vol. 51 num. 4 lang. pt
Vyftig jaar diens aan die geesteswetenskappe]]>
The idea of the spirit]]>
Ons het in hierdie bespreking duidelike verbande gekry tussen die idee, die gees, die verbeelding, die oneindige, die kreatiewe en inventiewe en veral ook die selfoorskrydende magte van beide idee en gees in die rigting van die oneindige. Nou lyk dit asof hierdie gedagtes afwesig geraak het in die beoefening nie net van die geesteswetenskappe nie, maar in alle wetenskappe waar dit eweneens tuishoort. As ons aan die idee van die gees hulde bring, kan dit slegs sinvol gedoen word wanneer idee en gees in die rykheid van hul geskiedenis voluit waardeer en omarm word en nie volgens persoonlike smaak en voorkeur en vir dissiplinêre, stuksgewyse en korttermynvoordele nie. Dit moet manifesteer in meervoudige denke, in die vryheid van die oneindige gees en in die volheid van die verbeeldingryke idees wat alle hier en nou, korttermyn en lukraak werkwyses en die mag van die ideologieë van die dag teëgaan, te bowe gaan en oorskry. Ons moet besef dat stuksgewyse oplossings, wat altyd gees-lose oplossings is, eintlik afgrondelik van aard is. Wat sou dus 'n sinvolle benadering tot die idee van die gees wees wat oral lewendig gehou word? Sou die geesteswetenskappe en hulle tydskrifte nog spesiale hulde aan die gees kon bring op 'n wyse waarop dit steeds die diep en betekenisvolle dimensies vir menswees en wetenskapwees vertoon? Ja, indien hulle tot die volgende geestesaktiwiteite verbind is: Die wakkermaak van omvattende denke ver verby berekening, die herbesing van die wêreld, die uitbreiding van die bewussyn, die kultivering van idees, die verdiepende verstaan van kennis, die inspan van meervoudige, konnektiewe intelleksie en die geestelike sorgsaamheid vir kennis en vir wêreld.<hr/>We are currently experiencing, and have for some time now been subjected to, a degradation, or a neglect, or even a loss of an awareness of spirit and spirituality on a grand scale. In a time that measurement and calculation are considered to be the decisive dimensions of human thinking the immeasurable and intangible stand to lose ground and are of less and less interest. In addition technical developments of an enormous scope are taking the place of any spiritual engagement and spiritual values. It has to be emphasised that it may be extremely risky to set aside "the life of the spirit" as developed, debated and analysed over centuries, since the Greek philosophers, simply for the sake of shallow ideological reasons and equally weak scientific arguments. Many factors - economic, epistemological, socio-political and individual - contribute to the deflation of spirit. The point of departure for this article is firmly based on the notion of nous in Greek philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle, and the explorations and developments of this notion through the centuries up to the present by philosophers of special significance. The life of the idea or philosophy of spirit is seated between the passive understanding of nous and the intelligence that thinks itself. The exploration of the idea of the spirit in this sense guarantees the future of philosophy. Spirit in this sense is a personal but also universal activity that brings to life, to the forces of life itself, to the world, and the responses the world imposes on us, meaning and sense. It is the mobilisation of the powers of human beings in their fullness and in their questioning of being itself. Part of the malaise of our times can be related precisely to the neglect and absence of being by fractured human beings. The transformative power of the spirit at work is what needs to be reinvented as a response to this malaise. It has been emphasised that ideas can transgress the physical, perceivable, measureable and calculable reality by far, even up to the point of the infinite. Phantasm and imagination form strong partners in this process of transgression and the functioning of both these human capacities are not at all of an empirical nature, but is altogether nothing else but spiritual work in the full sense. The search for meaning goes beyond physical boundaries into the domain of the infinite. The possibility of the spiritual must be seen as an intentional but "non-real" component of the phenomenological lived experience. This non-reality, or "irreality", this intentional but non-real inclusion of the noematic correlate is neither in the world, nor in consciousness, but it is precisely the condition of any experience, any objectivity, any phenomenality, namely of any noetic-noematic correlation. One can speak of a manifestation - spirit/spirituality manifests itself. This spectral or spiritual structure of phenomenology, the structure of this intentionality, doubles the real as the infinite of the imagination. What is now required is the cultivation of the relationship between idea and spirit. Spirit in the deepest sense is the converging principle that links together diverse matters and ideas from a diversty of sources and directions into an integrated unity - a kind of multiple, connective intellection. This view has significant implications for science and knowledge. The science of the knowing spirit (noology) is quite complex: on the one hand, there is a branch in which nooorganisation (the organisation of the idea of the spirit) refers to the theory of auto-ego-organisation; on the other hand, there is a branch which is logical, ideological, semiotic, linguistic. We are thus back to the real compexity of the interpenetration, via the sciences of spirit, between the natural sciences and the human sciences with the realisation of their mutual dependency and the implication that knowledge in its fullness goes infinitely beyond disciplinary boundaries. Ignorance in this regard is caused by and is at the same time also the cause of "the debasement of spiritual values" and "the underdevelopment of human spirituality". At the same time we have to realise that what happens to spirit and spirituality within the framework of all kinds of theories and disciplines, even if it happens in a negative sense, undeniably happens in the name of spirit. One way of envisaging the problem of the spirit consists in taking into account the tensions that bind together and oppose viewpoints, perspectives and theories regarding spirit, and in taking an interest in them as inhabiting the living core of a complex reality. Even in cases where the urge exists not even to use the term the fact cannot be hidden that spirit is undeniably present in the very system of thought where it is denied. Downloading consciousness, the seat of the spirit, into machines is nothing but an engagement with spirit and the spiritual and reflects a way of thinking about spirit. The importance of reversing the processes of degradation, debasement and underdevelopment of spirit and spiritual values as well as the barbaric and catastrophic actions and policies this may entail, poses an enormous challenge. There are many and very strong powers that must be encountered. Economic and market forces have no time for spiritual endeavours. Technical developments are keen to delegate human spirituality to machines. The justification for these directions should be analysed as well as possible, foreseeable as well as experienced implications must carefully be analysed with a view to counteractions. How can human beings and humanity be "saved" from a complete loss of spirituality? Thoughtfulness of a certain nature, by far exceeding calculation, needs to be awakened, the reenchantment of the world and of being, the expansion of human consciousness as the seat of the spirit, the cultivation, utilisation and organisation of ideas, the deepening of the understanding of knowledge in all its dimensions including the ethics of knowledge, and the extensive promotion and application of multiple, connective intellection. Scientific publications, with the aid of active intellectuals, can and should play a major role in this regard and need substantial support.
Theoretical life: Perspectives from tradition]]>
Die artikel begin met die waarneming dat teenswoordige gesprekke oor die universiteitswese gekenmerk word deur 'n opvallende afwesigheid van fokus op wat die tradisie as die teoretiese lewe beskou het. Genoemde gesprekke is eerder daartoe geneig om op die praktiese uitdagings te fokus waarvoor universiteite vandag te staan gekom het (strategiese beplanning, bemarking, netwerke, ensovoorts). Die vraag wat in die artikel ter sprake gebring word, is waarom die moderne en postmoderne wêreld gekenmerk word deur 'n voorkeur vir sogenaamde praktiese vrae ten koste van wat die tradisie nog as die teoretiese lewe beskou het. In die artikel word voorgestel dat 'n antwoord gesoek moet word in die wyd uiteenlopende ontologieë in die agtergrond van die verskillende beklemtonings met betrekking tot die praktiese en die teoretiese. Volgens die ekstatiese ontologie eie aan die tradisie is die werklikheid ervaar as 'n ekstatiese beweging vanaf die partikuliere na die universele, vanaf die dele na die geheel, maar ook vanaf die praktiese na die teoretiese. Met die moderne neiging om die werklikheid ontologies na 'n veelheid van laagste gemene delers te reduseer, is die ruimte geskep waarin met die teoretiese lewe in die tradisionele sin van die woord weggedoen word en waar dit met 'n uitsluitlike fokus op die praktiese vervang is.<hr/>The article sets out with the observation that contemporary debates on the nature of universities are marked by a conspicuous absence of references to the so-called "theoretical life" as understood by traditional philosophy. Nowadays universities rather tend to focus on practical issues (strategic planning, marketing, networking, etc.). The question raised in this article concerns the reasons behind the modern and postmodern preference for the practical at the expense of the high regard tradition had for a life dedicated to theoretical questioning. The answer hinted at relates to the widely different ontologies in the background of the respective positions mentioned. It is argued that the traditional emphasis on the importance of theory presupposes an ecstatic ontology that tends to view being as an ecstatic journey reaching out from the particular to the universal, from the parts to the whole, but also from the practical to the theoretical. The modern preference for the practical presupposes a radical shift in ontological focus: in modernism being is continuously reduced to a lowest common denominator. This ontological plummeting has had a dramatic effect on our understanding of the relationship between theory and practice: Henceforth theory as a guide in our search for wisdom is done away with, while the practical is reduced to nothing but a pragmatic, utilitarian or power-driven tool in order to control being.
Education in South Africa from 1961 to 2011: between two paradigms and elusive ideals]]>
Die doel van hierdie artikel is om die 50ste bestaansjaar van die Tydskrif vir Geestesweten skappe te gedenk en om die vyftig jaar in verband te bring met onderwysvoorsiening in Suid-Afrika gedurende hierdie tydperk. Onderwys in die tydperk 1961-2011 moet verstaan word binne die konteks van wat reeds voor 1961 plaasgevind het en daarom word enkele historiese momente van belang vir die onderwys voor 1961 uitgelig. In die tydperk voor 1994 is die voorsiening van onderwys oorheers deur die paradigma van afsonderlike maar gelyke onderwys - soos onder andere vergestalt deur die benadering van eie en algemene onderwyssake van die tagtigerjare. Die ideale van hierdie paradigma is nie bereik nie en onderwysvoorsiening was grootliks ongelyk en op ras gebaseer. Sedert 1994 is die onderwys gekenmerk deur die menseregte- of transformasie-paradigma wat onder meer gelykheid, regstelling en toegang tot onderwysgeleenthede beklemtoon het. Nie een van hierdie paradigmas kon egter outentieke differensiëring in onderwysvoorsiening bewerkstellig nie. Die ongelykhede van voor 1994 het grootliks bly voortbestaan. Gapings tussen die prestasies van rassegroepe het nie vernou nie, hoewel die toegang tot onderwys dramaties verbeter het. Die artikel bespreek brandpunte in onderwysvoorsiening in die betrokke tydperk en toon dat daar nog nie bevredigende oplossings gevind is vir uitdagings rakende onderwysersopleiding, die bestuur en beheer van onderwysinrigtings en die stelsel, die religieuse en kulturele aard van die onderwys en die rol wat onderwyserorganisasies behoort te speel nie. Die artikel word afgesluit met 'n aanduiding van aspekte wat die sleutel tot die verbetering van onderwysvoorsiening kan wees.<hr/>This article forms part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe. It presents an overview of events and debates in education provision in South Africa during the period under review. The article argues that education between 1961 and 2011 needs to be understood against the backdrop of what happened in the country even before 1961. It therefore lists and brie fl y discusses a number of pre-1961 historical events pertinent to education. Before 1994, and from 1961 onward in particular, education in South Africa was dominated by the separate but equal paradigm, also espousing the principle of differentiated education to accommodate the learning needs of learners and the needs of the country. The South Africa Act of 1909 set the tone for the exclusion of the so-called non-Whites from political and other processes. It allocated higher education to the Union Government and all other education to the four provincial governments. This period was characterised among others by the creation of advisory councils for non-White education and various levels of education institutions for non-Whites. Various investigations to explore possibilities regarding the provision of education for non-Whites like the Eiselen Commission were commissioned. In 1948 the National Party assumed power and adopted the apartheid policy (separate development). The Bantu Education Act was promulgated soon after and it came to epitomise all that was objectionable about the separate but equal policy: unequal spending on children of different races and a curriculum designed to educate Black children for second class citizen status. It unleashed opposition to apartheid education that was not to stop before 1994. Separate educational laws for the education of Indians and Coloureds were introduced in the 1960s and the Education and Training Act was promulgated in the 1970s to regulate the education of all Black people inside "South Africa" and outside it in the self-governing territories that had been formed by that time. In 1994 the ANC took over political power and immediately gave expression to the Freedom Charter notion that the doors of learning shall be opened to all. The ANC espoused what can be called a human rights (transformative or freedom) education paradigm built on the pillars of equality, access, redress, non-racialism, non-sexism and quality. It transformed the education system and created only one national education department with nine provincial departments and only two types of schools - public and independent schools. The ANC introduced sweeping legislative and policy changes and changed the organisation, funding and governance of schools. Compulsory school attendance for all children was introduced and only one national school-end examination was put in place. The article argues that neither the separate but equal nor the human rights paradigm achieved their ideals. This conclusion is reached by analysing the performance of the system, the training of teachers, the curriculum, the cultural and religious aspects of schooling, the role that unions play in education and the funding of education. It further concludes that too many schools remain dysfunctional and that many children do not yet have access to quality education despite the fact that participation in education has improved dramatically. The unique role of unions in South African governance and schooling is examined and their alleged disruptive rule regarding the management and governance of education is explored. The main claim of the article is that participation in education has increased but that the performance of the system has not improved signi fi cantly. Previous gaps and inequalities seem to have remained and may even have widened. The ideals pursued by the two paradigms in question remain elusive. There are, however, a number of keys that can be used to unlock the potential of the education system so that it may
The cul-de-sac of the Africaner Republic of 1961]]>
'n Eie republiek vir die Afrikanervolk, die politieke ideaal van die Nasionale Party sedert sy stigting in 1914, word deur die 1960-referendum 'n voldonge feit en die Republiek word op 31 Mei 1961 uitgeroep. Vanjaar, vyftig jaar later, is dit wesenlik 'n historiese artefak wat in die bewussyn van die oorgrote meerderheid van gewone wit Afrikaners vervaag en selfs verdwyn het. In die Noordkaap is Orania met sy 900 inwoners, wesenlik al voorbeeld waar hierdie idee nog prakties uitgelewe word. Republiekwording en apartheid is in 1960/61 die kern van die politieke teologie van Afrikanernasionalisme. Die hooftema van hierdie essay is om 'n moontlike verklaring te bied vir die politieke teologie van apartheid en die ideaal van 'n blanke Afrikanerrepubliek. Was dit in wese op 'n teoretiese mistasting gegrond, sodat dit binne dertig jaar teen die politieke werklikheid van Suid-Afrika op die rotse geloop het? In die essay word die ideaal van Republiekwording, sowel as die praktiese realisering daarvan, in die konteks van die Afrikaner politieke teologie geplaas. In aansluiting by die werk van Eric Voegelin, Mark Lilla en John Gray is die argument dat die politieke teologie van Afrikanernasionalisme fundamenteel op 'n droomwêreld gebaseer was. Die essay wys daarop dat Afrikanernasionalisme nie uniek was in die sin dat 'n groep mense, die Afrikaners, vir hulleself 'n politieke teologie versin het nie. Die magtige aantrekkingskrag van 'n politieke teologie is die omvattendheid daarvan. Dit bied 'n manier van dink en van menslike handeling en verbind daardie denke en optrede aan die hoër gedagtes van die bestaan van God, die struktuur van die kosmos, die aard van die siel, die oorsprong van dinge en, vir Christene veral, die einde van Tyd. Hierdie is 'n teologiese beeld wat ook 'n verhaal vertel van hoe God die kosmos geskep het waarvan die mens 'n besondere deel is, maar die mens gebruik veral hierdie metafoor om redes aan te voer dat dit 'n gesaghebbende gids vir die politieke lewe is. 'n Weergawe van die "struktuurkern" van die Afrikanernasionalistiese politieke teologie, veral soos dit in die periode van die Nasionale Party-bewind (1948-1994) tot uiting gekom het, word in die essay aangebied. In die praktiese toepassing daarvan, was daar sekerlik aksentverskille, en nie alle aanhangers het presies dieselfde konnotasie daaraan geheg nie. Ek oordeel egter dat die interpretasie in die essay, die wese van dié politieke teologie uitbeeld en hoe dit in die praktiese politiek van die NP-regering neerslag gevind het. Die pragmatiese politieke handelinge van die NP-regering, wil ek suggereer, is ondersteun deur 'n politieke teologie wat hierdie handelinge moreel-religieus geregverdig het, maar ook 'n verbeelde werklikheid gekonstitueer het. Namate die verbeelde werklikheid van die politieke teologie en pragmatiese werklikheid uitmekaar gedryf het, het die politieke teologie nie meer sin gemaak nie, totdat dit deur die De Klerk-regering laat vaar is. In die proses, lyk dit my, het gewoon gewelddadige politiek die politieke teologie van Afrikanernasionalisme verplaas en nogmaals empiries geïllustreer dat die immanentisering van 'n eskaton nie 'n aardse werklikheid gemaak kan word nie. Die besluit waartoe die essay kom, is dat die "Afrikanerrepubliek" van meet af aan in 'n doodloopstraat was en binne dertig jaar tot 'n einde gekom het.<hr/>An own Republic for the Afrikaners, the political ideal of the National Party since its founding in 1914, became a reality through the 1960 referendum. The Republic was formally declared on 31 May 1961. This year, 2011, fifty years on, the republic has become a historic artefact that has disappeared from the consciousness of the vast majority of ordinary white Afrikaners. In 1960/61 the ideal of a Republic and apartheid was at the heart of the political theology of Afrikaner nationalism. The main theme of this essay is to offer a possible explanation for the political theology of apartheid and the ideal of a white, Afrikaner republic. Was this political theology in essence based on a theoretical flaw and as a consequence the apartheid Afrikaner republic stranded against the political reality of South Africa within thirty years? In this essay the ideal of an Afrikaner republic as well as its practical realisation is put in the context of the Afrikaner political theology. Drawing on the work of Mark Lilla, Eric Voegelin and John Gray the essay argues that Afrikaner nationalism is not unique in the sense that Afrikaners devised a political theology for themselves. The power and attraction of a political theology is its comprehensiveness. It offers a manner of thought, reflection and action and connects these to the higher thoughts regarding the existence of God, the structure of the cosmos, the nature of the soul, the origin of things and especially, for Christians, the end of Time. Therefore it is a theological narrative on the creation of the cosmos by God and how humankind forms part of it. People specifically use the creation narrative as basis for an authoritative guide to political legitimacy and political life. The essay argues, following Voegelin, Lilla and Gray, that the political theology of Afrikaners was based on a dream world. The core of the Afrikaner nationalist political theology is presented in the essay, especially how it unfolded during the National Party rule between 1948-1994. In the practical application of the Afrikaner nationalist political theology, there were differences of emphasis and it did not have the same connotation for all National Party supporters. The author submits, however, that this essay presents the essence of the Afrikaner nationalist political theology and its practical application. The political theology of apartheid supplied a religious and moral basis for the pragmatic political actions of the National Party government. Moreover, this political theology constituted an imagined reality. Inasmuch as the imagined reality of the political theology of the apartheid republic and the pragmatic political reality drifted apart, the political theology provided less and less of a moral foundation for the apartheid government, until the political theology was discarded. In the process, the political theology was replaced by a progressively repressive and violent regime. This politics of violence demonstrated once more that the immanentisation of a mundane eschaton (Voegelin) is an empirical impossibility. The essay concludes that the political theology of the apartheid Afrikaner republic was based on a theoretical dead end and that it is no wonder that the dream decayed within thirty years.
The Conference of Kabwe and the ANC/SACP's armed struggle]]>
Values in the accountancy profession: a historical investigation of the establishment of the profession in South Africa]]>
Die professie van rekeningkundiges, rekenmeesters en ouditeure word met agterdog bejëen na die Enron skandaal. Die rekenmeestersprofessie het egter op 'n sterk grondslag van etiese waardes en professionele standaarde 'n worstelstryd gevoer om erkenning en professionele domein beskerming te bewerkstellig. Hierdie artikel ondersoek die waardes van die rekeningkundige professie waarmee die vroegste verteenwoordigers van die professie die stryd gevoer het om erkenning en statutêre beskerming. Wat was die onderliggende waardes en standaarde van die professie soos dit uit Brittanje in Suid-Afrika beslag gekry het? Hoe het die professionele etiek en waardes in die rekeningkundige professie in Suid-Afrika ontwikkel? Die ondersoek sal die sosiale konteks van die professie in historiese perspektief ontleed en probeer aantoon hoe 'n Enron moontlik kon wees. Vir die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing is hierdie vraagstuk eweseer van belang teen die agtergrond van bemagtigingsbeleidsrigtings en toenemende voorbeelde van korrupsie. Hierdie artikel ondersoek die proses van professionele domeinvestiging in Suid-Afrika en wys hoe die rekenmeestersprofessie 'n eie professionele kode probeer vestig het. Uiteindelik het intra-professionele verskille die inmenging van die staat teen 1951 meegebring. Hierdie ontwikkeling het bepaalde konsekwensies vir professionele outonomie ingehou.<hr/>The profession of accountants and auditors faced growing suspicion and distrust after the Enron debacle. The accountancy profession emerged on firm foundations of strong ethical values, codes of professional conduct and standards of professional practice. From these foundations the profession sought various ways of securing its professional domain. One of the most important strategies towards the protection of professionalism, was the concept of professional self-regulation. Through the self-regulation the profession sought to establish the values of the profession, enforce them through high standards of examination and controlled practical training. Finally, the profession sought to control access to public practising rights through the exclusive right to licence professionals. The values underlying the profession were integrity, accountability, honesty, reliability and trustworthiness. This article explores the early formative years of the accountancy profession in South Africa and the attempts to take control of the protection and promotion of the values of the profession through mechanisms of professional closure. These attempts displayed simultaneous elements of intra-professional contestation as well as professional collaboration to secure control over the values the professions prized as the distinctive characteristics of its true profession. The article shows the various routes the accountancy profession explored in order to arrive at a position of professional closure on the basis of its distinctive values. Differences between the membership criteria of the different professional associations created reciprocity differentiation amongst the different professional bodies in South Africa. The profession attempted to overcome these potentially disqualifying obstacles to practice rights by seeking national statutory recognition. These attempts were frustrated. Fear of opening up the professional market to unqualified people led the four professional bodies to rally around their membership as benchmark of the profession in the Union of South Africa. Protest by accountants not included in the "Chartered Societies" increased slowly until the Minister of Finance responded by appointing commissions of enquiry into the accountancy profession. These commissions sanctioned the existing professional organisations, but did not deter bureaucratic suspicion of the quality of some public auditing. The original official position was that the profession should conduct its own affairs and seek collaboration within itself without government intervention. This position was reversed by the late 1940s. The article explains how the profession was forced to collaborate with the state to acquire statutory sanctioning. State intervention in what the profession has perceived as its exclusive domain, was justified on grounds of the "public interest". The article explores the consequences of this development for the profession. It is argued that the profession lost exclusive control over the setting, examining and enforcement of those exact values the state argued it needed to step in to oversee in the "public interest". A loss of control over professional values might have contributed to serious accountancy and auditing lapses as witnessed with WorldCom and Enron, but in South Africa may be equally pertinent in empowerment strategies.
The ACVV as welfare pioneer: from welfare for poor whites to contemporary challenges for inclusive developmental social work]]>
Die eerste formele welsynsorganisasie in Suid-Afrika, naamlik die ACVV, is amptelik in 1904 gestig. Dié betrokke welsynsdienste was aanvanklik op armblankes gerig en dit het in sekere kringe die ACVV se besondere bydrae tot die daarstelling van gesofistikeerde maatskaplikewerkdienste en -strukture oorskadu. Teen hierdie agtergrond word die ACVV se historiese mylpale in dié artikel ontleed, gevolg deur 'n oorsig van die organisasie se teenswoordige inklusiewe ontwikkelingsgerigte maatskaplikewerk-konteks, ten einde eietydse uitdagings aan die ACVV en soortgelyke welsynsorganisasies aan die lig te bring. Die gevolgrekking word gemaak dat die bedoelinge en krag van veral vroue in welsyn nie altyd na waarde geskat word nie; en om die ACVV slegs binne die konteks van 'n volksmoederdiskoers of kleurslagboom te beskou, is bloot eendimensioneel, sonder begrip dat dit juis die organisasiekultuur en vrywilligerbasis van die organisasie is wat dit oor geslagte heen die verskillende politieke bestelle laat oorleef het. Die kapasiteit en dienste van die organisasie demonstreer steeds 'n beduidende positiewe impak op die lewens van kwesbare mense en transformasie van maatskaplike werk in Suid-Afrika. Eietydse uitdagings behels onder meer die behoud van 'n samebindende organisasiekultuur en vrywilligerskorps; die gerigtheid op gesinsorgdienste as kernaktiwiteit; die bestuur van die organisasie as 'n waardegedrewe leeromgewing vanuit 'n sterkteperspektief; 'n situasiespesifieke balans tussen ontwikkelings- en remediërende funksies en ook maatskaplikewerk-metodiek; die integrering van ekonomiese aktiwiteite met maatskaplikewerk-aktiwiteite deur bewustelike fasilitering van sodanige aksies tydens alle dienste op alle vlakke; versekering van 'n volhoubare finansiële inkomste vir die organisasie; en die behoud van personeel en vrywilligers.<hr/>The ACVV was the first formal welfare organisation in South Africa, and was officially instituted in 1904. The laudable contribution made by this organisation towards the establishment of sophisticated social welfare services and structures was however eclipsed by the fact that these services were in the main focused on poor whites. It is against this backdrop that the historical markers of the ACVV are analysed in this article, followed by an overview of the context of its current inclusive developmental social work, in order to present contemporary challenges facing the ACVV and similar welfare organisations. The most distinctive characteristic of the ACVV is in all probability the fact that it has a stable organisation culture, with women, language and religious persuasion having been the chief elements since its inception. This organisation culture has remained the definitive unifying factor for volunteers who make up the very backbone of the organisation, and this in spite of continuous criticism and pressures over the past century to make politically correct changes. For organisations like the ACVV to survive within a social development context subject to socio-economic and political transformation, an ongoing evaluation of the elements of the organisation culture and of the subsequent impact on the body of volunteers, is indispensable in order to distinguish whether these elements add value to sustainable social service delivery or merely serve the interests of current institutions. The ACVV manages its volunteers within a value-driven learning environment, as becomes apparent from its continuous education of volunteers to keep pace with changing demands, laws and regulations of the government. This value-driven learning environment must always renew itself, as evidenced by the ACVV's adjustment to current tendencies with innovative programmes. The fact that the ACVV has always focused on the development of volunteers' strengths, contributes to their taking ownership of the organisation. Not only do social programmes serve to empower the service users, but the capacity of volunteers is also developed. The challenge is to integrate, from a strength's perspective, the service users, volunteers, auxiliary workers, community development officers and social workers, into one social development community, all with equal input, to manage in a productive manner any possible conflicts resulting from different approaches to service delivery. The core business of the ACVV, namely family care work within the context of poverty alleviation, has always served to illustrate its focus on social services to vulnerable people. The organisation has never, despite political pressures, lost this focus and has never become involved with other social actions which could estrange its volunteer corps and compromise the quality of its service rendering. The history of the ACVV also shows that the vision and mission of development-directed social welfare organisations should be focused and delineated in such a way that social workers' theoretical and professional grounding should steer their service delivery, such as rendering statutory services. In South Africa no other profession has been authorised to deliver statutory social services. Where this is not a priority and where workers are not available to render such services effectively, service users have no recourse to any other safety nets and social workers fail to meet basic principles of social development. Placing principles of social development only within the orbit of economic projects such as job creation, has proved throughout the history of the ACVV to be unsustainable and insignificant, chiefly as a result of the overwhelming critical psychosocial problems coupled with a lack of essential resources, facing frontline social workers. To the contrary, the integration of economic activities and social work activities through, for example, the development of entrepreneurial skills has always been a driving force in the ACVV's operations. This is not an alien poverty alleviation philosophy of the organisation and should always form part of social development - but then through consciously facilitating such actions in all services on all levels and not only as isolated projects in some programmes. The goal should be a situation specific balance between developmental and remedial functions in the employment of social work methods (case work, group work and community work), with an eye to the delivery of effective developmental social work services. History has proved that a partnership of the ACVV and the state is unavoidable especially in a financial sense, but that attendant demands could adversely affect the qualitative functioning of the organisation, and the political aims and agenda of the state could jeopardise the organisation culture of the ACVV. As a result of globalisation and in the interests of financial survival and functioning independently of the state, it is a matter of great urgency for the ACVV and other NGOs to diversify their income base in a creative manner. Opportunities, for example, for entrepreneurially directed service delivery to the private and industrial sectors, with an eye to the core business of the organisation, should be identified towards generating a sustainable financial income for the organisation. The ongoing capacity building of informal organisations, currently characteristic of the ACVV, should also be strengthened and should be marketed as part of social development to local as well as international sponsors and should therefore be accounted for in the income base of the organisation. The loyalty, integrity and quality of not only the ACVV's volunteers but also of its social workers and other staff, have always been above reproach, chiefly flowing from the unifying organisation culture - currently in competition with economic and other powers due to globalisation. In future, retention of staff and volunteers will have to be managed creatively by combining all the strengths of the organisation to make the job prospects attractive and sustainable. The capacity and services of the ACVV, developed throughout more than a century of experience and transformation of social services for poor whites to inclusive developmental social work, still demonstrate a significant, positive impact on the lives of vulnerable people in SA - an asset and an achievement which cannot be attributed to many institutions in SA.
Looking back towards the future: news objectivity and Niklas Luhmann's concept of the "reality of the mass media"]]>
Die hedendaagse vloed van ontwikkelinge op die informasie- en kommunikasie tegnologie-terrein bring sowel die praktyk van mediawerk as die teoretiese begrip daarvan in gedrang. Makro-, meso- en mikro-mediateorieë en -modelle wat in die tweede helfte van die vorige eeu as gangbare heuristiese weergawes van die "mediawerklikheid" voorgehou is, word deur die omvang en invloed van nuwe (sosiale) media omvergewerp. Tradisionele mediateoretiese benaderings soos die hekwagter- en nuusvloeimodelle maak in die wêreld van Twitter, Facebook en YouTube paradigmaties nie meer sin nie. Gevolglik word die "heilige koei" van die joernalistieke praktyk, naamlik die aanvaarding dat nuus objektief is en die "werklikheid" derhalwe getrou weergee, ernstig bevraagteken. Huidige mediateoretiese benaderings verskaf oënskynlik nie voldoende antwoorde op die voorafgaande probleemsituasie nie. Die werk van die Duitse sosioloog Niklas Luhmann word aangebied as 'n potensiële benadering om hierdie probleemsituasie aan te spreek en te ontleed.<hr/>Since the mid-20th century the theoretical study of journalism, and at that stage, its main component, news, has shown promising signs of becoming an "autonomous field" with a serious enough, if not alto gether coherent, body of scholarly literature and an ongoing process of research output. However, the internet revolution of the 21st century and the tumultuous descent of new (social) media on a rather unsuspecting traditional media world changed not only the stereotyped notions of media theory and production, but also the very notion of news itself, and consequently of news objectivity. The normative and historical study of news can be traced back to the very beginning of the newspaper in the 17th century, whilst modern journalism theory finds its social scientifi c roots in the application of functionalist theory in the mid-1950s in terms of news production, e.g. gatekeeper and later agenda-setting studies. These models became prototypes of what journalism and the study of news could achieve on an empirical level. However, at the turn of the millennium theory building in journalism was still appro priating theoretical building blocks from other disciplines, especially from sociology and political studies. What seemed missing was a clear theoretical focus on the role of journalism through its basic function, namely news, both in terms of macro-scale developments, as well as everyday life. In this context, journalism researchers seemed to draw progressively from the contribution of three European sociologists: Jürgen Habermas (public sphere), Pierre Bourdieu (field theory) and Niklas Luhmann (systems theory). The first two theorists are well known in the English speaking world and their work have been utilised widely. The third is almost un known in the non-German speaking media world, even though considered by some as arguably not only the foremost German sociologist, but also as internationally the most important social theorist of the 20th century. Internationally journalism and media studies journals, however, make little reference to Luh mann, with almost no reference at all in the South African journals. What makes Luhmann important to the discussion of journalism and news, and thus also to this article, is his contribution to a new paradigmatic understanding of the role the media plays in portraying "reality". And more to the point, is Luhmann's contribution to finally lay to rest the long-held (and cherished) notion in journalism practice and in positivistic journalism theory, that the media can report the "news reality objectively". This article then sets out to introduce the work of Niklas Luhman (2000)² as it relates to journalism theory, and in particular to news production and the Anglo-American jour nalistic ideal of "objectivity". The departing point is that in some quarters journalism scholars still argue that it is possible to report the news "objectively". This "fact" is then utilized as a basis for not only research, but also for journalism textbooks and the way journalism students are educated on the role of the media in society and in the way that they should report the news, as though it is a given that the news the audience will receive will be "objective". Arguing (ironically) initially from a systems and functionalist point of view, Luhmann turns the Anglo-American journalistic standard-bearing concept of "news objectivity" on its head by introducing the concept of autopoesis, emphasizing the self-constructing of "news reality", not only by media organisations and their journalists, but also by the audience. Luhmann does not only do this on micro- or meso-level, but on macro-level as well. As he states in The reality of the mass media (2000:1): "Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through mass media. ... On the other hand, we know so much about the mass media [i.e. its inability to portray "reality"] that we are not able to trust these [news] resources.³ According to Luhmann the mass media creates to all intents and purposes its own reality through the latent and manifest effect of the functional differentiation of modern society and the recursively stabilized functional mechanisms that the media employs to produce news. It is this "media reality" which appears to the media itself, as well as to others [i.e. the audience, or media users] to be the reality that in, traditional journalistic terms, can be conveyed "objectively". However, this "media reality" is a self-generated transcendental illusion (Luhmann 200:5). The manner then in which the illusion of "objective news" came to be the prime standard bearer and raison d'être of professional journalism is assessed in the first part of this article, whilst in the second part Luhmann's media reality paradigm as a counter-argument is explored. The purpose and outcome of the article is to contribute to the academic as well as the didactical and practical discussion about the untenability of the idea of news ever being "objective".
Fiduciary language between Pan-metaphorism, Pan-literalism and the double language thesis]]>
Pan-metaforisme dui op 'n posisie wat argumenteer dat dit wat geartikuleer word slegs metafories tot uitdrukking gebring kan word of slegs via die gebruik van metafore toeganklik is. Pan-literalisme aan die ander kant verdedig die aanvaarding van die primaat van die letterlike in waarheidsaansprake, predikasie en interpretasie en veronderstel dat letterlike betekenis nie reduseerbaar is nie. In hierdie artikel word die standpunte van Mary B. Hesse (1983): "all language is metaphorical") en twee verteenwoordigers van die skool van Lakoff en Johnson se konseptuele metafoorteorie, Zoltán Kövecses(2011) en Jäkel (2002) kortliks aan die orde gestel: ten einde enkele fasette van die metafoordiskussie met betrekking tot geloofstaal en religieuse tekste in reliëf te bring. Die algemeen-gangbare identifikasie van letterlik en histories-konkreet teenoor metafories word afgewys. Twee kante van die problematiek word uitgelig ten einde aan te toon dat letterlik net so kategoriegebonde is as wat metaforiese taalgebruik is en voorts dat die identifikasie van letterlik en konkreet-histories aan die een kant en die jukstaposisie daarvan met metafories aan die ander kant nie houdbaar is nie. Beide Kövecses (2011) en Jäkel (2002) implementeer dimensies van die denke van die Lakoff en Johnson Skool in verband met "konseptuele metafore". Hulle redeneer beide dat religieuse tekste gebou word op erkende konseptuele metafore wat universeel voorkom. Ek redeneer dat alle taal (nie enkel begrippe nie) metafories van aard is. Omdat die begrip "religieus" dikwels binne die konteks van 'n dualistiese visie van sakraal en profaan funksioneer en soms met godsdiens in die enger sin van die woord geïdentifiseer word, word in hierdie artikel onderskei tussen "religieuse" taal en geloofstaal.<hr/>In this paper attention is given to the tension between two radical views concerning the nature of language: pan-metaphorism and pan-literalism. These positions form the extreme responses to the so called double language thesis (literal versus metaphorical). It is argued that in order to understand the role of metaphor in religious discourse the dualism of sacred and profane needs to be transcended and a new element added to the understanding of the role of faith in human discourse and experience. This element is the fiduciary moment. Polanyi speaks of the "fiduciary rootedness of all rationality" (1974:297). The "fiduciary moment" which expresses the human ability to believe (fides), to trust, to be certain, is an integral element of both a multi-faceted world and its potential to form the basis of a multiplicity of ways of knowing this world. In all human activity such a fiduciary element is present. This assumes that all domains of experience, domains of reality, interrelationships and cognition exhibit and share in the same stratification, of which the fiduciary (the ability to trust, to believe, to be certain) is one. This state of affairs points to the fact that the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional world exhibits both irreducible aspects and an integral internal coherence of these aspects. These aspects, facets or dimensions of reality are irreducible to one another and yet contain implicit references to other domains of experience (they are multifocal, exhibit multivocity). Distinguishing this notion of "religion" from the fiduciary moment characteristic of all human experience, knowledge and reality facilitates a clearer understanding of the presence and influence of "religious" convictions as ultimate convictions in discourse and texts. I argue that the universal human ability to believe, trust or seek certitude constitutes such an image-schematic structure and that, in turn, it is the root of a fiduciary conceptual metaphor. Moreover, this often tacit dimension, is present in all cognitive acts and characterises the commitment an intellectual community shares to viewing the similarities and dissimilarities (categorisations) of the world in a certain way. Significant recent developments in cognitive linguistics and metaphor theory have also contributed to a different understanding of religious discourse and the language of faith. On the one hand N.T. Wright argues against the notion that literal necessarily means real or concrete-historical. Mary B. Hesse's thesis that "all language is metaphorical" on the other hand shows that both literal and metaphorical language are classified and categorised and that the meaning of literal and metaphorical is always conditioned by context and remains a relative distinction. Two representatives of the Cognitive linguistic approach of Lakoff and Johnson, Zoltán Kövecses and Olof Jäkel, implement analyses of conceptual structures to show that religious discourse does not require a separate methodology to understand it. Jäkel tries to exemplify both prospects and limitations of the Cognitive Theory of metaphor in dealing with religious metaphor. The conceptual structure of JOURNEY and PATH are analysed in this process. My own contribution is an attempt to show that religious discourse should not be seen as sacred whereas other forms of language are regarded as profane. I suggest that the structure of language is basically the same in both instances, but that religious language is certitudinally qualified. This assumes a notion of religion understood as Clouser's (2005:23,24) definition of a religious conviction as "... a belief in something or other as 'divine' or ... a belief concerning how humans come to stand in proper relation to the 'divine'". The term "divine" is characterized "...as that which can exist independent of anything else (unconditional non-dependant reality)".
Nuances of the concept culture - in historical and systematic perspective]]>
Na aanleiding van die uiteensetting van Garuba en Raditlbalo oor nuanseringe van die term kultuur is 'n aantal vrae geformuleer wat rigtinggewend kan wees vir die argumentering in hierdie artikel. Die oorkoepelende fokus is om na die onderliggende (onties-gegewe) eenheid te midde van hierdie verskeidenheid te soek. Terwyl die woord "waarde" ons alledaagse taal via die bemiddeling van wysgerige nadenke betree het, besit die woord "kultuur" 'n ryk-geskakeerde betekenis. Een van die betekenisse hou verband met die idee van "waardes". Hierdie proses is deur die neo-Kantiaanse Badense skool bemiddel en wel deur die siening te ontwikkel dat kultuur die resultaat is wanneer die feitlike natuurwerklikheid op waardes betrek word. Vanuit 'n suiwer etimologiese gesigspunt is die term kultuur egter van die Latynse term "cultura" afgelei. Dit het geboorte geskenk aan die idee dat kultuur resulteer wanneer die natuur getransformeer is deur die gebruik van gereedskap. Aangesien diere ook werktuie gebruik, is die verdere kwalifisering toegevoeg, naamlik dat slegs mense werktuie maak. Daardeur kon die uniekheid van die mens weliswaar nie gered word nie, want dit sou blyk dat diere ook werktuie kan maak. Simpson het eventueel die siening verdedig dat slegs die mens gereedskap gebruik om gereedskap mee te maak. Die argeoloog Narr het 'n verdere stap gegee omdat argeoloë besef het dat die vrye menslike vormingsfantasie beantwoord aan drie maatstawwe wat deurslaggewend is vir menslike werktuigvervaardiging. Wanneer mense werktuie maak, mag die vorm, funksie en vervaardigingswyse nie by voorbaat gesuggereer wees nie. Die besondere aard van gereedskap as kultuurobjek is dat dit gemaak is om iets anders mee te maak, wat beteken dat sowel die funderings- as kwalifiseringsfunksie daarvan in die kultuurhistoriese aspek te vind is. Aandag word vlugtig gegee aan die erfenis van die moderne natuurwetenskapsideaal, hoewel die fokus nie gerig is op die natuur wat teenoor kultuur staan nie, maar op die veronderstelde natuurtoestand, wat slegs in die maatskaplike verdrag te bowe gekom kan word. Marx het die aannames onderliggend aan hierdie idee raakgesien in die wyse waarop Darwin by diere en plante sy Engelse samelewing onderken het met die verdeling van arbeid wat daarin aanwesig is asook die mededinging en opening van nuwe markte, "skepping" en die Malthusiaanse "stryd om bestaan". By Darwin figureer die diereryk as burgerlike samelewing. Dit was Rousseau wat skerp sou reageer teen die rasionalistiese intellektuele kultuur van die Verligting. Hy het dit gedoen in sy pleidooi vir die vryheidsgevoel van die mens. Meer as 'n eeu later het die term kultuur in die Westerse samelewing sy verskyning gemaak as deel van die uitdrukking kultuurfilosofie. Die onderskeiding tussen natuurwetenskappe en kultuurwetenskappe het aan die begin van die 20ste eeu verskyn en wel deur aan te leun op die onderskeiding wat Kant getref het tussen die gebiede van is en behoort (natuur en vryheid). Die neo-Kantiaanse verskuiwing het alle waardes, norme, oortuigings en sin binne die mandjie van kultuur geplaas deur tegelyk die sosiale werklikheid tot 'n puur feitlike (a-normatiewe) bestaan te denatureer. Kultuur en beskawing is onderskeidelik getipeer in terme van subjek-objek- en subjeksubjekrelasies. Die kultuur-historiese aspek kan ook vanuit niehistoriese aspekte in die visier gekry word. Dan ontmoet ons saamgestelde uitdrukkings soos regsgeskiedenis, kunsgeskiedenis, ekonomiese geskiedenis, godsdiensgeskiedenis, en so meer. Kultuur kan egter nie as die wortelverbintenis van mens-wees waardeer word nie, eenvoudig omdat mens-wees steeds méér is as enige sosiaal-gedifferensieerde verbintenis of identiteit waarin mense mag staan. Te midde van die verskeidenheid nuanseringe en uiteenlopende kontekste waar die term kultuur aangetref word, bied die (ontiese) struktuur van die kultuur-historiese aspek inderdaad 'n eenheidsperspektief aan ons - 'n perspektief wat nie alleen rekenskap gee van die inherente struktuurelemente van hierdie aspek nie, maar wat ook erkenning verleen aan die gegewe dat alle gebeurtenisse en prosesse in beginsel in alle en derhalwe ook in die kultuur-historiese aspek van die werklikheid funksioneer.<hr/>In following up on the exposition of Garuba and Raditlbalo regarding different nuances of the term culture, a number of questions are articulated that are direction-giving for the subsequent argumentation. The overall focus is to investigate the underlying (ontic) unity amidst the diverse contexts in which the term culture is found. While the word "value" entered our everyday parlance through the mediation of philosophical reflection, the word "culture" obtained a richly nuanced meaning. One of these meanings relates to the idea of values. The neo-Kantian Baden school mediated this process and advanced a view in which culture is seen as the result of relating factual natural reality to values. Yet from a purely etymological point of view, the term culture is derived from the Latin term for agriculture, "cultura". This generated the idea that culture results when nature is transformed by means of the use of tools. Since animals are also using tools, the further qualification was that only human beings manufacture tools. Yet this also did not save the day for the uniqueness of humankind, because it appeared that animals can also make tools. Simpson eventually reverted to the perspective that only humans use tools to make tools. The archaeologist Narr went a step further, because archaeologists realised that the free formative imagination of human beings manifests itself in conformity with three criteria which are decisive for the typical human manufacturing of tools. When tools are made by humans, the form, the function and the mode of manufacturing should not be assumed automatically. Tools are cultural objects and what is peculiar about them is that they are made to make something else, which means that their foundational function and characteristic qualifying function are found within the same aspect of reality, namely the cultural-historical aspect. Attention is briefly given to the legacy of the modern natural science ideal where it is not nature that is opposed to culture, but an assumed hypothetical state of nature, which is only transcended in a social contract. Marx discerned the assumptions underlying this idea also in the way in which Darwin recognises among beasts and plants his English society with its division of labour, competition, opening up of new markets, "invention", and the Malthusian "struggle for existence". In Darwin the animal kingdom figures as civil society. It was Rousseau who reacted against the rationalistic intellectual culture of the Enlightenment in his plea for the feeling of freedom present within humans. More than a century later the term culture entered Western society as part of the expression: cultural philosophy (in German: Kulturphilosophie). The distinction between natural sciences and cultural sciences emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, borrowing from the way in which Kant distinguished between the domains of is and ought (nature and freedom). The neo-Kantian twist assigned all values, norms, beliefs and meaning to culture as container, while degrading social reality into pure (a-normative) factuality. Culture and civilisation are respectively characterised in terms of subject-object relations and subject-subject relations. Attention is given to those aspects that are distinct from the cultural-historical aspect but nonetheless contain an inner connection with the cultural-historical aspect, manifest in expressions such as legal history, religious history, art history, economic history and intellectual history. The last part of the article focuses on people in an ethnic sense - as a cultural community. In conclusion a brief indication is given how to avoid both an atomistic (individualistic) and holistic (universalistic) view of human society. Therefore culture can never be appreciated as the root of human life, but merely as one branch among multiple other branches. Amidst the diverse nuances and diverging contexts in which the term culture is met the (ontic) structure of the cultural-historical aspect indeed provides us with a unified perspective. It does not only account for the inherent structural elements present within this aspect, for acknowledgement is also given to the fact that all processes and entities in principle function within all aspects of reality and therefore also within the cultural-historical aspect.
"Making the Dutchman proud of his language...": a century of Afrikaans art song]]>
Die ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse kunslied kan herlei word na die eerste voorbeeld daarvan, 'n toonsetting deur Jan Gysbert Bosman (ook bekend as Bosman di Ravelli) in 1908 van wat beskou word as die eerste volwasse gedig in dié jong taal, d.w.s. Eugène Marais se ikoniese teks, Winternag. In 'n breër perspektief begin die geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse lied met volksmusiekagtige pogings voor die eeuwending, deur die patriotiese lied in die jare onmiddellik na die Anglo-Boereoorlog (soos dié van Stephen Eyssen), tot by populêre liedere gedurende die twintigerjare, op die patroon van die Engelse "drawingroom" ballades, deur Stephen le Roux Marais. Die koms van die digkuns van die dertigerjare het ook die verskyning van die Afrikaanse kunslied, op die patroon van Europese modelle, ingelui. Hierdie era het gekulmineer in Arnold van Wyk se siklus Van Liefde en Verlatenheid (1953). Dit is interessant dat die begin van die Afrikaanse kunslied saamval met die afname van die Europese kunslied-tradisie, wat egter steeds in stand gehou word deur 'n groep plaaslike liedkomponiste en -bewonderaars.<hr/>The development of the art song in Afrikaans can be traced back to the earliest example, a setting of the poem that can be considered the first of the young language, i.e. Eugène Marais' iconic text, Winternag (A Winter Night), composed by Jan Gysbert Bosman (pseud. Bosman di Ravelli) in 1908. In broader perspective the history of song began with early folklike attempts before the turn of the century, through patriotic song in the years immediately after the Anglo-Boer war (such as those by Stephen Eyssen), to popular songs during the 20's, on Afrikaans texts, written in the manner of the popular English drawing-room ballad, by Stephen le Roux Marais. The advent of the poetry of the 1930's also heralded the emergence of an independent art song tradition on European models, culminating in Arnold van Wyk's cycle Van Liefde en Verlatenheid (1953). Interestingly the advent of Afrikaans song coincided with the waning of the European tradition, but is still upheld by a handful of local composers and admirers of the art song..
The representation of the past in representative Afrikaans prose works: suggestions for a typology]]>
Hierdie artikel vertrek van die aanname dat die Afrikaanse prosa sedert die negentigerjare gekenmerk word deur 'n besondere belangstelling in die geskiedenis wat soms op 'n positiewe (nostalgiese) wyse gerepresenteer word en dikwels op parodiërende wyse. In hierdie artikel word die representasie van die verlede vergelyk met die proses van vertaling. Net soos die vertaler 'n strategiese posisie-inname tussen bronteks en doelteks kies en voortdurend tussen hierdie twee pole medieer, net so plaas ook die skrywer van 'n historiese representasie sig tussen verlede en hede. In die vertaalwetenskap beteken vervreemding 'n doelbewuste vreemdmaking van die bronteks en -kultuur en domestikering (ook "domestikasie") beteken weer 'n strategie om die onbekende meer bekend te maak. Die begrip parateks verwys na die materiaal wat aanvullend tot die sogenaamde hoofteks aangebied kan word, soos die voorwoord, titel en illustrasies. Mutatis mutandis kan die skrywer van historiese representasies die verlede voorstel as 'n "ander land" of dit bykans as parallel met die eie tyd voorstel. Paratekstuele materiaal is ook belangrik in historiese representasie en sluit in sketse, foto's, ooggetuieverslae, dokumente, en dergelike. Hoewel heelwat literatore en kritici hulle uitgelaat het oor die representasie van die verlede in proefskrifte en artikels, het hulle steeds in gebreke gebly om 'n klassifikasiemodel daar te stel waarmee die groot korpus werke georden, beskrywe en gesistematiseer kon word. In hierdie artikel word gepoog om so 'n tipologie daar te stel wat as heuristiese hulpmiddel kan dien.<hr/>Since the nineties of the previous century, the representation of the past has been a salient feature of Afrikaans prose writing. This interest in historical representation has even been called "obsessive" and fluctuates between a parodical stance and a nostalgic rendering of the past. Historical representation is a much debated issue, especially since Hayden White stressed the subjective nature of history and equated historical representation with imaginative literature as a form of narrative. In this study, the writing of history is compared to the process of translation where a translator has to mediate between the source text and source culture on the one hand, and the target text and culture on the other hand. Alienation is the process by which the source text/culture is presented as "strange" and a long way removed from the target reader. Domestication on the other hand is the opposite in which the source text's/culture's strangeness is minimised or even removed. In historical representation, a writer also represents the past as "a foreign country" or presents it as akin or similar to the target culture. Paratext consists of devices and conventions, both within and outside of the book, that form part of the complex mediation between book, authors, publisher, and reader: "titles, forewords, epigraphs, and publishers' jacket copy" (Genette 1997:1). Mutatis mutandis the writer of history also has access to a paratext that comprises documents, sketches, photos, eyewitness-accounts, etc. With reference to Lategan (2011), the similarities between historical representation and fiction are again reiterated as a process involving selection, reduction, and structuring, primarily as a process not of retrieving the past, but rather the process of giving meaning to our recollection of the past. This need arises especially in times of crises when beliefs are tested. This may be an explanation for the enormous increase in historical representations in Afrikaans fiction, for the accrual took place in times of political upheaval and the coming about of a new political dispensation in South Africa. When translating a book, the choice of the source text has often less to do with its status and place in the source culture (and its literary canon) than with the envisaged place and the contribution it can make to the target culture (and its literary canon); "import" is often motivated by selfish needs. In the same way the representation of the past or an event in the past often has less to do with the past, but more with the future, because the narratological rendering of the past is necessary for the understanding of the present and expectation of (or preparation for) the future (cf. Rüsen 1997:29). In a recent article, Van den Berg (2011) equates the representation of trauma (and the "other") to any historical representation due to the fact that any experience of reality relies on a discursive representation, and language being unreliable, is not able to unlock the full meaning of reality. In a scathing attack on political philosophers, Frank Ankersmit (2010) accuses them of totally engrossing themselves in philosophical questions, and at the same time neglecting their duties to act as (moral) guides to readers. Ankersmit is a pragmatic historian who does not believe that one can speak of "the truth" regarding the past, or that one can know everything about the past. That, however, does not diminish the duty of the historian to act as a guide to the past for readers. What is paramount in the representation of the past is not the truth, but that which can be regarded as important: historians should therefore choose their paths to the past and motivate their choices. In the remaining part of the article, a typology that can be of heuristic help to researchers is constructed. This can help to classify a large corpus of works, to describe historical representations in synchronic or diachronic context, and even as a way to test previous readings (and classifications) of historical texts. This typology is an adaptation and refinement of a previously constructed typology. Whilst it was received favourably by researchers (cf. John 1998:30), John also levelled some critique, which is now implemented in the new typology. At one end, the relationship between fact and fiction in historical representation is presented as a whole range of possibilities; at the other the available styles are also presented as a range of stylistic choices. If the need arises for even more detailed classification of texts, this can be solved by adding semantic markers. In conclusion, this proposed typology is utilised to classify a number of important and representative Afrikaans texts that all are narratological representations of the past.
The semiosis of the (un)natural and the (ab)normal: on wonder and disenchantment in the cognitive semantic definition of the category HUMAN]]>
Daston (1998) sluit haar makronarratief van die opkoms en val van die kategorieë van die (on)natuurlike en die (ab)normale tussen die Vroegmoderne periode en die Wetenskaplike Rewolusie af met die opmerking dat die geldigheid daarvan nog aan mikronarratiewe getoets moet word. Die hoofdoel van hierdie artikel is om aan te dui watter lig twee minder bekende tekste uit die korpus Nederlandse natuurhistoriese tekste op hierdie kwessie werp. Die fokus val op hoe Adriaen Coenen (1514-1587) hierdie kategorieë kon gekonseptualiseer het op basis van sy visensiklopedie Visboeck (1577-1579). Sy empiriese ontologie en epistemologie maak volgens Florike Egmond en Peter Mason (cf. Egmond & Mason 1992, 2000) van Coenen 'n voorloper van die epistemiese oorgang van die Vroegmoderne periode en die Wetenskaplike Rewolusie. In hierdie artikel word aangetoon dat, alhoewel Coenen nie soos sy Middeleeuse voorgangers hierdie kategorieë op emblematiese wyse benader het nie, hy nogtans die natuur as "boek" gelees het waarin die Skepper Hom aan die mensdom openbaar. Om hierdie aansluiting by sy voorgangers duidelik te maak, word daar 'n ontleding aangebied van die eerste bestiarium in Nederlands, naamlik Jacob van Maerlant se Der naturen bloeme (ca. 1270). Die interpretasieproses (semiosis) word uiteengesit en daar word aangedui hoe die relevante kategorieë gedefinieer is teen die Groot Ketting van Bestaan, 'n teorie van die essensie van kategorieë en die "plaaslik-lokale" religieuse, morele, estetiese waardes, ens. van Van Maerlant se teikengehoor. In die ontleding van Visboeck word daar aangetoon hoe Coenen op meerdere epistemologiese strategieë gesteun het by die interpretasie van die betrokke kategorieë. Hy was deeglik daarvan bewus dat prioritisering van sig allerlei gevare ingehou het omdat ook die duiwel mense se interpretasie van natuurkategorieë kon bepaal. Die slotsom van die artikel is dat in die epistemiese oorgang van een periode in die geskiedenis na 'n ander meerdere en komplekse ontologiese en epistemologiese uitgangspunte die wêreldbeskouing van 'n individu kan bepaal en dat die besondere konseptualisering van die (on)natuurlike, (ab)normale en wonderlike in diens staan van die poging om sin te maak van die kategorie MENS.<hr/>Daston (1998) concludes her macronarrative of the rise and fall of the categories of the natural and unnatural between the Early Modern Period and the Scientifi c Revolution (15001700) with the remark that this narrative should be supplemented with local conceptions (i.e. micronarratives) of these categories. The main goal of this article is to indicate what contribution two works within the neglected corpus of Dutch natural histories can make to "fill in" the local details of such a macronarrative. The focus falls on how Adriaen Coenen (1514-1587) could have perceived these categories as evidenced by his marine encyclopaedia Visboeck ("Fish book"; 1577-1579). Florike Egmond and Peter Mason (cf. Egmond & Mason 1992, 2000) have indicated that Coenen prioritised an empirical epistemological approach to the (un)natural and (ab)normal, and not an emblematic one such as his forerunners of the bestiary tradition of the Dutch Middle Ages. Egmond and Mason therefore conclude that Coenen should be seen as a forerunner of the Early Modern Period of the Scientific Revolution. As is argued in this article, although Coenen did not have an emblematic world view (as defined for example by Ashworth 1990), he did read nature as a "book" (general revelation) to determine what it revealed about God to humankind. To place Coenen's epistemological and ontological perspectives on these categories in the right perspective, an analysis is provided in Section 3 of the typical bestiary approach as evidenced in the first bestiary in Dutch, namely Jacob van Maerlant's Der naturen bloeme ("The best from nature") (ca.1270). The focus falls on Van Maerlant's treatment of the (un)natural, the (ab) normal and the wonderful in God's creation. Entries from Der naturen bloeme are provided to debunk the myth that natural historians of the bestiary tradition had no regard for the materiality of objects but simply tried to fathom their symbolical meanings. The process of "interpreting" the semantic layers of natural-kind categories is discussed in line with the theoretical approach outlined in Section 2 of this article, namely the semiological, hermeneutic and cognitive semantic aspects of the semiosis of categories. It is indicated how the categories of the (un)natural, (ab)normal and wonderful are defined relative to the hierarchy inherent in the Great Chain of Being, its associated theory of the essences of kinds, and local, temporal and culture-specifi c sets of, for example, religious, moral, and aesthetic values. Adriaen Coenen's epistemological and ontological approach in Visboeck to the categories under discussion are discussed in more depth in Section 4. Despite the fact that he prioritised an empirical epistemology, it is also indicated that Coenen relies on a number of epistemological strategies: the principle of auctoritas (like his forerunners from the Middle Ages) and simple referential procedures. He also acknowledges the fact that the evidence of vision itself could be highly fallible, and that whatever interpretations one may make of natural categories they could also be the work of the devil himself. Obsessed with all that is strange and wonderful, Coenen devotes a number of the articles in his "encyclopaedia" to monsters of all kinds, also stressing their role as "warnings from God". Above all, Visboeck is evidence of Coenen's ability to see in nature how God, as almighty Creator, reveals himself to man. The final conclusion is that the hypothesised macronarrative of (clear) epistemic breaks between historical periods does not hold up when one analyses micronarratives such as that of Van Maerlant's Der naturen bloeme and Coenen's Visboeck. In the cross-over from one period to the other (Middle Ages, the Early Modern Period and the Scientifi c Revolution) a variety of ontological and epistemological positions were possible, all positions finally aimed at trying to fathom the category HUMANKIND.
Is regtig really German richtig?]]>
Die Afrikaanse modale partikels rêrig en regtig in die betekenis "waar(-lik), eg, werklik" is wisselvorme. Rêrig is afkomstig van die reduplikasievorm reg-reg, met antesedente in Maleis en Khoi. Die oorgang van reg-reg na rêrig is moontlik bemiddel deur 'n bry-uitspraak van eersgenoemde. Ofskoon die element reg afkomstig is van Nederlands recht, is 'n vorm soos rechtig feitlik onbekend in Nederlands. Hoogduits richtig, wat hoofsaaklik 'n bloot referensièle betekenis ("reg, nie verkeerd nie") het, het egter ook lank reeds die modale betekenis van Afrikaans regtig. Bowendien kan sowel Duits richtig as Afrikaans regtig versterkend/graadaanduidend, as ontkenningsversagter en as tussenwerpsel of uitroep optree. In die lig van die feit dat Duitsers in die vorrningsjare van Afrikaans 'n betreklik groot deel van die Europese bevolking aan die Kaap uitgemaak het, lyk dit waarskynlik dat die vorm rêrig, met 'n grotendeels nie-Europese herkoms, en regtig, gesteun deur Duits richtig, gekonvergeer het in wat vandag as één leksikale item beskou kan word, met rêrig moontlik enigsins informeler as regtig.<hr/>Afrikaans, Dutch and High German (henceforth A, D and G, respectively) have several modal particles in common. In the case of A regtig/rêrig there is a correspondence with G richtig, but not with D, as rechtig is virtually absent in D. A rêrig, from the reduplication form reg-reg, nevertheless derives from A reg and ultimately from D recht "right". The provenance of A regtig, however, is still in need of an explanation. Regtig/rêrig, a modal particle meaning "true/truly, real(-ly), actual(-ly) ", also functions as a reinforcing or scalar particle or as an interjection. As speakers of German settled at the Cape of Good Hope in large numbers from the 17th century onwards, the poss ibility is explored that the A form regtig developed under the influence of G richtig, in a process of convergence with its slightly more informal synonym rêrig. As A reg-reg is morphologically based on reg/recht, the functions of A reg(te) and D recht(e) will be delineated to begin with, followed by a discussion of the origins of the reduplicatedform reg-reg and its development towards rêrig, and the relationship between rêrig(e) and regtig(e). Finally, it will be shown that the modal functions of rêrig(e)/regtig(e) are also encountered in G richtig(e-), so that it seems likely that A regtig(e), as far as its form is concerned, arose at the Cape under German influence. Semantically, a distinction is first of all made between the referential sense of "right" in contrast to "wrong". In the three syntactic contexts to be distinguished, viz. attributive and predicative adjective and adverb, D employs recht(e), A reg(te) and G richtig(e-). In the modal sense of "true/truly, real(-ly), actual(-ly) " D has obsolete recht(e); D echt(e), which seems to be the general "replacement" of recht(e), is not discussed further. In this sense, A has regte in attributive function, while reg is not encounteredpredicatively and is obsolete in adverbial function. Besides attributive A regte, the forms regtige and rêrige have become common, matched predicatively by regtig and rêrig. The latter forms are the forms used par excellence in adverbial function, i.e. as modal particles, and G richtig is often encountered in this function. Though the distinction between the modal and reinforcing uses is not clear-cut, both A regtig/rêrig and G richtig are employed as reinforcers, as well as being employed as negation mitigators (A nie regtig/rêrig, G nicht richtig) and as interjections. A conspicuous difference between D and A, therefore, is that A regte, unlike D rechte, may occur in attributive function in a modal sense. In the other modal and reinforcing (or mitigating) functions D recht and A reg have no role to play. The reduplicated form reg-reg is well attested in earlier A. Reduplication as a productive morphological device in A is said to derive from Malay, inter alia. G. S. Nienaber, however, claims that modal reg-reg, as a semantic entity, derives from Khoi - a language which also makes use of reduplication. The Khoi equivalent of A reg-reg "really" is said to form a contrastive pair in Khoi with the equivalent of A glo "allegedly ". Reg-reg was therefore imported into A by Khoi LI speakers transferring to A. Regarding the problem of how reg-reg, phonetically [rsxrsx], changed to rêrig, [rersx], I would like to hypothesize that the change was mediated by the uvular pronunciation of r, which is common in areas in the vicinity of Cape Town. A pronunciation [ReyRex] would readily be assimilated to [REREX], which would be converted to [rerexj by speakers with an apical r. Given that regtig [rextsxj was already present as a variant and the tendency of vowel reduction, the schwa in current rêrig [rersx] is readily explained. This raises the question of the relationship between regtig and rêrig. While on the one hand rêrig is the result ofa reduplicative process, regtig, on the other, could have been formed according to a familiar pattern for A, viz. the productive -ig suffix affixed to an underlying stem regt-, as in regte (plural and attributive form), regtens, tc. Modal regte in adverbial function was attested in earlier A, and could even have been a "veiled" representation of regtig. It is therefore neither possible to conclude that regtig was derived from rêrig, nor rêrig from regtig. The relationship between regtig(e)/rêrig(e), on the one hand, and reg(te) on the other, also merits our attention. It seems that regtig and rêrig are both used as modal particles, function as negative mitigators (hie regtig/rêrig) and as interjections. In referential sense these forms are found neither in adjectival, nor in adverbial function. This semantic field belongs to reg(te) exclusively. Modal usage and adjectival function may be looked upon as a border area. Predicatively we only encounter regtig/rêrig; reg is excluded. Attributively regtige/rêrige compete with reg as slightly less formal or more emotive variants. In conclusion one might say that regtig/rêrig typically have a modal and adverbial origin. From there they spread to an adjectival context where they compete with regte, while retaining their modal sense. G richtig(e-) is encountered in both referential and modal functions (including reinforcing and mitigating functions and as interjection) and as adjective as well as adverb. It therefore covers the fields not only of A regtig(e)/rêrig(e) but also of A reg(te), D recht(e) and D echt(e). Though its modal usages are overshadowed by its referential usage, at least in written texts, it seems likely that its presence in spoken G at the Cape during the 17th and 18th centuries facilitated the convergence of a form regtig(e) as variant of rêrig(e) - regtig(e) being similar in meaning to rêrig(e) and moreover in keeping with A derivation.
Phonology and Afrikaans - from rules to parameters to constraints]]>
De periode van de afgelopen halve eeuw was voor theoretisch georiënteerde linguïsten zeer significant: hij viel samen met de periode van invoering, in de jaren '50 en '60 van de "generatieve", "Chomskiaanse" taalkunde, en de ontwikkeling ervan in de decennia erna. Zoals bekend onderscheidt dit theoretische kader zich door een nadruk op het formuleren van universalia, dat wil zeggen, het is in essentie de studie van Universal Grammar en, bij hypothese en in het verlengde daarvan, de studie van U.G. in zijn rol van taalleervermogen. Tegen deze achtergrond geeft deze bijdrage een schets van de ontwikkelingen in deze halve eeuw in de generatieve fonologie. Drie opeenvolgende stadia worden geschetst: dat van de regel-gebaseerde theorie in de jaren '60 en '70, dat van de theorie van Principes & Parameters in de jaren '80, en tenslotte dat van de Optimality Theorie sinds de jaren '90. Terwijl ze allemaal "generatief" zijn, wordt van elk van deze benaderingen aangegeven waarom en hoe ze elkaar hebben opgevolgd. Deze uiteenzetting gebruikt als illustratiemateriaal een aantal fonologische processen die het Afrikaans deelt met het Nederlands, zij het soms in een andere vorm, die allemaal te maken hebben met het fonologische kenmerk [stem(hebbendheid)]: Auslautverskerping, Stemassimilatie en "progressive devoicing". Hiermee wordt, binnen het raam van de historische schets, duidelijk gemaakt dat het Afrikaans een taal is met aanzienlijk theoretisch belang.<hr/>To theoretically inclined linguists, the past half century has been a period of considerable significance: there is virtually perfect overlap with the period of the introduction (in the second half of the 1950s and 1960s) and subsequent growth and systematic development of "generative", "Chomskian" linguistics. As is well-known, this framework is characterized by an emphasis on the discovery and formulation of universals: essentially it is the study of Universal Grammar, enhanced by the in-depth investigations of individual languages, and comparative research involving several languages. This study is closely linked to the demand that any generative theory should contribute to an explanation of the process of first language acquisition, one of whose most striking characteristics is the acquisition of a grammar based on excessively poor input. The difference is hypothesized to be bridged by an inborn language acquisition device, which itself is equated with Universal Grammar. Against this background, this contribution provides a sketch of theoretical developments within the 50 year period, in the study of generative phonology. Three well-known stages are addressed: that of the rule-based framework in the 1960s and 1970s, that of the combination of autosegmental phonology and Principles and Parameters theory in the 1980s, and finally that of Optimality Theory in the 1990s, up until the present day. Each of these frameworks has a solidly generative foundation, but the discussion specifically addresses why and how one theory became the successor to the other, where arguments typically revolve around issues concerning Universal Grammar and language acquisition. In order to facilitate the exposition, one constant of the discussion is the empirical material used as an illustration for each stage. This has been taken from Afrikaans, and concerns two phonological phenomena, shared with for instance Dutch, involving the feature [voice]: Final obstruent Devoicing (Auslautsverskerping) and obstruent Voice Assimilation (Stemassimilasie). These phenomena have been well-described for Afrikaans (in work by Wissing), one of the more interesting aspects of their coexistence being their interaction in words. In addition, however, theoretical developments, as they tend to do, resulted in new claims about further interacting phenomena, in this case claims about progressive devoicing, which - to different degrees and in different kinds - is also a property of the phonologies of both Dutch and Afrikaans, fi rst discussed for the latter language in work by Wissing and Du Plessis in the early 1990s. Discussion of these decidedly productive phenomena takes place against the theoretical claim that these processes must probably be considered examples of "peripheral rules" (in the Principles and Parameters framework) or require a special treatment, possibly an appeal to a combination of Optimality Theory and Cognitive Grammar (Van Rooy, in his 1999 dissertation) or to a special type of Optimality constraint interaction (Zonneveld, in an extension to Afrikaans of proposals put forward previously for Dutch). Hence, this principally historical sketch also enables us to show that Afrikaans is a language of considerable theoretical-phonological interest, and increasingly so.
Democratisation and standardisation - conflicting objectives for indigenous languages?]]>
At first blush, the two concepts, democratisation and standardisation, seem to be in conflict if the objectives underlying the processes they describe are compared, in particular if they are applied to the field of language planning and politics, and especially within the context of the colonial history of Africa and further afield. It is in the nature of standardisation not to tolerate much variety, even in the language to be standardised (especially in the formal registers). The functional requirements of stylistic, sociolectal or geolectal variants in a language community, on the other hand, reflect a wide spectrum of varieties in a given language. Underlying the need for standardisation is the requirement for communication in the form of a unitary code (i.e. a language) which is understood and used by as many members of the community as possible, necessarily and usually in formal contexts. However, a standardised language, like all others, also has need of neutral and informal registers for which the appropriate vocabulary should be available. Such vocabulary originates in everyday speech, while "formal" terminology aimed at the higher functions of language is often compiled by bodies such as language commissions. The standardisation of language is often the result of a political process, which is a corollary of conquest, colonialism, or (sometimes) democratic change. A standard language, once established, normally possesses a self-perpetuating force - those who have acquired it, do not easily relinquish the concomitant social and political power associated with it. This applies in particular to non-mother-tongue speakers of the standard language, who benefi t from the social status and increased access to knowledge associated with it. The result is, predictably, discrimination on the basis of profi ciency in the standard, and societal imbalances. Arguments in defence of the selection of a non-indigenous standard are the purportedly equal distribution of disadvantage, as well as the possible unifying force of such a medium. To understand the task facing those who wish to standardise an indigenous language, the four phases traditionally identified by Haugen could be recalled, i.e. selection (macro and micro), codification, acceptance and cultivation (elaboration of functions). This is possibly another reason why already established colonial languages seemed to be an attractive choice at the outset when considering the adoption of an indigenous language for the purposes of standardisation. However, when the intellectual and economic benefits of linguistic democracy are considered, the investment in the enhancement of access to knowledge for entire language communities is well spent. The advantages for the development of human capital in the short and long term for such communities have been proven in countless scientific studies. A common disincentive is the purported "unsuitability" of indigenous languages for use in technical and scientific contexts. However, similar techniques for the creation of terminology are applied by all languages where elaboration of functions takes place, i.e. relexification, use of international cognates, conceptual translation (calquing), the use of informal vocabulary in specialised applications, neologisms, etcetera. Examples of attempts at standardisation or restandardisation of nonstandard varieties, such as in Norway and Albania can be adduced. In Norway, Nynorsk was created to replace Bokmål, but there was a clear differentiation by the speakers between spoken and written requirements, so that the written language gravitated to Bokmål, and the spoken language to Nynorsk. In Albania, where Standard Albanian was based on Tosc, attempts were made at incorporating elements of North Albanian (Gegh) into the standard for reasons of "justice". However, it foundered as a result of resistance from intellectuals on the basis that "justice" in standardisation was "impossible". Some lessons from Norway, and also the Magreb (which is subsequently discussed), are that varieties in both Norwegian and Arabic are closely linked to rules of contextuality and register; and that, although there is a greater need for uniformity as regards the form of written standard, the written form of informally used items needs to be standardised as well, albeit in a different way. Finally, the use of the internet as agent for both standardisation and democratisation is briefly investigated. It is apparent that informal standardisation (through codification) is taking place through the production of increased volumes of texts by common users. The production of electronic texts leads to the compilation of corpora, and standardisation of the lexicon takes place on the basis of frequency counts and the use of concordances by NGO's. Some examples of such standardisation (official and unoffi cial) in Africa are provided. The conclusions drawn from the overview are that: (a) Democratisation and standardisation do not have to represent conflicting objectives for indigenous languages in Africa; (b) Users of language determine the form that is standardised in the end; and (c) Speakers of African languages have the ability to determine not only which language(s) they prefer to use for which purpose, but also the form of such languages.<hr/>Dans cet article, la reconnaissance des langues autochtones dans la société africaine dans le contexte de l'existence d'un nombre restreint de langues standard dans les communautés multilingues est examinée. La standardisation des langues, vue sous tous ses angles, semble aller à l'encontre des objectifs de la démocratisation de la société, car elle favorise tous ceux qui parlent une telle langue comme langue maternelle, mais au même temps elle montre de la discrimination contre ceux qui sont obligés à maîtriser la langue standard pour obtenir l'accès aux connaissances et à l'ascension dans l'échelle sociale. Au lieu de servir comme une force unificatrice, elle semble retirer les pouvoirs à certains, tandis que ceux qui sont nés dans le "bon" environnement linguistique en tirent profit excessivement. Ce déséquilibre apparent de la société est abordé de différentes manières, avec plus ou moins de succès, dans de différentes parties du monde. En comparant telles tentatives, à la fois officielles et officieuses, en Afrique et en Europe (en Norvège, en Albanie et en Afrique du Nord), il est également noté que l'avènement de la connectivité électronique dans le monde entier a introduit des manières et des niveaux différents de standardisation des langues autochtones en Afrique, puisque l'alphabétisation est devenue une condition préalable à la participation dans toutes les langues sur l'Internet. Il a également rendu possible la compilation des corpus textuels dans des langues qui étaient auparavant limités aux moyens informels de communication orale. L'inclusion des langues minoritaires autochtones et la codification concomitante du vocabulaire semble remplacer l'élément de conflit entre les deux forces opposées de la standardisation et la démocratisation de la langue, et répondre à la question posée dans le titre.
The varieties of Afrikaans as carriers of identity: a socio-cultural perspective ]]>
Alexander (1994:24) wys daarop dat Afrikaans in die verlede dikwels as politieke speelbal gebruik is in die naam van 'n soeke na identiteit. Hierdie artikel is nie 'n poging om hierdie debat voort te sit nie; veel eerder is dit 'n bydrae tot die debat dat persone se huistaal, in welke variëteit ook al, meer is as net 'n kommunikasiemiddel in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika. Meer spesifi ek ondersoek die artikel hoe die Afrikaanse taal in sy verskillende variëteite die onderliggende draers is van identiteit van die persone wat as "Kleurling"¹ geklassifiseer is en voorheen op grond van armoede, woonplek en ras benadeel is. Vanuit 'n sosiokulturele perspektief word die ontstaan en ontwikkeling van Afrikaans asook sekere variëteite van Afrikaans met behulp van 'n literatuurondersoek beskryf. Hieronder is Kaapse Afrikaans en die verwante Moesliem-Afrikaans, Namakwalands en Griekwa-Afrikaans as voorbeelde van Oranjerivierafrikaans, en Karoo-Afrikaans en Tsotsitaal as voorbeelde van Oosgrensafrikaans. Onderhoude is gevoer met verteenwoordigende sprekers van die verskillende variëteite terwyl die lirieke van sommige liedjies wat in sommige streke baie prominent is, ook beskou word.<hr/>This article builds on the exploration of the negotiation of identity via language in post-apartheid South Africa. Specifically, it looks at the ways in which the various varieties of the Afrikaans language underpin the individual and collective identities of those Afrikaans-speaking people classified as "Coloured" and marginalised by poverty, location and race. Alexander (1994:24) points out that Afrikaans in the past often had been misused for political reasons in the search for identity. From a socio-cultural perspective and by means of a literature review this article will reflect on the origin and development of Afrikaans, amongst others: Cape Afrikaans and the related dialect of Muslim Afrikaans, Namakwalands and Griqua Afrikaans as examples of Orange River Afrikaans, as well as Karoo Afrikaans and Tsotsitaal as examples of Eastern Border Afrikaans. Interviews were conducted with representative speakers of the various varieties of Afrikaans, whilst the lyrics of Afrikaans songs prominent in some Afrikaans-speaking areas were also studied. The data gained from the literature review, supported by the evidence collected from the interviews and the songs, showed that the various varieties of Afrikaans are a sound indicator of identity in those Afrikaans-speaking communities under review.