Session 8A: Hope in South Africa
Session 8A: Hope in South Africa
Chair: Martin Palacek
An Alchemy of Hope: Law and Legal Education – Voices from Post-Millennium South Africa
Jacques Mahler
Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, and Department of Law, Nelson Mandela School of Law, East London, South Africa
This study unpacks the results of a current survey of expressions of first year law students at the Nelson Mandela School of Law on the East London Campus, geographically and ideologically nestled between the former apartheid homelands of the Transkei and Ciskei in the underdeveloped ‘Border/ Eastern Cape’ region on the so-called ‘Wild Coast’ of South Africa.
The urban campus itself is a product of the recent national education restructuring merger between a satellite campus of the traditionally white ‘ivy league’ Rhodes University and the black, rural ‘apartheid struggle’ University of Fort Hare.
In many ways therefore, the sentiments of these local students (school leavers and mature students, from urban and rural backgrounds, across racial, religious and cultural divides) arise out of the quintessential ‘new South African’ experience of diversity and radical change – their expressions must therefore carry unique weight in the quest for insight into the dynamics of our new democracy.
The focus of this paper is not political critique however, but to glean how these South Africans view ‘the Law’ (and the study thereof) as an icon of hope, as the facilitator of dreams for their future.
[Hope is a personal human thing, though it can be expressed in group activity, shared values and aspirations. What is it about ‘the Law’, what is the attraction that has seen the first year law intake here double in the last 3 years? How has the 10-year fixation on the unique Constitution of South Africa, the inculcation of a ‘rights culture’ in all aspects of South African life impacted on the iconic status of ‘the Law’? Is the notion of legal study, legal pedagogy and ‘the Law’ itself changing - are we seeing the tossing aside of the hand-me-down colonial legal ‘wig’ and the emergence an entirely novel style of or take on ‘the Law’ and its function in the facilitation of aspirations, a unique jurisprudence even, here?
People create and use law - how have representations of law and depictions of lawyers in the local media, entertainment and civil society influenced the aforementioned?
These are just some of the questions that first year law students, untarnished by the reality of established discourse in legal education and practice, can uniquely answer in pure expressions of embedded lay notions of what ‘the Law’ (and legal education) may mean to the larger aspirations of themselves and their community.]
The work is still in progress and detailed conclusions will be reached in due course. The predominant preliminary sentiment however is clear – ‘the Law’ for these South Africans, has attained both an unsurpassed popularity as a vehicle (in unique ways misguided or unfounded) for future hope and aspirations and therewith, ironically, in many ways, an unsurpassed dilution of the effect of same. The law is seen as perhaps never before, as fashionable and entertaining, one of many avenues to power through publicity. Traditional skills and ethics associated with the practice of law have been downgraded and pragmatized as secondary to the primary aspirational function of studying law to attain professional status, the content of which profession, art and craft, is poorly understood.
The suggested thesis emerging from this work, is that a unique populist philosophy on the art and role of ‘the Law’ as facilitator of hope and aspirations is emerging in the mass mind of our society here and it is vital that same be described and understood, given its de facto influence on the life decisions of ordinary citizens in post millennium South Africa.
The eventual findings of this paper will it is felt be of interest and find application across disciplines.
Hope in View of HIV/AIDS in South Africa: Conflicts of Public Discourse and Power
Jill Olivier
African Religious Health Assets Program, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Since the miracle of peaceful democracy in South Africa, “hope” has been a strong theme in the public media. Hope for a renewed nation, for Renaissance, for something extraordinary at the end of the Rainbow Nation. At the same time, the term “hope” can be seen in nearly every text on HIV/AIDS in South Africa, with accompanying narratives of hopelessness, despair and horror.
Emerging from a broader body of research on the public discourse of hope in the context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, this paper points to two conflicting cultural constructions that impact on the national “social imaginary”: firstly, we will consider the hopeful discourse employed as a deliberate communication strategy by the state in South Africa – a strategy aimed at increasing social cohesion in face of social, economic and developmental challenges, and stemming from powerful narratives such as the Rainbow Nation and the African Renaissance. Secondly, we consider the conflicting discourse of South Africa apparently being the HIV/AIDS capital of the world, and specifically the hopeless discourse of the African HIV/AIDS Victim which persists in the local and international media.
We will consider briefly how these two discourses potentially impact on each other and on the public understanding of HIV/AIDS in South Africa – and suggest that there is a dangerous chasm between discourses of national hope and HIV/AIDS. In effect, this places HIV/AIDS and those people living with HIV/AIDS as Other to the national hopes for the future. Hope can no longer remain a term used naturally in relation to HIV/AIDS, it is socially constructed and fully entangled in discourses of power and representation, carrying a heavy load of meaning in the public space. “Hope” therefore requires a great deal of care if it is to be wielded successfully in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
The Age of Hope Begins with e-lollipop
Hale Tsehlana
Department of English, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
I count myself fortunate that I saw the movie after its first release shortly after 1976. I was too young to really understand the dynamics of what it meant or what was happening at the time. This extraordinary story of friendship which was shot mostly in Lesotho, South Africa and New York captured the hearts of millions of people around the world for more than two decades before it became a best seller. It did not show in South African cinemas where it would have made more impact.
Although my intention is not to provide a critical analysis of the movie, it no doubt highlights interesting intercultural dynamics of the peoples of the South. Not because the movie was made in South Africa but it is presented as a South African product and marketed as such. One wonders what happened after three decades that suddenly shone the light on the dust laden film reel for this movie to make it to the Cannes International Film Festival Awards. Is this an indication that South Africa and the world are ready to acknowledge what the movie represents? Like an olive branch of peace, the lollipop can be seen as a symbol of hope. This paper examines modern day South Africa in the mirror of e-lollipop. South Africa has embraced the concept of the ‘Age of Hope’ but what does it mean for an average South African? Where are we in this age of hope? What is the role of our artists in this age of hope?
Holding on or letting go? The Resolution of Grief in Relation to Two Xhosa Rituals in South Africa
Gary van Heerden
Psychology Department, University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa
Dealing with bereavement is culturally prescribed. Bereavement is a process of shifting ones relationship between the living and the deceased. Psychologists have developed models to assist the grieving person in this process of letting go of the deceased and in accepting the permanence of their loss. In the Western world, this has entailed a process of letting go. According to such therapeutic methods there is a grief map which, if followed ‘correctly’, allows for a smooth transition in this process. The acceptance of the permanent loss of the loved one is a sign of ‘healing’.
From a narrative perspective, such therapeutic methods are based on the ‘saying goodbye’ metaphor (White, 1988). While the ‘saying goodbye’ metaphor is in itself not problematic, as there is much to say goodbye to, narrative approaches build on the metaphor of saying goodbye. White (1988) is critical of basing a therapeutic approach on the ‘saying goodbye’ metaphor only and seeks the incorporation of the lost relationship rather than letting go – hence the ‘saying hullo again’ metaphor. This approach seeks to keep the voice of the deceased person alive, thus opening up the possibility for grieving person to reclaim their relationship with the deceased. Keeping the voice of the person alive assists the grieving person to re-author their life, opens up new possibilities for relationships and can enable the person to become more accepting of themselves.
In Africa, keeping the voice of the deceased alive is found in a different form. ‘Direla’ (Sotho) or ‘isinyanya’ (Xhosa), when translated into English, mean ‘servicing the ancestors’. Whereas the ‘saying hullo’ metaphor is a therapeutic technique, ‘direla’ (Sotho) or ‘isinyanya’ (Xhosa) is a lived phenomenon. ‘Direla’ or ‘isinyanya’, although not written about, are rituals that are widely practised and are passed on through oral traditions. In African traditions, when a person dies, it is only the body of the person that dies. According to the ‘isinyanya’ ritual, the relatives of the deceased person have to perform certain rituals in respect for the deceased person. A beast is slaughtered to wish the person well in the spiritual realm. Should events befall the family, another beast is slaughtered to ‘turn the deceased person back’. Sometimes the deceased person will reveal himself or herself to a key figure in the home, speaking to that person, often telling them that they are cold. A third beast is slaughtered then to give the deceased person a blanket. African beer (umgqombothi) is consumed at this celebration.
This paper challenges the dominant emphasis in Western models of bereavement that death invariably means that the bonds with the deceased have to be severed. Situating Western models of bereavement in a modernist context not only challenges the ‘truth’ claims of these models, but also facilitates a deconstruction of the elements that contribute to the emphasis on letting go. In contrast to these theories, two Xhosa rituals (umkhapho and umbuyiso) that seek to sustain the bond with the deceased person will be examined. Such rituals demonstrate that it is possible to both maintain the bond and for the bereaved person to move on with their lives. Despite different contexts, it will be argued that these Xhosa bereavement rituals have a contribution to make to Western models of bereavement and some implications for therapy will be explored.
Coming from a cultural background that discriminates against knowledges that enable the bereaved person to experience the presence of a deceased relative, it is my belief that such knowledges could assist the grieving process.
Entries (RSS)