Product Description
For modern urban South African youth, the concept of race persists and falters. ... Read more

Product Description
Archbishop Desmond Tutu states that this work shows us another road to a future of equality and democracy for all South Africans, a road not filled with the hurt of our long discussions that carry us into the night, but equally important in its capacity to heal. It maintains that through properly organized sport we can learn to play together with respect and with laughter, we can learn to be all on the same team, and in the process, we can contribute to building a new South Africa that is a just nation for all. Its conclusion - and its commitment - is as clear as it is strong. Sport does have a meaningful and powerful role to play in the social transformation of South African society if care is taken to provide the necessary conditions for success. It offers us those conditions and at the conclusion some carefully thought out recommendations for providing a level playing field for all our futures. [...] ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

vanishing cultures
Interesting information about the tribes and their culture in South Africa documented with beautiful fotos.

Modern enactment of the old cultures

This review applies equally to three of Peter Magubane's very similar books, "Vanishing Cultures of South Africa," published in 1998, "African Renaissance" published two years later in 2002 and "Ceremonies," published in 2003.

These books are almost unconscionably similar, with many photos in the second book either outright recycled from the first book or pictures taken in the same photo-shoots as the ones in the first book--sometimes of the very same people, in photos apparently shot moments apart. The first book is organized by tribe, while the latter is organized by categories such as dress, rites, arts, homesteads, etc. Nevertheless the books are largely the same, covering the same material, same people, with the same or similar pictures.

One can get the impression somebody just wanted to make a fast buck. In fact, a third book by Magubane, published a year later and titled "Ceremonies" seems to be almost entirely reprints from both of the prior books--with no warning to the prospective purchaser! There exist still more books by this guy, but these are the only three I bought, so I don't know exactly how thin he spreads his work. As for these three, I should have bought only one of them (if any), and will return at least "Ceremonies."

As for their content, you have to be aware that these pictures, taken in well-developed South Africa, depict tribal lifestyles and rituals that hark back to the past--remaining only in a modern context of revival and preservation of the old traditional ways. People dress up for them, in other words. You'll see costumes that look neat and clean and store-bought, and some evidence of modernity in the background (buildings, shirts and ties). You'd buy one of these books to see how the modern culture chooses to embrace some form of ritual (cultural heritage) from the past in the hope of informing today's culture in positive ways.

If you want to see and learn about African tribal cultures that still exists today as they have for hundreds of years (the "dressing up" is still every-day attire), then you must look elsewhere (such as, for example, the amazing books on Ethiopia's Omo Valley, by Silvester, Giansanti, Beckwith & Fisher, etc.).

Three stars might be too many for these works that are a repeated rehashing of previous works, almost identical, apparrently just to make another buck off unsuspecting customers. Shame.

WAITING FOR A BOOK
When this book was first published, here in South Africa its promotion was good. I decided this was my type of book, so I went shopping. None of the bookshops that I usually use had it and so I placed an order at acouple of the stores (explaining I also had another order somewhereelse.

It really was worth waiting for, the photography is outstanding.There is also enough information for people who do not live in Africa -just to wet their taste buds

South Africa has had plenty of problems inthe past but when I see a book like this, I am very honoured as I knowthese tribes, they are colourful and very proud.

A fascinating insight into South African cultures
This richly illustrated book is a fascinating look at the various traditional black cultures in South Africa. The photographer spent time with different tribal peoples, experiencing their day-to-day lives. Hismagnificent photographs allow us a glimpse into these vanishing worlds asthey adapt to modern, urban influences. For travellers interested inmeeting people and armchair anthropologists, this is an indispensable read. ... Read more

Product Description
There is no single culture of South Africa. As South Africa is so ethnically diverse, it is not surprising that there are vast cultural differences as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Culture of South Africa, Take a Girl Child to Work Day, South African Heraldry, Azania, the Bush, South African National Lottery, Women in South Africa, National Cleavage Day, South African Chess Championship, Ndebele House Painting, Mince Show, List of Heritage Sites in South Africa, Public Holidays in South Africa, Adamastor, Shebeen, Volkspele, Heritage Day, List of Fiction Set in South Africa, National Women's Day, Department of Arts and Culture, South African Schools Pledge, National Library of South Africa, Madiba Shirt, Inkanyamba, Coat of Arms of Western Cape Province, Polygamy in South Africa, Banket, Proudly South African, Mnguni, Thando. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 113. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: This article is part of the series:Culture of South Africa There is no single culture of South Africa. As South Africa is so ethnically diverse, it is not surprising that there are vast cultural differences as well. Blacks are increasingly urbanised and westernised, and usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue, which may be one of nine Bantu languages with official status since 1994. These include the Nguni languages, Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi, and the Sotho languages, which include Tswana, Sotho and Northern Sotho. The Venda language is quite different to the foregoing and has its origins in Zimbabwe. The Tsonga language is also unique. The name Shangaan can be traced to the Zulu chief Soshangane. Many urban blacks speak several indigenous languages, with Zulu being a lingua franca in the Johannesburg area. Most are Christian, locally mixed house while black South African musicians such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mahotella Queens, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masekela are well known internationally. The white minority lead life...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=364917 ... Read more

Product Description
This expansive anthology provides profiles of the peoples wholive in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Meaningful analyses of fifteenrepresentative tribal groups are offered based on five important criteria: majorforms of subsistence, different population sizes and patterns of social andpolitical organization, culture areas and ecological zones, racial stocks, andlanguage families. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very Interesting
This book intrically discussed many of the ethnic groups in Africaincluding, The Suku, Swazi and Tiv. Unlike other books I have read aboutAfrica, this provided an in depth acount of a few tribes, instead ofrushing to cover them all. My only complaint would be that it could've beenupdated to get more current information on the AIDS crisis, etc. Photos and charts helped in understanding the cultures of these tribal groups. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Lgbt Culture in South Africa, Lgbt People From South Africa, Lgbt Political Advocacy Groups in South Africa, Lgbt Rights Activists From South Africa, Lgbt Rights in South Africa, Lgbt Sportspeople From South Africa, South African Lgbt-Related Films, Same-Sex Marriage in South Africa, Joseph Sonnabend, Antony Sher, Graham Payn, Zackie Achmat, Mark Behr, the World Unseen, Edwin Cameron, Brenda Fassie, Ilana Kloss, Robert V. Taylor, Simon Nkoli, Eudy Simelane, Johannes Kerkorrel, Isingqumo, Bakgat, Gayle Language, Proteus, William Plomer, Minister of Home Affairs V. Fourie, Wrapped, Kathleen Satchwell, Barry Duke, Corrective Rape, Ernst Van Heerden, National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Another V. Minister of Justice and Others, Emma Huismans, Lesbian and Gay Equality Project. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 116. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Gayle Gayle , or Gail , is an English and Afrikaans -based argot used primarily by English and Afrikaans-speaking gay men in urban communities of South Africa , and is similar in some respects to Polari in the United Kingdom , from which some lexical items have been borrowed. The equivalent language used by gay South African men who speak Bantu languages is called IsiNgqumo , and is based on a Nguni lexicon.Gayle originally manifested as "moffietaal" (Afrikaans: literally, "gay man language") in the drag culture of the Cape Coloured community in the 1950s. It permeated into white homosexual circles in the 1960s and became part of mainstream white gay culture through South African Airways "koffie-moffies" (Afrikaans: literally, "coffee gay men," a slang name for flight attendants) in the 1970s.Besides a few core words borrowed from Polari (such as the word varda meaning "to see", itself a borrowing from Lingua Franca ), most of Gayle's words are allitera... ... Read more

Product Description
These essays are interventions in a cultural contestation in South Africa during the Seventies and Eighties. Some of them are more general in nature and were written in the first instance as public oral interventions in debates whose outcome contributed to the founding of South Africa's post-apartheid society. Other essays are more specifically aimed at poetic practices, particularly as these have been of crucial aesthetic and ultimately ethical importance in a critical phase of South Africa's painful development. Intimate knowledge of (and personal involvement in) the commitment of literature to concrete political situations informs these succinct and spirited essays, along with Horn's measured familiarity with European traditions of political, cultural and ideological thought. The topics covered include: the social context of South African poetry; poetry and apartheid; the praise-singing tradition and the liberation struggle; German documentary theatre and South African workers' theatre; the necessity of popular culture; post-Freudian readings and feminist aesthetics; censorship and society; and essays on individual South African poets (Jeremy Cronin; Wopko Jensma; Abduraghiem Johnstone; Mzwakhe Mbuli; Mongane Serote; Ari Sitas). ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Shellfish Research, published by National Shellfisheries Association, Inc. on April 1, 2010. The length of the article is 7320 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The history and status of oyster exploitation and culture in South Africa.(Report)
Author: Tanya M. Haupt
Publication: Journal of Shellfish Research (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2010
Publisher: National Shellfisheries Association, Inc.
Volume: 29Issue: 1Page: 151(9)

Article Type: Report

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more