Can Dogs be Racist? The Colonial Legacies of Racialized Dogs in Kenya and Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 68-89
Author(s):  
Josh Doble

Abstract Can dogs be racist? Posing this question may seem odd and at worst, unhelpfully provocative at a time when the discourse of ‘colour-blindness’ is so pervasive. Yet the idea of ‘racist dogs’ remains salient within the post-settler societies of eastern and southern Africa, where dogs have been an integral if overlooked tool of colonial practices of racialization. This article traces the colonial demarcation of ‘native dogs’ – juxtaposed to white settlers’ ‘pet’ dogs – to understand how racial categories were imposed on domesticated animals, and how these racialized animals were then colonized through rabies legislation. Although the formal racialization of dogs ended with the dawn of political decolonization in the early 1960s, dogs continued to be co-opted for postcolonial racial discourse. Dogs were in a prominent position in postcolonial society due to their prevalence in the security arrangements of white homes as well as in the security forces of white supremacist Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa. The intensity of the relationship between white minorities, their canine pets and the surrounding African population points toward the uncomfortable conclusion that in the heightened racial environments of decolonizing settler Africa, dogs could be made to be racist.

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Drew

In 1924 and 1925 the Comintern introduced its policy of Bolshevization. A goal of Bolshevization was the creation of mass-based communist parties. In settler societies this meant that the local communist party should aim to be demographically representative of the entire population. This article traces the efforts of the communist parties in Algeria and South Africa to indigenize, seeking to explain why their efforts had such diverse outcomes. It examines four variables: the patterns of working-class formation; the socialist tradition of each country; the relationship between the Comintern and the two communist parties; and the level of repression against communists in both societies. The cumulative weight of the variables in the Algerian case helps to explain why communist activity in the 1920s – including the communist party's ability to indigenize – was far more difficult in Algeria than South Africa.


Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Cynthia Prescott ◽  
Nathan Rees ◽  
Rebecca Weaver-Hightower

This essay examines two monuments: the Voortrekker Monument in South Africa and the American This is the Place Monument in Utah. Similar in terms of construction and historical purpose, both employ gender as an important tool to legitimize the settler society each commemorates. Each was part of a similar project of cultural recuperation in the 1930s−1940s that chose as their object of commemoration the overland migration in covered wagons of a group of white settlers that felt oppressed by other white settlers, and therefore sought a new homeland. In a precarious cultural moment, descendants of these two white settler societies—the Dutch Voortrekkers of South Africa and Euro-American Mormons (Latter-day Saints or LDS) of Utah—undertook massive commemoration projects to memorialize their ancestors’ 1830s−1840s migrations into the interior, holding Afrikaners and Mormons up as the most worthy settler groups among each nation’s white population. This essay will argue that a close reading of these monuments reveals how each white settler group employed gendered depictions that were inflected by class and race in their claims to be the true heart of their respective settler societies, despite perceiving themselves as oppressed minorities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Şahin KIZILTAŞ

The world has gone through a trauma for centuries. Almost all nations have experienced all sorts of traumatic events and feelings in this period. Among those nations, the black seem to be the most unlucky and ill-fated suffered from traumatic disasters. However, among those black nations, the natives of South Africa have been the most piteous and wretched ones. Their misfortune began in 1652 with the arrival of white colonists in the country. Since then, the oppression and persecution of white European colonists and settlers on natives increasingly continued. Those native people were displaced from the lands inherited from their ancestors a few centuries ago. They were not allowed to have equal rights with white people and to share same environment in public premises. The natives have put up resistance against the racial and colonial practices of white settlers which excluded them from all living spaces; yet, they could not manage, even they came into power in 1994. Today their exclusion and violence victimization still go on and they are still subjected to inferior treatment by (post)colonial dominant white powers. As a white intellectual and writer who had European origins, Nadine Gordimer witnessed the repression and torturing of European settlers on native people in South Africa. In her novels, she has reflected the racial discrimination practiced by white people who have considered of themselves in a superior position compared to the black. This study aims to focus on how Gordimer has reflected the trauma which the black people of South Africa have experienced as a consequence of racist practices. This will contribute to clarify and get across the real and true-life traumatic narratives of native people in the colonized countries.


Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard E. Egede ◽  
Rebekah J. Walker ◽  
Patricia Monroe ◽  
Joni S. Williams ◽  
Jennifer A. Campbell ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Investigate the relationship between two common cardiovascular diseases and HIV in adults living in sub-Saharan Africa using population data provided through the Demographic and Health Survey. Methods Data for four sub-Saharan countries were used. All adults asked questions regarding diagnosis of HIV, diabetes, and hypertension were included in the sample totaling 5356 in Lesotho, 3294 in Namibia, 9917 in Senegal, and 1051 in South Africa. Logistic models were run for each country separately, with self-reported diabetes as the first outcome and self-reported hypertension as the second outcome and HIV status as the primary independent variable. Models were adjusted for age, gender, rural/urban residence and BMI. Complex survey design allowed weighting to the population. Results Prevalence of self-reported diabetes ranged from 3.8% in Namibia to 0.5% in Senegal. Prevalence of self-reported hypertension ranged from 22.9% in Namibia to 0.6% in Senegal. In unadjusted models, individuals with HIV in Lesotho were 2 times more likely to have self-reported diabetes (OR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.08–3.73), however the relationship lost significance after adjustment. Individuals with HIV were less likely to have self-reported diabetes after adjustment in Namibia (OR = 0.29, 95% CI 0.12–0.72) and less likely to have self-reported hypertension after adjustment in Lesotho (OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.47–0.83). Relationships were not significant for Senegal or South Africa. Discussion HIV did not serve as a risk factor for self-reported cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa during the years included in this study. However, given the growing prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in the region, and the high prevalence of undiagnosed cardiovascular disease, it will be important to continue to track and monitor cardiovascular disease at the population level and in individuals with and without HIV. Conclusions The odds of self-reported diabetes in individuals with HIV was high in Lesotho and low in Namibia, while the odds of self-reported hypertension in individuals with HIV was low across all 4 countries included in this study. Programs are needed to target individuals that need to manage multiple diseases at once and should consider increasing access to cardiovascular disease management programs for older adults, individuals with high BMI, women, and those living in urban settings.


1986 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Klein

The relationship between carnassial length and latitude south is analyzed for 17 African carnivore species to determine if individuals tend to be larger in cooler climates, as predicted by Bergmann's Rule. With modern data in support, middle and late Quaternary temperatures might then be inferred from mean carnassial length in fossil samples, such as those from Equus Cave, Elandsfontein, Sea Harvest. Duinefontein, and Swartklip in the Cape Province of South Africa. One problematic aspect of the study is the use of carnassial length and latitude as necessary but imperfect substitutes for body size and temperature, respectively. For some species, another difficulty is the relatively small number of available modern specimens, combined with their uneven latitudinal spread. Still, in 14 of the species, carnassial length does tend to increase with latitude south, while mean carnassial length in the same species tends to be greater in those fossil samples which accumulated under relatively cool conditions, as inferred from sedimentologic, palynological, or geochemical data. Given larger modern samples from a wide variety of latitudes, refinement of the mathematical relationship between carnassial length and latitude in various species may even permit quantitative estimates of past temperatures in southern Africa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha L. Coert ◽  
Babatope O. Adebiyi ◽  
Edna Rich ◽  
Nicolette V. Roman

Abstract Background Teenage parenting is recognised as one of the greatest health and social problems in South Africa. Research in South Africa has shown that by the age of 18 years, more than 30% of teens have given birth at least once. Teen mothers may feel disempowered because they are ‘othered’ and consequently, may develop forms of resistance which in most cases may inhibit their ability to parent. Social support is therefore, an imperative intervention for successful teen parenting but this is not clearly understood in South Africa. This study aimed to compare the relationship between parental efficacy and social support systems of single teen mothers across different family forms. Methods A quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative correlation design was conducted with 160 single teen mothers who resided with a family in a low socio-economic community. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire that comprised of the Social Provisions Scale, and the Parenting Sense of Competence scale. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation were used to investigate the data. Results A significant positive relationship between social support and parental efficacy was found. When comparing different family forms, single teen mothers’ residing with one parent reported greater levels of parental efficacy and single teen mothers’ residing with two parents, re-counted high levels of social support under the subscales; guide, reliable and nurture. However, when computing for guardian-skip generation, results show that there is no significant relationship between parental efficacy and social support. As well as no correlation across subscales of social support. Conclusion The positive relationships between social support and parental efficacy are important for planning and applying parenting programmes amongst single teen mothers and facilitating awareness regarding the importance of social support and family forms when considering parenting practices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document