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
A beauty which speaks to your soul
I: Beauty and Solace It’s been a while since I’ve felt like penning anything poetic, and I didn’t imagine I’d be musing on matters of the heart for some time. I must confess that this is far from the height of poetic prowess. As the good book should have said, long is the way and … Continue reading A beauty which speaks to your soul
Protected: To meat, or not to meat
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The Apostle’s Creed*
What is the price of understanding, the cost that one pays for the gift of wisdom? You could also say that it is only by my toil and labour that I accumulate experience to lead to that flash of insight; that sort of intuitive knowing - a sort of faith if you will - which … Continue reading The Apostle’s Creed*
Tell your children to abandon their names
I. Creation A soul such as mine am I such a thing to be so markedly special in a world indifferent and cruel. I chased a light shooting up toward the heaven and was bathed in the dying glow of a sleeping sunset. A ray so pure and straight it sprung from the ocean like … Continue reading Tell your children to abandon their names
When the sun shines on the other side of town
I Three pilgrims journeyed from the shantytown to the mountain pass above the city where they knelt in the grove overlooking the coastal waters and elegant beachfront buildings. Their climb up the mountain seemed like a premonition come to bear. Having reached the pass, they knelt by the foot of another hill and found a … Continue reading When the sun shines on the other side of town
Protected: A comfort for a soft riddle
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Protected: A moving prayer for five faces
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Four Days Before the Old Man Passes On
My grandfather once told me that to ease the pain which arises from the vagaries of life, you must break from the world, and look at the falling skies from the depths of your soul’s anguish. I have spent my whole life in a deep isolation trying to learn the meaning of these words. There … Continue reading Four Days Before the Old Man Passes On
When these fires are extinguished
Suffering, individual liberty and collective freedom: interpreting self-immolation as resistance and liberatory praxis through a Buddhist-Marxist lens Essay submitted in response to the following topic: Critically discuss Berlin’s critique of Marxism as restricting the liberty of the individual. POL5048S Global Political Thought, Political Studies Department, University of Cape Town “Through an additional act of boldness, … Continue reading When these fires are extinguished
Two Ts in the Heart of Things
There is no home. We will die unnamed buried in unmarked graveyards of broken dreams. And so, we pray for ourselves and our children. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: I give thee unto the grace of the waters of the lord as you sail on … Continue reading Two Ts in the Heart of Things
Simon Rakei 