Samurai Champloo and the discourses of modernity, civilisation and Western power in Japan Essay submitted in response to the following: Both Russia and Japan were “old” national societies with significantly entrenched social relations and symbolic-cultural traditions when confronted by an expanding global capitalism. Critically discuss the key issues of debate on how to respond to … Continue reading Starring down the barrel of the gun
Author: Simon Rakei
Writing on Water: The Haitian Revolution and Universal History
Appropriation of metaphors, disciplinarity and universalism in ‘rescuing’ the idea universal history from its service to white domination The self-liberation of the African slaves of Saint-Domingue gained for them, by force, the recognition of European and American whites – if only in the form of fear. Among those with egalitarian sympathies, it gained them respect … Continue reading Writing on Water: The Haitian Revolution and Universal History
Inclusive Exclusion: the Source and Residence Conflict in International Taxation
Source and residence-based taxation in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and United Nations Model Tax Convention for the avoidance of double taxation Critique insists upon analyzing the systemic relations that exist between all the sites of cultural production and consumption. A politically effective critique of literary education would be better served now by discarding the problematic … Continue reading Inclusive Exclusion: the Source and Residence Conflict in International Taxation
After the Earthquake: Seed Imperialism and Disaster Capitalism
Food security and displacement in the age of Monsanto and climate change Submitted as an essay in response to: Sarah Ives’ book, Steeped in Heritage, is not just about rooibos tea but also about how people claim belonging in relation to uncertain political, economic, and ecological futures. By exploring the ironies and surprises that surround … Continue reading After the Earthquake: Seed Imperialism and Disaster Capitalism
The Colours of the Sky
You were like a flower in a peaceful corner free from the world in a timeless hour I felt the cold fold leave my hand; a dying hope on a mound lying atop a pile of sand I watched you wash away like a soft stone melting in the river bay I wish I could … Continue reading The Colours of the Sky
Revisiting Ujamaa and the Debate on African Socialism
The limits of intercultural translation and modern scientific thought in building ecologies of knowledge for epistemological reconstruction Submitted in response to the essay question: Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ book, Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide, is built on three founding principles. (i) What are these principles/ ideas, (ii) related to these principles, what are … Continue reading Revisiting Ujamaa and the Debate on African Socialism
African Philosophy and the Black Radical Tradition
A case study of the Azanian Liberation Tradition as a theory of liberation and practice of resistance Long essay submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for Module 1 SOC5059F: Theorising Justice from the South Sociology Department, University of Cape Town Abstract African philosophy has necessarily come to be defined in relation to the consciousness of … Continue reading African Philosophy and the Black Radical Tradition
The Khoisan Revivalist Movement and the Decolonial Turn
Authenticity, naming and cultural identities in Khoisan historiography for epistemic justice Submitted in response to the essay question: Critically discuss the various discourses on the ‘precolonial’ within southern Africa, with KhoiSan Historiography as a case study. What are the implications for epistemological transformation in southern Africa? AXL5202F Problematising the Study of Africa, Centre for African … Continue reading The Khoisan Revivalist Movement and the Decolonial Turn
Life Belonged to the Runaways
What does it mean to run away? Is it to escape? Is it an act of bravery and defiance? Or is it cowardice to confront the things which hurt us? I have found that whilst the answer is easy to answer in a material sense e.g. fleeing from a humanitarian crisis in times of war, … Continue reading Life Belonged to the Runaways
Berea
I had been walking around the last few days with a sensation of detachment – trying to draw myself, my emotions away, from my body. Over time (accumulated experiences) and with an acute degree of awareness, one can sense forthcoming danger and trauma, emotional or otherwise. Prior to that encounter, one feels the body in … Continue reading Berea
Simon Rakei 