Browsing by Subject "Modernity"
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- ItemOpen AccessThe History of Sugar(2019) Sen, Anandaroop; Isaacs, Nicole; Geldenhuys, Marina; Govender, Sameshni; Vallabh, Vimal Thakor; Fleishman, Zachary; Ndlawana, YonelaThis stop-motion animation captures the complex history of the sugar trade, and how it was connected to the slave trade. The video shows the evolution of modern capitalism from the sugar and slave trades.
- ItemOpen AccessModernity and politics of the self : an investigation of the political project underlying the work of Michel Foucault(1995) Rothgiesser, Stephen Alan; Du Toit, AndréThe central task of this dissertation is to explore Michel Foucault's conception of the human subject, and its interaction with power. Foucault offers a unique and controversial description of both the latter. After positing that his work is both coherent and political in nature, the dissertation investigates Foucault's books, lectures, interviews and articles throughout his three main periods. I have named these his Knowledge, Power, and Ethics periods to delineate different theoretical focuses in each period which are nevertheless underscored by a singular and continuous concern on Foucault's part with the constitution of the modern human subject; in addition, Foucault is interested in problematizing the "birth" and existence of this latter construction, which he believes is problematic in terms of the epistemological foundation upon which it rests, and the ontological consequences of such an entity.
- ItemOpen AccessReformed theology, modernity and the environment crisis(1996) Field, David Nugent; De Gruchy, John WThe prospect of global ecological disaster fundamental challenge to modernity as the poses a dominant contemporary socio-cultural matrix. This challenge can only be responded to through a radical socio-cultural transformation which favours those, human and otherkind, who have been marginalised and oppressed by modernity. This will include a change of human consciousness, and. the development of an alternative vision of society in which all humans live in community with each other and with otherkind. It thus has a profoundly religious character. The thesis argues that the central truth claims of the Christian gospel, particularly as they have been understood in the Reformed tradition, require the church to commit itself to working for such a socio-cultural transformation. However, the Reformed tradition can only contribute to this transformation once it is recognised that it has been deeply intertwined with modernity since its emergence, and has contributed to the legitimation of a culture which has degraded the environment. The thesis provides a self-critical exposition of the tradition in the light of the environmental crisis; in dialogue with other Christian traditions, and making use of insights from contemporary biblical scholarship. First, the socio-historical relationship between the Reformed tradition and the rise of modernity is examined. It is argued that, under particular social and economic conditions, the influence of the Reformed tradition accelerated the emergence of modernity. In this interaction with early modernity important components of the tradition were suppressed. Second, the tradition is re-examined to develop a Reformed ecotheology centred on the motifs of the Trinity, the covenant and the glory of God. This ecotheology makes a critical use of the theologies of important figures in the Reformed tradition, including John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Abraham Kuyper and Karl Barth. Third, a proposal is developed as to how this ecotheology can contribute to socio-cultural transformation. It does so by using insights gained from the role played by the South African church in the struggle against Apartheid. It argues that the environmental crisis ought to be understood as a kairos for the earth which must lead to a new way of being the church in the contemporary world.
- ItemOpen AccessTransactional Sex and the Pursuit of Modernity(2004) Leclerc-Madlala, SuzanneThis paper explores meanings and understandings of sexual exchange for material gain in an urban township of Durban, South Africa. The analysis argues against the tendency to assume too readily that all forms of sexual exchange are oriented towards subsistence, and not consumption. This paper also argues that sexual exchange is the means used by women in this study to pursue images and ideals largely created by the media and globalisation. It is revealed that transactional sex is perceived as ‘normal’ leading many women to accept men’s multiple partners and to put themselves as risk of contracting HIV/AIDS (despite having knowledge of the pandemic). Finally, the paper highlights women’s power and agency whereby women are asserting themselves in order to exploit sexual relationships in the interests of new ‘needs’ – the commodities of modernity.