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- Convenor:
-
Ana Maria Martinho
(CHAM-NOVA FCSH-UAc)
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- Location:
- B1 1.10
- Sessions:
- Friday 19 July, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Short Abstract:
Cultural practices can be described and analyzed from very different perspectives; they relate to forms of heritage, transmission and interpretation and may be a factor of identification in a community as well as a potential source of conflicts.
Long Abstract:
Cultural practices can be described and analyzed from very different perspectives; they relate to forms of heritage, transmission and interpretation and may be a factor of identification in a community as well as a potential source of conflicts.
Belonging to a certain culture implies engaging in the preservation or revision of historical facts, knowledge, religious practices, tangible and intangible productions. The implications of such choices for the present times can vary widely as they are perceived by society according to their relevance and range of impacts. It is very common to find conflicting interpretations of ancestral practices among different generations or social groups. It can also be problematic as far as gender empowerment is concerned. Political consequences are very present in many of these situations and are often followed by long-lasting collective memories.
This may also allow questions on how subjects take charge of their lives and social choices, as well as how the narration of their history(ies) can be, or is, designed by themselves instead of being part of a discourse of dominance.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 19 July, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Ordinarily, good researchers are told to exclude sources falling outside their academic discourse or scientific paradigm. But what if traditional knowledge sources such as ancestral voices (spirit messages) are able to add to or go beyond that which the historical record or archive lets us know?
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines a common dilemma facing scholars of history and cultural studies alike. What should we do when the limits of the historical record have been reached or the archive has nothing more to offer? Should we include traditional knowledge sources that fall outside prevailing academic discourses or scientific paradigms?
Current scholarship demonstrates that traditional knowledge sources may not only fill gaps in the historical record or archive but can also reveal new links and offer fresh insights. In southern Africa such sources range from umlando ubuhlobo (kinship history) to ulwazi lwemvelo (indigenous knowledge) and from amathongo (ancestral spirits) to the isangoma (traditional healer empowered by the ancestors).
Three case studies will be examined. These are based on messages received by a local clairaudient regarding the political leadership in South Africa and Zimbabwe: from former presidents Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe to current presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Emmerson Mnangagwa. According to the ancestors, these men come from a time and place in Africa's past that continues to shape their conflicts and achievements. In short, theirs is a karmic drama in which South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy and Zimbabwe's recent coup d'état can be seen as re-enactments of events in ancient Egypt c.1292BCE and pre-colonial Zululand c.1828, respectively. Disgraced ex-president Jacob Zuma also comes under scrutiny.
This paper intends to show that spirit messages are both valid and legitimate sources of knowledge and that they will, inevitably, broaden our definition of cultural practices, representations and discourses in and about Africa.
Paper short abstract:
In Saint-Louis du Sénégal, between pride and trauma, an ambiguous relationship between people and its architectural heritage. Analysis of testimonies and actions of civil society that is developing a new local cultural offer that overcome the various traumas still at work.
Paper long abstract:
Saint-Louis du Sénégal was a trading post and then the French colonial capital of West Africa until 1902. The old city is concentrated on an island near the Atlantic coast, at the mouth of the Senegal River. It was built in a hostile geophysical context, but very beautiful, between river an ocean. At the request of the Senegalese State, the Island was classified as a UNESCO heritage site 2000. Before, The island of Gorée in Senegal was classified in 1978. Today, a story has been written, or even invented, for Gorée. In Saint-Louis, the situation is ambiguous. The population shows both pride in this label and attachment to the island, but also expresses a rejection of this architecture, which is nevertheless the symbol that everyone puts forward to promote their Saint-Louisian identity and that every body want to wipe off too.
The proposal will explain the contemporary situation, and will seek to identify the different heritages and heirs. It will deal too with a rebirth of Saint-Louis, far from the traumas. Personalities belonging to the Saint-Louisian civilian population transcend this situation and overcome colonial and identity traumas through the invention of a new culture. This presentation is supported by several interviews and the participation in the organisation of heritage days in Saint-Louis. It invites us to reflect on the heritage challenges for Africans in their history, the means at work to overcome the various traumas and the occidental intrusion still at work.