Department of Anthropology/Sociology

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A decolonial anthropology: You can dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools
(Sage, 2024) Venkatesan, Soumhya; Gillespie, Kelly; Ntarangwi, Mwenda
The 2022 meeting of the Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory (GDAT) Social Anthropology, University of Manchester. The motion is, of course, a riff on Audre Lorde’s well-known 1984 claim that ‘the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.’ Lorde is asking about the tools of a racist and constitutionally exclusionary world, but we can ask similar questions about the tools of an academic discipline, anthropology, which arose during the height of empire, and the house that anthropology has built and its location in the university. Are anthropology’s tools able to dismantle a house built on oppression, exploitation and discrimination and then build a different better house? If not, then what kinds of other tools might we use, and what is it that we might want to build? The motion is proposed by David Mills and Mwenda Ntarangwi and opposed by Kelly Gillespie and Naisargi Dav´e with Soumhya Venkatesan convening and editing the debate for publication.
Acceptability of medical male circumcision among men in Engela district of the Ohangwena region, Namibia
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) Nepaya, Magdalena Ndapewa; Mfecane, Sakhumzi
This study focused on acceptability of medical male circumcision (MMC) in Ohangwena region, Namibia. Since the scaling up of this program in public hospitals, no study was done with a specific focus on men who are the target population for this intervention. This study aimed at exploring the role of masculinities in MMC acceptance and specifically focused on circumcised men. To understand this context, I initially focused on general constructions of masculinity as well as the historical background of ritual circumcision which used to be practiced in this region. I spent three months at Engela District Hospital working with the male circumcision (MC) regional coordinator who is also the MC Nurse at the same hospital. Data collection process utilised an ethnographic study design involving qualitative research methods namely participant observation, formal and informal interviews and the use of field notes. Participants included men who visited the hospital for circumcision procedure, health workers and community elders. Findings indicate that, circumcision that is now offered in hospital settings is not a recognised marker of masculinity in Ohangwena. There is also paucity of information regarding traditional circumcision. Since its abolishment in the eighteenth century, little is known about the history of this practice. Contemporary means of being a man in this setting are situated in everyday circumstances and include work, being strong, independent and ability to fulfil family responsibilities. Thus, in this context notions of masculinity do not determine men?s responses to MMC. Instead, men are motivated by health benefits in accepting MMC. MMC?s proven ability to reduce HIV transmission by 60% is the primary reason why most men are willing to be circumcised. Other reasons include genital hygiene and correction of medical conditions related to the foreskin such as ulcers and lacerations. Men?s knowledge and understanding of the relationship between MC and HIV prevention also plays a role in MMC acceptance. Some concerns that were raised by men in relation to this intervention are pain and discomfort, fear of complications, decreased penile sensitivity, transfer of untruthful information and gender of circumciser. I regard these concerns as barriers to MMC acceptance. This thesis also argues that, the manner in which MMC is performed out in public health facilities in not gender sensitive since it is mostly done by women. This act in my view is likely to make men feel emasculated and thus discourage other men from taking up this voluntary service. This study therefore recommends similar research in other contexts to challenge speculations made about the likely impact of MMC on masculinity, because, in my research, uptake of MMC has nothing to do with constructions of manhood. I further recommend provision of standardised equipments and resources including human resources for efficient provision of this program countrywide.
Africa after apartheid: South Africa, race, and nation in Tanzania
(Routledge, 2016) Becker, Heike
South African economic and political expansion into the African continent has been a controversial feature of the post-apartheid era. Now human geographer Richard Schroeder has taken up the matter in an ethnographic study based in Tanzania, a preferred destination for South African business. The country presents a particularly interesting example of the post-apartheid social, cultural and political dynamics of "South Africa in Africa" since Tanzania had been one of the apartheid regime's staunchest enemies. Schroeder starts off with observations of white South African expatriates he met in Tanzania; the book's core theme, however, is the country's and the wider African region's dilemma in an era that saw both the rise of neoliberalism and the fall of apartheid.
Against trauma: silence, victimhood, and (photo-) voice in Northern Namibia
(UFS, 2015) Becker, Heike
The article shows how the discourses of trauma, victimhood and silence regarding local agency contributed to the production of the nationalist master narrative in postcolonial Namibia. However, I point out repositories of memory beyond the narratives of victimhood and trauma, which began to add different layers to the political economy of silence and remembrance in the mid-2000s. Through revisiting visual forms of remembrance in northern Namibia an argument is developed, which challenges the dichotomy between silence and confession. It raises critical questions about the prominent place that the trauma trope has attained in memory studies, with reference to work by international memory studies scholars such as Paul Antze and Michael Lambek (1996) and South African researchers of memory politics, particularly the strategies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The fresh Namibian material supports the key critique of the TRC, which suggests that the foregrounding of pain and victimhood, and rituals of therapy and healing entailed a loss of the political framings of the testimonial moments.
Aid to Lesotho: dilemmas of state survival and development
(University of the Western Cape, 1995) MATLOSA, KHABELE TEBOHO; VALE, PETER
This thesis discusses the triangular relationship of aid, state and development since Lesotho's independence. It builds on three key hypotheses. First, during the preadj ustment period aid entrenched bureaucratic state power, but this changed with the adoption of the adjustment programme which only facilitates state survival. Secondly, hemmed in by external developemts and internal political and economic crisis, the state is caught between survival and shrinking resources. Thirdly, given the above, development has remained elusive inspite of the infusion of aid at highly preferential terms. Since the Cold War, aid issues have undergone three phases. Until the 1960s, donor concerns focussed primarily on economic growth. Growth with redistribution or the basic needs approach dominated aid disbursement up to the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, aid has been influenced predominantly by the IMF/World Bank orthodoxy of adjustment. Much of the debate on aid to Africa generally and to Lesotho specifically has revolved around whether aid develops or underdevelops recipient countries. The view that aid bolsters state power is not new. This study argues, however, that this may not be the case under adjustment conditions. Aid facilitates state survival in the context whereby donors mount a systematic offensive agianst dirigisme and economic nationalism. As they do that, the locus of economic production and interaction is shifted to private agents and autonomous social movements and the role of the state is cut back. Donor confidence, therefore; shifts from states to markets. The implications of these processes for the Lesotho state and prospects for development form the central thrust of this study. Non-probability purposive sampling was used for data collection. This approach rests on qualitative research methodology. Respondents were chosen on the basis of their position and influence on decion-making processes that impinge on the interface amongst aid, state and development. Primary data sources are clustered into three categories: Government; Donor agencies and embassies; and Non-governmental Organisations.
AIDS activism and globalisation from below: Occupying new spaces of citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa
(Institute of Development Studies, 2004) Robins, Steven; von Lieres, Bettina
Former President Nelson Mandela, Bono, Peter Gabriel and other superstars stood together on the stage at Greenpoint StadiuminCape Town in front of billions of television viewers around the world, watching the �46664�music extravaganza in support of the fight against AIDS in Africa. AIDS is clearly a global pandemic and responses to it have inevitably been on a global scale. At the same time, the disease has highly localised aspects to it. AIDS activists have had to address both the global dimensions and the local specificities of this epidemic.
An aligned alliance in allegiance to the drum beat of higher education's transformation agenda: A critical discourse lens
(MCSER Publishing, 2014) Ma�rtin-Cairncross, Anita
This paper includes an overview of transformation challenges faced by Higher Education globally, nationally and provides concluding remarks of the urgency that all staff who works in this sector understands and exemplify the transformation agenda. The study is contextualized within the framework of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) paradigm. This interpretive conceptual framework allows for the discussion of perceptions and interpretations of reports, debates and relevant document to substantiate arguments. Current trends in transformation in Higher Education, principles and goals of Higher Education Transformation in South Africa and several policy imperatives to drive the transformation agenda are discussed through a critical discourse lens.
Amagqirha nemicimbi: The art of healing
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Kokoma, Zikhona; Forte, Jung
Amagqirha have been understood solely through the framework of health and illness. Their image is tainted and they are misrepresented as clad bone throwers and mystical scammers. There are very few studies that focus on their involvement outside the context of healing. This study seeks to fill this gap revealing the artistic side of amagqirha. I contend that by focusing on the ritual space which includes song, dance, fashion, poetry and story telling, allows us to reveal the aesthetics of ubugqirha, reconstructing the meanings of traditional healers in contemporary South Africa. Where does knowledge about ritual practice come from? What role do intergenerational narratives play in the meanings of amagqirha? In what ways do the rituals of amagqirha are grounded in a disctinctive aesthetics? With the use informal conversations, close interviews and participating in the rituals of amagqirha in the townships of Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Langa, this thesis argues that traditional healing is a complex form of being in the world which draws heavily from intergenerational knowledges. Furthermore it is artistic in its nature as it includes dance, songs, fashion and poetry.
An analysis of the contact patterns perpetuating the transmission of tuberculosis in two high incidence communities in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
(University of the Western Cape, 1997) Classen, Collette Natasha; Ellis, J.H.P
Biomedicine positively maintains that tuberculosis transmission occurs due to close contact with a diseased individual (Coovadia and Benatar, 1991). Consequently, this refers to a direct mode of transmission where individuals are at direct risk of becoming infected. It is often taken for granted that when one speaks of contact within the context of tuberculosis, one is necessarily referring to contact or interactions among tuberculosis patients and people in the community with whom they have contact of any nature. It is then assumed that tuberculosis is transmitted in this manner. However, there are also indirect modes of transmission which are often neglected to be explored, but have an equally serious effect on transmission in high incidence areas. This paper also addresses other contact patterns that are also role-players in the tuberculosis epidemic.
An Analysis of a Readiness Assessment for establishing a Monitoring and Evaluation System in Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programmes: a case study of Ikamva Labantu Centre, Khayelitsha
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Fonkem, Nguika Judith; Coning, Christo de
Over the years major changes have occurred in the focus, approach and application of monitoring and evaluation systems as a result of increased levels of emphasis towards achieving results (outcomes) as opposed to activities and outputs. As the focus of management changes from activities to results, so too has the focal point of M&E shifted from the traditional M&E system of progress monitoring that only deals with assessing inputs and implementation processes, to a results-based M&E system that emphasizes the need to assess the contributions of intervention to development outcomes. Nowadays funders, stakeholders and donor agencies want to see the difference that development initiatives make in the livelihood of project beneficiaries.Results-based M&E systems are essential components of most organisational structures responsible for development services and this is very fundamental as it provides vital information and empowers policy makers to take better informed decisions. The foundation of an M&E system is the very first step which is in essence called a ?readiness assessment?. Such an assessment must be conducted before the actual establishment of an M&E system. Just as a building must begin with a foundation, constructing an M&E system must also begin with the establishment of a readiness assessment. Without this assessment and an understanding of the preparedness and commitment of the organisation, establishing an M&E system may be fraught with difficulties and failure.The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme of Ikamva Labantu has always been in the form of a reporting-type check list. The Centre is in a process of establishing an effective M&E system. The problem being investigated in this study is whether Ikamva Labantu has achieved a sufficient level of readiness to establish a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. However, the study shall also highlight crucial aspect of PM&E and RBM&E that will have to be taken into consideration with the establishment of the actual M&E system.With the use of the qualitative research method, the aim of this study is to analyse and assess the readiness assessment phase for establishing a monitoring and evaluation system in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programmes of Ikamva Labantu Centre, Khayelitsha.
Animals at work: a multispecies ethnographic study of entanglements of cart-horse labour in Freedom Farm informal settlement, Cape Town.
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Vigeland, Lynné Hazel; Spicer, Sharyn
Human life experiences are closely intertwined with our relationships with other animals and the environment. From the late 19th century to the late 20th century, Cart-horses served as an informal travel market for the community of District Six of Cape Town. However, because of forced migration, the role of horses in the city of Cape Town changed as people`s living experiences changed. Cape Town City Council may have animal laws regulating the ethical treatment of working horses concerning people's living and working conditions. Informal communities like Freedom Farm rely on carthorses, however, this is not necessarily regulated for the benefit of horses. Non-human animals in urban environments offer perspectives for rethinking urban society. Actor-network theory (ANT) is an empirical, research-based interdisciplinary perspective that focuses on the process of translation and the role of non-human actors in various observations and experiences.
?Anything about us, without us, is against us?: An ethnography of the genocide reparations and decolonial movements in Namibia
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Van Wyk, Bayron; Becker, Heike
This thesis explores decolonial memory activism and queer activism in Namibia. It demonstrates how activists have mobilized in intersectional struggles (Becker 2020; 2022) against the structural remnants of colonialism. The activists have pointed to how racist-, patriarchal- and heteronormative hierarchies that were imposed through German and South African colonialisms have remained and are taken even further in the postcolony. In this sense, activists have targeted colonial monuments, colonial laws and the colonization of human remains in their decolonial campaigns. I specifically focus on the #ACurtFarewell petition against the Curt von Fran?ois statue, the formation of the Namibia Equal Rights Movement calling for the recognition of same-sex relationships, and the campaigns by the Namibia Genocide Association (NGA) and other activists for the recognition of the graves of Prisoner-of-War graves to show respect to those who died during Germany?s colonial genocide (1904-1908) in Namibia.
At the limits of spatial governmentality: A message from the tip of Africa
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2002) Robins, Steven
Urban studies scholars drawing on Foucault�s analysis of govern-mentality have investigated how urban social orders are increasingly moreconcerned with the management of space rather than on the discipline ofoffenders or the punishment of offences (Merry, 2001). This paper examines the�rationality� and efficacy of spatial governmentality in post-apartheid CapeTown, and shows how the city has increasingly become a �fortress city� (Davis,1990), much like cities such as Los Angeles, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. These�global cities� are increasingly characterised by privatised security systems inmiddle class suburbs, shopping malls and gated communities (Caldeira, 1999).These spatial forms of governmentality draw on sophisticated security systemscomprising razor wire and electrified walls, burglar alarms and safe rooms, aswell as vicious guard dogs, neighbourhood watches, private security companies,and automated surveillance cameras.
The Bamasaaba people's response to the safe medical male circumcision policy in Uganda
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Omukunyi, Bernard; Nadasen, Krishnavelli Kathleen
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV (UNAIDS) strongly recommends that developing countries regard medical male circumcision as a biomedical intervention. This recommendation has caused developing countries seeking a radical solution to the prevailing and persistent social problem of HIV to reform their health policies. Most now discourage traditional male circumcision and promote safe medical male circumcision (SMMC) as a strong contributor to reductions in HIV transmission. This has introduced conflicts in traditional African societies such as the Bugisu, where male circumcision is culturally motivated, symbolising a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. In the Bugisu sub-region, the local Bamasaaba regard their cultural practice of traditional male circumcision (TMC) as prestigious.
The Bamasaaba people�s response to the implementation of the Safe Male Circumcision Policy in the Bugisu sub-region in Uganda
(Cogent OA, 2022) Omukunyi, Bernard
Male circumcision is culturally motivated with a symbolic meaning of the rite-of-passage from boyhood to manhood in some African countries such as Uganda, particularly by the Bamasaaba local people from the Bugisu sub-region. This study aimed at investigating the local Bamasaaba people�s response to the implementation of the reformed health policies on male circumcision in the Bugisu sub-region in Uganda. The qualitative research approach adopted masculinity and Bourdieu�s theory of practice, presented through the lens of Habitus, which involved in-depth interviews with selected individuals and numerous Focus Group Discussion with the participants. Data analysis involved transcribing, interpretation, coding, categorising and generating the themes using the qualitative computer application known as Atlas. The results suggest that the Bamasaaba people have not accepted implementing the reformed health policies on male circumcision. However, these people are conditioned to rethink their traditional Imbalu (traditional male circumcision) practices due to the prevailing and persisting HIV/AIDS infections in their society.
Beyond morality: Assessment of the capacity of faith-based organizations (FBOS) in responding to the HIV/AIDS challenge in Southeastern Nigeria
(Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2018) Anugwom, Eze Edlyne; Anugwom, Kenechukwu
BACKGROUND: For the world can get rid of the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030, there is need for more to be done especially in the case of countries in Africa. In Nigeria, such efforts have included Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) recognized as partners in the National Response Framework. However, the extent to which these FBOs contribute to efforts to control the pandemic will depend on their capacity. Therefore, this study aimed to ascer-tain the technical and managerial capacity of these FBOs to respond to the pandemic in Nigeria. METHODS: We utilized social survey in examining the capacity of three purposively selected FBOs in the South-east of Nigeria to respond to the pandemic. Thus, the focus group discussion and the key informant interviews were used. The data for the study was collected between Feb and Apr 2014. RESULTS: The study discovered a general low capacity but high willingness of the FBOs to get involved. One of the FBOs studied was better placed than others and had even established committee on the pandemic. However, in another FBO, the pandemic was still seen largely with moral lens that blame those infected rather than provide support. All the FBOs were ambivalent on the use of condoms as a prevention method. CONCLUSION: There is need for sustained capacity building for the FBOs in order to provide them with knowledge on the pandemic and help them act out the role envisaged for them in the National Response Frame-work in Nigeria.
The body in hospitalization. a study of doctors, nurses and patients in a Cape Town teaching hospital
(University of the Western Cape, 1999) Gibson, Diana Mari; Humphreys, A.J. B
South Africa's health transformation blueprint is designed to replace apartheid's inequities and instill instead a new utilitarian approach by the health care sector. This study gives attention to the medical gaze and the body in hospitalisation. At macropolitical level the study focuses on the ways in which the new health policy impacted on power relations and multi-levelled subject positions of medical and nursing staff, as well as on patients in a hierarchy of spaces such as in the wards, in the institution and at a national level, in terms of policy implementation and the reconstruction of the health care services. It shows that policy and institutional discourses and arrangements were embedded in a regime of visuality which discursively homogenised people from different cultural realities. Yet, at the same time biases related to constructions of bodies in relation to class, age, gender and 'value' continued to exist. At the level of hospital protocols and structure the thesis examines the social, political and conceptual frameworks that conveyed, allowed or disallowed particular meaning to the institution. It describes the formal, dominant discourses and processes in the wards and show how these impacted on everyday interaction and relations of power, autonomy, authority, conflict and resistance. The study shows that for patients there often was a disjuncture between policy and practice, as biomedical practitioners and policy makers struggled to define the scope and implementation of health care services in response to pressures for change and concomitant fluctuation. By problematising the notion of the medical gaze and by giving attention to discourses and practices, which were not legitimated by it, the study draws attention to realities that were deemed largely irrelevant by western medical epistemology, such as subjective experiences and knowledge, which, though lacking the same legitimation as the gaze, did not disappear but only become less visible. In this way the study widens the social context in which medical practice can be perceived and understood within a transforming South African health care system.
Book review: Francis B. Nyamnjoh (2017), Drinking from the Cosmic Gourd: How Amos Tutuola Can Change Our Minds
(German Institute of Global and Area Studies / Leibniz-Institut f�r Globale und Regionale Studien, 2017) Anugwom, Edlyne Eze
Nyamnjoh�s insightful book offers an original, nuanced, and penetrative interpretation of the late Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, whose true value and influence were mainly recognised only after his demise. According to the writer, the book is about �the epistemological dimensions of how research is conceptualized and practiced in African universities caught betwixt and between the tensions and possibilities of interconnecting global and local hierarchies� (1). While the above captures a key focus of the text, I believe it really diminishes the extent and breadth of issues tackled in the book. The book criss-crosses orthodox disciplinary divides; represents a commentary on literature, on history, and more critically on the sociology of knowledge and serves as a critique of contemporary African intellectualism.
The burden of history: Namibia and Germany from colonialism to postcolonialism
(Taylor & Francis, 2017) Becker, Heike
When former German Foreign Minister Joseph �Joschka� Fischer visited Windhoek in October 2003, he went on record to say that there would be no apology that might give grounds for reparations for the first genocide of the 20th century, which was committed by German colonial troops in Namibia in 1904�1908. Fischer�s rather undiplomatic words are indicative of the intense and heated historical and present relations between Germany and her erstwhile colony.
The changing faces of the klopse: performing the rainbow nation during the Cape Town carnival
(University of the Western Cape, 2013) Oliphant, Chanell; Becker, Heike
This thesis explores the embodied aesthetics of performance in the making of belonging in post-apartheid South Africa, through an investigation of the klopse, also known as Cape Minstrel and the ?Coons?, which are part of the annual New Year?s carnival in Cape Town. For this thesis I use the word klopse to refer to the carnival troupes. I map how from its inception the carnival aesthetics changed and came to represent something new and different as the participants engaged with the changing South African and Cape Town society. These changes are explored in connection with both coloured identity politics in the context of the ?rainbow nation? discourse and the efforts to represent carnival in Cape Town as a colourful event in a global city to international and national visitors. I argue that at the core of it is the issue of belonging which is embodied through the aesthetics.

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