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Showing posts from April, 2015

Discover your Afrikaness

The biggest problem with South Africa and our so called democracy, is that in the 21 years of democracy, we have failed to deal with our past. As we celebrate freedom day in South Africa, whose freedom are we really celebrating? The 45% of people who are still leaving under the poverty line, those who still don't have homes and running water, maybe the social divide in the country, or the high levels of crime and racial hate? Worse yet, are we celebrating the hate of many Afrikans? Our government has failed to restore in 21-years, the pride of being Afrikan to the Afrikan population of South Africa, to restore our history to us; but rather we are still being taught the history of Afrikans/Africans written by the British. We still don't recognise our own, rather we hear of African foreign nationals (perpetuated by government and media). What is a Afrikan foreigner in SA? there is no such thing. South Africa its self is geographical position within Afrika, it is not even the...

Book to read

"By prioritising intellectual rigor, the journal seeks to challenge the technocratic fragmentation resulting from donor-driven and narrowly developmentalist work on gender in Africa. It also encourages innovation in terms of style and subject-matter as well as design and lay-out. It promotes dialogue by stimulating experimentation as well as new ways of engaging with text for readers. . A commitment to transforming gender hierarchies in Africa will shape a strongly continental focus for the journal's subject-matter, design and mode of distribution. Issues will confront linkages between different African regions, nation-states and social identities, and register the unique challenges facing a continent with a shared history of exploitation and marginalisation. At the same time, the journal acknowledges that Africa's myriad social and cultural processes are inextricably linked to global processes." download the book here  

Forgive me South Afrikan History Books

They call her mother, nurturer, hope and strength  Only when it suited them and gave her light next to a man  She fought for their voices, but only those who received those voices got praise lines of words written about her  the history of this nation, reflecting only one face  the face of a man  women put as foot notes and references to a history the should be featured on  her pain and her efforts put aside so those who were seen as the faces of the struggle may shine  no one spoke of the revolution that was driven by the women of 1912  no one speaks of the international relations that she Helen Joseph was part of forgive me South Afrikan History books if a am being disrespectful  But i don't see a reflection of myself on your pages  I don't see the women whom are meant to be on your covers  Maybe South Afrikan history writers need to ask for forgiveness  to the women whom they stripped and denie...

A Call to Consciousness

Young world mover, shaker  Essence of Afrika  Mind of a revolutionary woman  Young mind full of old souls Those whom never die  For their lives have become open texts books Whose lives were laid down for my life  Acknowledging history to move and rehabilitate  The minds of the Afrikan youth  Needing to unlearn the systems of oppression  To relearn the Afrikan renaissance  To bring back Afrikan pride in understanding the essence of being Afrikan  Needing to unlearn language and vocabulary  That speaks in oppressive manners of the Afrikan child  Words have become the biggest prison of the Afrikan mind  We are oppressed by more then just western systems Also their words The Afrikan mind is imprisoned by ideologies of the coloniser  Whilst the youth and the Afrikan continent lack consciousness  of their Afrikaness The West has not problem defining Afrikan to the Afrikan  ...

Scholarly Paper of Islam M. Shihda "The Patriarchal Class System"

The Patriarchal Class System in Nawal El Saadawi’s God Dies by the Nile . By Isam M. Shihada June 2007 Socialist feminists see class as central to women's lives, yet at the same time not ignoring the impact of patriarchy on their lives too. I argue further that for patriarchal class ideology to survive as an oppressive system, brutal force implements and instills such ideology in society. The impact of such ideology on women has been manifested through double moral standards, rape, sexual exploitation, psychological instability, illegitimate children and violence.  For Socialist feminists, women are victims of both class and patriarchy. Nancy Holmstrom defines socialist feminism as an attempt “to understand women's subordination in a coherent and systematic way that integrates class and sex, as well as other aspects of identity such as race/ethnicity or sexual orientation, with the aim of using this analysis to help ...

The Place Of Women In SA History Books?

First Publishes: Herald 27 january 2015  http://www.heraldlive.co.za/womens-role-making-sa-history-fudged/  I remember sitting in a history lesson, looking through the textbook, thinking: where are the stories of the heroic South African women? Rather the books were filled with stories of the ANC men, Steve Biko and Jan van Riebeeck and their wives. Winnie MadikizelaMandela was just Nelson Mandela’s wife, Mamphela Ramphele was just a doctor linked to Steve Biko and no one taught about Charlotte Maxeke, the first South African black female university graduate and leader of the Bantu Women’s League. Some of these women have no identity without their legendary husbands or lovers. The history of South Africa is very hegemonic and patriarchal. No one is talking about the great contribution of women during the struggle, no one is talking about the women of 1912 who stood up against the government with their anti-pass campaign. Helen Joseph, a softly sung heroine o...