African music: negotiating a space in contemporary society

This paper explores the notion of African music as a way forward to negotiate a ‘space’ in contemporary society. The word ‘space’ is used as a metaphor to explore and experiment with the dynamics of culture and hybridity. The authors view themselves as ‘agents of change’ and knowledgeable professionals in the teaching of African music, one based in South Africa (Johannesburg) and the other in Australia (Melbourne). They reflect on examples from their own teaching and learning experiences as they argue that the translation of ‘traditional’ African music can only be brought about by means of cultural dialogue, within cultures and between cultures. This paper also addresses the issues of cultural authenticity as a redefined and renegotiated space when teaching and learning African music. The authors also consider the difficulties of addressing ‘difference’ and ‘otherness’ when teaching African music, with South Africa and Australia both previously seen as outposts of the British Empire. They contend that such differences can prove to be productive and rewarding through subtle mediation and accommodation when crossing cultural borders.     

Promoting cultural understandings through song across the Tasman: pre-service primary teacher education

As tertiary music educators across the Tasman we argue that music, particularly song, is an effective medium for teaching and learning about non-western music when preparing generalist primary Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs). Using ‘voice’ as a portable and accessible vehicle to transmit cultural understandings, we draw on the Zimbabwean proverb ‘if you can speak you can learn to sing and if you can walk you can learn to dance’ to foster music creativity and enhance literacy development and confidence in our PSTs. Using narrative methodology, we share our teaching and learning experience at Deakin University (Australia) and the University of Auckland (New Zealand) where we include African and Māori music respectively as effective ways to promote cultural understandings. In our experience, the teaching of song goes beyond teaching a tune or something that is ‘fun’. Rather, it is as an effective context for developing knowledge, skills and understandings about multiculturalism and the importance and need to be ‘inclusive of others’. PSTs gained socially, linguistically, cultural and emotionally, to name a few. We encourage other music educators at all education levels to be culturally and linguistically inclusive and to explore non-western music as a positive teaching and learning experience.     

Black Edens,country Eves: Listening,performance, and black queer longing in country music

ABSTRACT

This article explores Black queer country music listening, performance, and fandom as a source of pleasure, nostalgia, and longing for Black listeners. Country music can be a space for alliance and community, as well as a way of accessing sometimes repressed cultural and personal histories of violence: lynching and other forms of racial terror, gender surveillance and disciplining, and continued racial and economic segregation. For many Black country music listeners and performers, the experience of being a closeted fan also fosters an experience of ideological hailing, as well as queer world-making. Royster suggests that through Black queer country music fandom and performance, fans construct risky and soulful identities. The article uses Tina Turner's solo album, Tina Turns the Country On! (1974) as an example of country music's power as a tool for resistance to racial, sexual, and class disciplining.     

Bitter strawberries: the construction of differences in a multicultural school: a case study

This paper presents the results of a case study looking at the views of teachers and other educational professionals pertaining to the academic progress and general integration of immigrant schoolchildren in multicultural schools in the province of Huelva (Andalusia, Spain). It is organised into three sections: first, the geographical and social context of the study is described, focusing in particular on the impact on schools of migratory trends within the province associated with strawberry cultivation. This is followed by a presentation of the results of a field study into the educational panorama of immigrant pupils from various countries, drawing on verbal reports by teachers and school administrators. Finally, some conclusions are suggested for possible categories of analysis with a view to opening new lines of research in the future.     

Colonialism at the margins: politics of difference in Europe as seen through two Icelandic crises

Scholars have for some time emphasised destabilising the boundaries between colonised and colonisers, in addition to calling for more nuanced analyses of colonialism. I focus here on the politics of difference on a global scale and how the internal logic dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘other’ is still significant, using two cases revolving around an Icelandic struggle with ‘otherness’ at different times in history: one in 1905 and the other in 2008. I claim that the analysis of those at the margins of the dualistic divide of colonised and coloniser clearly brings out the oppositions at play within historical and contemporary global relationships of power and how participation in colonial ideologies involved multiple politics of identity and selfhood within Europe. Both cases show Icelandic anxieties about being classified with the ‘wrong’ people and their attempt to situate themselves within the ‘civilised’ part of the world.     

Being black and non-citizen in South Africa: Intersecting race,white privilege and afrophobic violence in contemporary South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by growing feelings of pain, anger and frustration amongst black communities triggered by pervasive social inequalities. This has given birth to a new form of political and social activism shaped by crude violence, vandalism, destruction, brutal killings of women and children as well as thuggery in different black communities. It has also led to an upsurge in violence particularly on Africans from other parts of the continent. In this article, I attempt to examine how racial politics and resilient white privilege intersect to trigger afrophobic violence in South Africa. I draw on existing literature on broad conceptions of race and xenophobia to make a set of assertions about racial valuations, the resilience of white supremacy and black on black violence. In the article, I argue that black South Africans' pain, anger and the performance of violence on African migrants are on one level a consequence of resilient structural racism and racial practices, which continue to marginalize, emasculate and dispossess blacks. These racial practices force black South Africans to look elsewhere to express their anger, pains and frustrations.     

Systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia: activities of theater and radio station during the Soviet era

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia during the Soviet era in Bayan-Ölgiy Province, focusing on the music collection and preservation activities led by a theater and radio station. Bayan-Ölgiy is located far from Ulaanbaatar; adjacent to Kazakhstan, Xinjiang (China), and Russia. Using three–years participation observation, this study identified three activities in promoting the systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia: importing musical knowledge and technology from the Soviet Kazakh Republic (1950–1960s); establishing a radio station and audio archive following the Sino-Soviet split (1960s–1980s); collections of Kazakh music in Mongolia (1960s–1980s). These activities were driving forces for Kazakhs to claim their identity in the post-socialist period in Mongolia. Diener found that Kazakh culture in Mongolia was preserved thanks to the geographic isolation of Bayan-Ölgiy. However, this study clearly identifies international relations and Bayan-Ölgiy’s strategic location as drivers of systematization of Kazakh music in Mongolia.     

Critical aspects of cultural diversity in music education: examining the established practices and cultural forms in minority language schools in Finland

This article addresses the role of general music education within the framework of cultural diversity. The empirical part of the article focuses on teachers in Swedish-speaking minority schools in Finland and their perceptions of the relationship between music and multicultural perspectives. The results showed that in some instances it took some time for teachers to discuss, define and grasp the concepts of multiculturalism and cultural diversity in relation to their teaching activities. While much was discussed on a theoretical and/or political level, it was not necessarily something that they would connect to their own practice.     

Learning to live together: an exploration and analysis of managing cultural diversity in centre-based early childhood development programmes

This paper explores how early childhood development practitioners running centre-based programmes with children aged 3–6 years address the needs of an increasing number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds in their care. This is important as early childhood is a critical moment in which to create a positive awareness about diversity. A qualitative and interactive research design was employed to identify what values, attitudes, knowledge and strategies practitioners and families believe are important to promote the social integration of children from diverse backgrounds. In-depth interviews and participant observation were used to collect data from 10 practitioners working in two urban settlements in two provinces of South Africa, while focus group interviews were carried out with the families of children attending two of the centres. The findings showed that an intercultural education approach provides the necessary tools to address challenges faced by practitioners including promoting social integration, respect for diversity and multilingualism, and the prevention of racist, xenophobic and discriminatory attitudes and actions.

Este trabajo explora la manera en que los educadores, trabajando en centros de educación infantil con niños entre tres y seis años atienden las necesidades de cada vez mayor número de niños de orígenes culturales y lingüísticos diversos. Esto es importante porque la etapa de la infancia es un momento crítico para crear una conciencia positiva sobre la diversidad. Se utilizó un diseño de investigación cualitativa e interactiva para identificar cuales son los valores, actitudes, conocimientos y estrategias que los educadores y las familias creen que son importantes para promover la integración social de los niños de diversos orígenes. Se utilizaron entrevistas en profundidad y observaciones participativas para recopilar datos de diez educadores de dos comunidades urbanas situadas en dos provincias de Sudáfrica. Asimismo, se entrevistaron las familias de los niños que asisten a dos de dichos centros. Los resultados mostraron que el modelo de educación intercultural proporciona las herramientas necesarias para hacer frente a los desafíos que los educadores enfrentan: la promoción de la integración social, el respeto a la diversidad y el multilingüismo, y la prevención de actitudes y acciones racistas, xenófobas y discriminatorias.     

Cultural intermediaries and the circuit of culture: The Digital Ambassadors project in Johannesburg,South Africa

The question raised by Cheney and Christensen (2001) as to “what a non-Western, non-managerial and non-rationalist form of public relations will look like” (p.182), together with the call made by Gregory (2014) for public relations practitioners (PRPs) to be active social change agents, motivated this paper. The aim of this research is to follow a culture-centred approach and apply the circuit of culture (Curtin & Gaither, 2005) to investigate the meanings that young people (aged 18 to 34), as cultural intermediaries, ascribe to their participation in a digital empowerment project implemented by the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. This research forms part of a larger, ongoing multi-disciplinary research project.The research highlights the complexity of projects of this nature, the wide variety of stakeholders involved, the significance of structure, the importance of training of cultural intermediaries, and the benefits such intermediaries gain from their involvement. A key finding is that self-development and financial benefit contribute significantly to the success of cultural intermediaries. This paper contributes to the field of public relations by providing an analysis of cultural intermediaries’ contribution to the circuit of culture as influenced not only by production and consumption but also by identity and regulation as seen in the way they represented the meaning created during their experience.     

Transnational lived citizenship turns local: Covid-19 and Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora in Nairobi

This paper analyses how migrant community practices of transnational lived citizenship were altered by both, COVID-19 and the policy response from the Kenyan government. It is based on interviews with members of the Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora residing in Nairobi. The paper demonstrates how policies introduced because of the pandemic caused migrant communities to lose local and remittance income. More than the loss of material resources, however, they were impacted by the elimination of social spaces that enable diaspora lives. These two dynamics have intensified a trend that may have been present before the pandemic, a local turn of transnational lived citizenship. By focusing on lived experiences and how they have been re-assessed during the pandemic, the paper argues that transnational lived citizenship is always in flux and can easily become reconfigured as more localized practices. The concept of transnational lived citizenship is demonstrated to be a useful lens for analysing shifting migrant livelihoods and belonging.     

Children orphaned by HIV and AIDS in middle childhood in Potchefstroom,Northwest: The role of a social worker

ABSTRACT

The effects of HIV and AIDS have devastated families and communities in South Africa. The scourge has also left many children orphaned in the country. Given the vulnerability of orphaned children, social workers are in the forefront of ensuring that these children are cared for and protected from any harm. Hence, the purpose of this paper was to explore the role of a social worker in issues related to children orphaned by AIDS in their middle childhood. This study was situated within a qualitative research paradigm utilizing purposive, non-probability sampling of 10 participants recruited from Potchefstroom in the Northwest Province of South Africa. A semi-structured interview schedule was employed as a research tool, and in-depth one-on-one interviews were adopted as the method of data collection. A thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data collected during the interviews. The main findings point towards the need to educate children about HIV and AIDS and to empower their caregivers. The primary conclusion drawn from this study is that social workers play various key roles which contribute towards the well-being of orphaned children. Recommendations are posed in relation to social work service providers, government interventions, and future research.     

Transforming Teaching and Learning in South Africa: First Year in the Bachelor of Social Work

The South African qualification for social work was transformed in 2003, along with other transforming post-apartheid policies and practices since the first democratic government was elected in 1994. The educational collective was committed to outcomes-based approaches which were legislated by statutory bodies emphasising redress of previous inequities. The new Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) is accordingly criterion-based and measured by 27 exit level outcomes, giving direct guidance which assists historically disadvantaged students and facilitates entry to qualifications as intended by the current South African reform. The BSW replaces the previous Bachelor of Arts in Social Work [BA (SW)] which was norm-based and relied on good students educated in historically advantaged institutions. The political history and context for the new qualification is presented and typical difficulties experienced during the first year are referenced. With the BSW being due for revision in 2012, a research project on its teaching and learning in the first year was commissioned in 2010 by the Association of South African Social Work Education Institutions. A section of this project is presented here. Consistent with the international literature, human and material resources emerge as very important in providing academic support. Tension between policies and practice should provide a good basis for revising the BSW.     

Creativity in social work education and practice: reflections on a Survivor Arts Project

This article, written by survivor artists, practitioners and academics (each moving between these different identities and associated voices), will explore a creative arts approach to social work (SW) education within the context of service user and carer involvement. In addition to building upon a developing literature base, the writers will draw upon their own experience and the experience of other service user and carer contributors as well as student and practitioner feedback. In doing so, this article will seek to analyse some of the ways the creative arts can be harnessed as a tool for a more radical, creative and critical approach to professional education and how this in turn can help develop more empathic, critically self-reflective and creative (in the broadest sense of the word) practitioners. In critiquing the more traditional service user and carer involvement approach, this article will attempt to show how the more innovative approach of the Survivor Arts Project can move us beyond an arguably more limiting ‘expertise through experience’ model. In outlining an emancipatory model which recognises the relevance of lived experience and places this within the context of survivor movements, focusing also on the skills and insights survivors bring to SW education, this article will detail the ways we can work towards developing a more vibrant and dynamic learning environment which values our life stories and recognises our strengths as well as the many different and overlapping identities which place us along a continuum that connects our lives and informs our practice.     

The sound of liminality: MHD's afro trap,affective listening,and the (re)invention of Afropean identities in France

This article is an exploration of the world making capacities of afro trap. Through an extended case study of MHD's discography, I ask what can be learnt about the liminal experiences of postcolonial black citizens, or Afropean citizens, in France, by listening to popular music. I argue that through embracing, reinventing, and (re)producing familiar Afropean soundscapes, MHD claims and creates from his liminal subject position. Going against the assumption that Frenchness and blackness are always mutually exclusive and in tension, this music sonically proposes a way of being otherwise in France, stemming from this liminality. I see in what I call ‘the sound of liminality’ an instance of ‘queering ethnicity,’ one which channels the affective capacities of sound. I propose affective listening as a method that, incorporating autoethnography to consider critical listening positionality, facilitates a renewed attention to sound as an object of sociological inquiry.     

Political transition and sexual and gender-based violence in South Africa,Kenya, and Zimbabwe: a comparative analysis

This article draws on research conducted in Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe that focused on violence in the context of political transition. The paper examines the relation between political transition and sexual and gender-based violence in the three countries. The paper argues that it is critical to recognise sexual and gender-based violence as bound to systemic gendered inequality if such forms of violence are to be addressed and mitigated when periods of violent conflict end.     

Teachers as good mothers,mothers as good teachers: Functional and ideological work–family alignment in the South Korean teaching profession

As one of the largest women‐dominated employment niches in many national contexts, the teaching profession has been widely studied, yet the gender, work and family negotiations within this profession deserve fuller attention. The case study of South Korean teachers, one of the most highly qualified teaching workforces in the world, illuminates how particular professions create specific challenges as well as supports for work and family that can counter national patterns of women's low labour force participation. This study engages with theoretical debates regarding ‘work–family conflict' and ‘work–life balance' to develop the alternative framework of ‘work–family alignment' giving greater attention to cultural, ideological and functional dimensions within specific occupations and national contexts. However, rather than expanding opportunities for women, work–family alignment often depends on conformity to normative gender roles — both at work and within families. Nonetheless, the framework of work–family alignment can inform policy implementation by demonstrating that both functional and ideological supports are needed for workplace and state policies to be effective.     

Reducing attitudes of prejudice and discrimination through literature: a quasi-experiment on the upper key-stage 2 students of the British schools in Karachi,Pakistan

This study aims to explore the efficacy of literature relating to Anne Frank to reduce children’s attitudes of prejudice and discrimination with respect to specific dimensions, including ethnicity and race, religion and gender. A quasi-experiment was employed with pre-post control design. The sample consisted of 100 students of the upper key-stage 2 (UKS2) level, recruited from the two British schools in Karachi. These schools represented an Experimental Group (EG) and a matched Comparison Group (CG). A research instrument titled ‘Muggles world of differences’ (MWD) was developed and validated. It was administered on CG and EG, both before and after intervention. The intervention plan ‘Reading of Young Anne’s Literature’ (ROYAL) was developed based on selected readings from Anne Frank related literature (AFL). Intervention was provided to EG, while CG studied similar concepts using a more standard method. Results of the pretest revealed a high level of prejudice and discrimination in both the EG and CG, with no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the overall scores, as well as in the specific content domains. However, the post-test of the two groups revealed that the students in the EG had outperformed their CG counterparts in overall MWD scores, as well as in specific content domains. The difference was found to be significant (p < 0.05) with the large effect size (r = ?0.63). Results support the efficacy of teaching Anne Frank related literature in reducing attitudes of prejudice and discrimination.     

The Assessment Checklist for Adolescents — ACA: A scale for measuring the mental health of young people in foster,kinship, residential and adoptive care

The Assessment Checklist for Adolescents — ACA is a 105-item carer-report mental health rating scale, measuring behaviours, emotional states, traits, and manners of relating to others, as manifested by adolescents (ages 12 to 17) residing in various types of alternate care, as well as those adopted from care. The ACA was designed for population and clinical research with these young people, and for use as a clinical assessment measure. The ACA's content was largely derived from the Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC). Fifteen ACC items were modified to better reflect adolescent difficulties, and 25 additional items were derived using a combination of inductive and deductive strategies. Item and factor analyses were carried out on scores from a 136-item research instrument, obtained for 230 young people residing in long-term care (as part of the NSW Children in Care study). These data were supplemented by ACC scores obtained for 142 adolescents residing in treatment foster care in Ontario, Canada. A robust 7-factor model was identified among a core of 73 clinical item scores, accounting for 51% of score variance. Four of the factors replicate ACC clinical scales (non-reciprocal interpersonal behaviour; sexual behaviour problems; food maintenance behaviour; and suicide discourse), and three are unique to the ACA (social instability/behavioural dysregulation; emotional dysregulation/distorted social cognition; and dissociation/trauma symptoms). The ACA also contains two empirically-derived low self-esteem scales (low confidence; negative self-image) that are shared with the ACC. Initial data indicate that the ACA has good content, construct and criterion-related validity, as well as high internal reliability.