Mbeki, to drop “quiet diplomacy” and adopt an aggressive and uncompromising approach to Mugabe. African leaders, including Mbeki, saw the media’s attitude as pro-Western and anti-African. This article, utilising Afrocentricity as theoretical framework, examines how the South African newspaper City Press, a self-proclaimed “distinctly African” newspaper, handled the Zimbabwean crisis, with particular reference to the land issue and taking into cognisance traditional African culture’s stance with regards to land ownership.Publisher's versio

A case for African culture in journalism curricula

This article examines the need to teach African culture as a module in journalism schools based on the African continent. Assuming that journalists need to be cognisant of the cultural environments in which they operate, this article argues that failure on the part of journalists to be culture-aware results in inaccurate journalism that is loaded with journalists’own cultural baggage and bias. Using cultural framing as a theoretical basis, the article shows how ignorance of African culture by journalists reporting on indigenous African communities has manifested itself. It is argued that journalistic misrepresentation of Africans perpetuates the colonial project of the dehumanisation of Africans of projecting them as inferior beings – mentally, spiritually and physically. Journalists educated about diverse cultures are more likely to link and create common understanding among culturally diverse communities than journalists who are ignorant of others’cultural norms.Publisher's versio

Studying and teaching ethnic African languages for Pan-African consciousness, Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance: A Decolonising Task

In order to conquer and subjugate Africans, at the 1884 Berlin Conference, European countries dismembered Africa by carving her up  into pieces and sharing her among themselves. European colonialists also antagonised Africans by setting up one ethnic African  community against the other, thus promoting ethnic consciousness to undermine Pan-African consciousness. European powers also imposed their own “ethnic” languages, making them not only “official”, but also “international”. Consequently, as the Kenyan  philosopher, Ngũgῖ wa Thiong’o, persuasively argues, through their ethnic languages, European colonialists planted their memory  wherever they went, while simultaneously uprooting the memory of the colonised. Cognisant of efforts in some South African institutions of higher learning to promote African languages for the purpose of promoting literacy in African languages, this article argues that while this exercise is commendable, ethnic African languages should be deliberately taught to “re-member” Africa and rediscover Pan-African consciousness. By doing this, African scholarship would be aiding Africans’ perennial and elusive quest for Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance.&#x0D; Keywords: African Renaissance, Ethnic African Languages, Ethnic European Languages, European Colonialism, Pan-African  Consciousness, Pan-Africanism </jats:p