text: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe - Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2008
  Volume 5, Issue 2, October 2008
  Author Matildie Thom Wium
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 1 –26 (2008)
  Arnold van Wyk's Ricordanza as a musical memoirThe fact that most of Arnold van Wyk's music is so little known and little loved has been bemoaned regularly by South African musicologists since the composer's death in 1983. Despite the publication of the piano piece Ricordanza in 1984 by the Arnold van Wyk Trust, it is seldom performed and has never been subjected to musicological study. The nature of this work as a memoir of a place, person or event, as the title suggests, provides a key to a better understanding of its content. The word Ricordanza is one of several variants that were popular as titles of 19th-century piano music (cf. Remembrance, Souvenir). The 19th-century composition aesthetic (and in particular the autobiographical significance of compositions within this aesthetic) is an essential perspective on a work like this within Van Wyk's oeuvre. With reference to the composition sketches for this work, this article shows how Ricordanza was composed as a memoir of a visit from Marthinus Basson in November 1973 which had romantic significance for Van Wyk. In this light, the elegiac character and strongly 19th-century-inspired form and idiom are interpreted as emanating from the (for Van Wyk) sensitive matter of his homosexuality. The connection between Ricordanza and the visit consists in the fact that Van Wyk based his initial idea on Bach's prelude BWV 850, which was played by Basson during the November visit. The article explains the specific characteristics which Van Wyk incorporated from the prelude and the way in which he adapted them. These particulars are insightful as indicators towards a detailed and critical study of Van Wyk's idiom.
  Author Mariette Koen
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 27 –45 (2008)
  Empower educators for the immediate mobilisation of foundation phase learners' literacyIn November 2007 the dark picture of the underachievement of South African learners in respect of basic reading skills was emphasised once again when the research results of the University of Pretoria were published. Since 1994 much debate has taken place about possible factors which may cause learners' poor language achievement. In this article I do not wish to focus on the problems, but prefer, rather, to concentrate on possible solutions. The focus of the literature study is grounded in the views of recognised linguist, philosopher and author Noam Chomsky who believes that ""mother tongue is the most basic human right"" (cited by Lezgin 2002:1). A serious mistake is made when individuals in favour of education transformation wish to increase language achievement, but fail to acknowledge the critical role of language acquisition in the foundation phase. The radical change revealed by the speakers of African languages with regard to the pedagogical value of mother-tongue instruction is cause for joy. My plea, however, is that this theoretical recognition would immediately be mobilised to prevent it from becoming mere good intentions. Two aspects are discussed in this article, namely the recognition of the value of mother-tongue instruction in the foundation phase and the empowerment of educators to mobilise available resources under specific circumstances. As motivation for the feasibility of the above-mentioned two tasks I wish to refer to a group of 342 Sesotho-speaking grade 1 learners who were subjected to a reading and spelling programme in 2002 (Koen 2003:9). Critics may feel that research of a more recent nature may be of more actual interest. The above-mentioned research is, however, relevant, since the same problems and issues which were regarded as factors contributing to poor language achievement in 2002 are still prominent. If enthusiastic educators could play a positive role in the development of Sesotho language proficiency five years ago, surely the same results are still possible in 2008.
  Die denke van Deleuze en Guattari : filosofie as teater
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 46 –75 (2008)
  The thinking of Deleuze and Guattari : philosophy as theatreThe French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari are relatively unknown in Afrikaans literary circles. Their work can be best descriptionbed as a post-Nietzschean, post-Marxist and anti-Freudian philosophy of multiplicity. With this article I want to make available a user-friendly introduction to this team of philosophers. In this introduction to their thought I focus on aspects which are more applicable to the fields of literary theory and so-called critical theory, as these are the fields I work in. My hope is that this introductory exploration into the labyrinth that is Deleuze and Guattari will be of some use to any (Afrikaans) student or lecturer in the humanities who is not familiar with their work.
  Author Sandra Troskie
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 76 –89 (2008)
  The relationship between religion and power in Tibetan BuddhismThe role of religion in promoting the political aspirations and interests of individuals or groups is well documented within the social sciences. The history of the most influential civilisations in the world speaks to the ability of political aspirants to utilise religion for the legitimation of their imperialistic and/or expansionistic ambitions. But the willingness of religious institutions to serve the needs of political aspirants is seldom value free. In return for the legitimating role that the institution of religion offers, political protection and economic advantages are often the expected reciprocity. This relationship of mutual advantage between these institutions often leads to the systematic fusion of religious symbols with political interests to a point where the division between religious authority and political interests becomes blurred. In fact, often the manifestation of such a relationship leads to attempts by religious institutions to attain the highest levels of political and economic power. A good example of this is the political role and aspirations of the Church over the centuries, and on most continents. The idea that Buddhism, a religion grounded in this-worldly renunciation as a cosmology, could have the same aspirations as the other world religions is less known. Furthermore, that material ambition is strongly displayed in the person and role of the Dalai Lama of Tibet is a concept less known to a world that usually strongly romanticises Buddhism as the spiritual antithesis of Western materialism.
  Die ANC/SAKP en die USSR deel 1 : wêreldbeskouings
  Author Ingrid Scholtz
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 90 –114 (2008)
  Die geykte siening van die bondgenootskap tussen die ANC/SAKP en die Sowjetunie is dat dit 'n geleentheidshuwelik was, sonder ideologiese affiniteit. In haar biografie van Oliver Tambo skryf die Marxistiese historikus Luli Callinicos byvoorbeeld dat Tambo altyd sy onafhanklikheid teenoor die Sowjetunie bewaar het. Haar bewysmateriaal kom egter slegs neer op 'n uitspraak van pres. Julius Nyerere van Tanzanië. Ook die skrywer Nadine Gordimer en Nelson Mandela se biograaf, Anthony Sampson, skryf : ""To compare the black South African Communists with the Moscow apparatchiks has always been misleading."" Max du Preez meen dat die Suid-Afrikaanse Kommunistiese Party ""nie sommer so gelyk gestel kan word aan die verfoeilikhede van Stalin of die vergrype van opeenvolgende Moskou-regimes nie"". En as 'n mens Wladimir Sjoebin kan glo, het die USSR die ANC/SAKP uit suiwer idealistiese en altruïstiese motiewe gesteun, bloot omdat die land sulke fantastiese mense gehad het.
  Die ANC/SAKP en die USSR deel 2 : gevallestudies
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 115 –138 (2008)
  In die eerste aflewering van dié beskouing is gekyk na die ooreenkomste tussen die wêreldbeskouings van die USSR enersyds en die ANC en SA Kommunistiese Party andersyds. Daar is egter verdere interessante boustowwe te vinde as 'n mens ook die ANC/SAKP se houding ten opsigte van konkrete gevalle ontleed.
  'n Menswetenskap in onmenslike tye : Dreyer Kruger en die fenomenologiese sielkunde in Suid-Afrika, 1976-1990
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 139 –152 (2008)
  A human science in inhuman times : Dreyer Kruger and phenomenological psychology in South Africa, 1976-90This article discusses the development of phenomenological psychology in South Africa from the mid-1970s to 1990, with specific reference to the pioneering work done by Dreyer Kruger and his contemporaries at Rhodes University. It focuses specifically on the limitations of this approach as a critical psychology during this period - that is, as a psychology that could meaningfully engage the distortion of human subjectivity, experience and relationships brought on by apartheid and racial-capitalist policies, practices and structures. The point of departure is Kruger's formulation of phenomenological psychology as not just an epistemological critique of positivism, but also a form of societal and political critique. It is argued that the eventual discrepancy between Kruger's critical vision and what passed in practice as phenomenological psychology by him and his contemporaries cannot simply be attributed to their inability to express Kruger's critical vision in practice. The failure of phenomenological psychology to shape a critical psychology reveals limitations that are inherent to phenomenological psychology. Through a reading based on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field and distinction, phenomenological psychology is presented here as having been overly committed to an epistemology that treated knowledge production as a detached, neutral and transparent practice, consequently upholding a particular class habitus, that of a middle-class, white South African reality, as normative.
  Source: Litnet Akademies : 'n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe 5, pp 153 –170 (2008)
  This article discusses the traumatic experiences of characters in two recent Afrikaans novels : Stiltetyd (Time of silence) by Marita van der Vyver (2006) and Chinchilla by Nanette van Rooyen (2007).The article examines the way in which the novels descriptionbe the experience of trauma by the characters and the ways in which a process of healing is started by different processes. The theory of trauma and psychotherapy, psychology, recent findings in the field of neurobiology and the interdisciplinary discourse with literary narrative are used in this discussion.