The footprints of North Korean influence can be found all over Africa, most clearly in the form of monuments, museums, and government buildings constructed using forced labour. Such prominent... Show moreThe footprints of North Korean influence can be found all over Africa, most clearly in the form of monuments, museums, and government buildings constructed using forced labour. Such prominent projects, which are potent symbols of African nationalism, simultaneously adopt the socialist-realist visual style that is predominant in Pyongyang, the DPRK capital. It makes them highly recognisable markers. Less visible, however, is the forced labour that precedes the joyful opening of a new monument, museum, or government building. The main objective of this chapter is to provoke ideas about a framework to study North Korean forced labour in Africa, and stimulate further work in this field. First, the chapter provides a historical context of North Korean activities in Africa. The seeds of the fruitful cooperation between the DPRK and African countries were sown during the liberation struggles that raged across the continent between the 1960s and 1990s. The subsequent section focuses on a single case study, namely Zimbabwe, to highlight this relationship. Finally, the foundations for a research framework are laid out in the third part, with special attention to methodology and sources. A number of preliminary findings serve as a conclusion. Show less
Ngoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This... Show moreNgoma, a southern African ritual of healing, dance, rhythm and rhyme, is at the heart of social effort to change the fortunes of individuals and communities so that well-being is restored. This collective volume investigates ngoma in its many and culturally diverse manifestations. Contributions: Rijk van Dijk, Ria Reis and Marja Spierenburg (introduction); Henny Blokland (the use of drums in weddings in Unyamwezi, Tanzania, as the key to their use in healing cults and politics); Annette Drews (gender and ngoma among the Kunda of eastern Zambia); Ria Reis (therapeutic ngoma in Swaziland); Marja Spierenburg (the influence of healers' clientele in the Mhondoro territorial cult in Dande, Zimbabwe); Matthew Schoffeleers (rain cults as therapeutic ngoma in the Mbona cult of rural Malawi); Cor Jonker (the politics of therapeutic ngoma as exemplified in the Zionist churches in urban Zambia); Rijk van Dijk (ngoma and born-again fundamentalism in urban Malawi). In the afterword, John M. Janzen takes up critically the challenges to his own work (1992) presented by the contributions in this volume. Show less
This collection of papers on theoretical and methodological perspectives in the study of African religion is the outcome of a conference held at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in 1979. It... Show moreThis collection of papers on theoretical and methodological perspectives in the study of African religion is the outcome of a conference held at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in 1979. It reviews the major classic and contemporary theoretical approaches to African religion. The individual papers deal with a variety of specific religions and locate them in their specific cultural, social and political context. These specific topics are used as stepping stones towards a converging theoretical perspective in which the various strands of contemporary religious research can be integrated. Contributors: Renaat Devisch (sub-Saharan Africa), Wauthier de Mahieu (Zaire), Andr‚ Droogers (Africa), Johannes Fabian (sub-Saharan Africa), Matthew Schoffeleers (Malawi), Wim van Binsbergen (Tunisia), John M. Janzen (the Kongo tradition of coastal Equatorial Africa), Richard P. Werbner (Southern Africa), Terence O. Ranger (Zimbabwe), Robert Buijtenhuijs (Kenya), Christian Coulon (Senegal). Show less
