Reversing the biblical tide: What Kuruman teaches London about mission in a Post-Colonial era1

Through a case study focusing on the shift from the London Missionary Society (LMS) to the Council for World Mission (CWM) this essay argues that there is a hermeneutical circle between the Bible and mission. A particular reading of the Bible led the missionaries of the LMS to Africa, and their concern to promote the Bible led to the translation and printingof the Bible in indigenous languages — most famously into Setswana by Robert Moffat at Kuruman. Inevitably, the availability of the Bible in indigenous languages led to new ways of understanding the church and mission from the perspective of the South. This post-colonial dynamic led to changes in the LMS and to the emergence of CWM in 1977. The essay then pursues the argument by showing how over the thirty years of CWM’s lifethere continues to be the development of a biblical vision for mission that takes seriously the perspectives of the post-colonial world

Toward a Reformed-liberation biblical hermeneutic: with a particular focus on Karl Barth's view of scripture and its interpretation

This thesis arises out of the recognition that Reformed theology in South Africa needs to respond creatively to the challenges of Liberation theology. One of the more pressing areas in which this challenge and response is felt is the area of the Bible and its interpretation, and hence we take as our focus the possibility of a Reformed-Liberation hermeneutic

Routes of the Uruk Expansion

The late fourth millennium B.C. of Mesopotamia is best known for an expansion of material culture from Southern Mesopotamia known as the Uruk Expansion or Uruk Phenomenon. The precise nature of this expansion remains unknown, but at its core it evidences unprecedented levels of interregional interaction whether in the form of colonies, trade diasporas, or otherwise. This thesis uses quantitative route analysis to examine the hollow ways across the North Jazira region of northern Mesopotamia before, during, and after the Uruk Expansion in the late fourth millennium B.C. to learn more about the phenomenon. To accomplish this, new methodologies were required. A bottom up method for reconstructing land cover was developed and the first velocity-based terrain coefficients were calculated to factor both land cover and slope into the route models. Additionally, the first quantitative method for directly comparing route models to preserved routes was developed to statistically assess the significance of three physical route choice variables: easiest, fastest, and shortest. First, it is statistically proven that, for the North Jazira, physical variables did not play a major role in route choice, highlighting the importance of cultural variables. Second, it is shown that the routes evidence the formation of polities starting in the late fourth millennium. Thirdly, it is demonstrated that the Uruk Expansion was a disruptive force that broke down previous east-west dynamics, spatially polarizing the population. Furthermore, when east-west movement resumes in the early third millennium B.C., the region remains divided in two distinct sub-regions. Finally, the poor performance of route models based on physical variables frequently used for predicting route locations has implications for the usefulness of this practice, particularly in areas with flatter terrain. What was important to other cultures cannot be assumed, but must be based on evidence from the cultures themselves

Immigration practitioners, brokers, agents: investigating the immigration industry in South Africa

Research report for Master of Arts (MA) in Migration and Displacement (AC000) African Centre for Migration and Society School of Social Science Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, February 2015Most research in the field of migration studies focuses on providing either a sociology of migrants or a political analysis of the regulations which govern immigration. In this research project I have taken a different, structural approach to the field by studying the immigration industry in South Africa through the lens provided by immigration intermediaries. This research examines who immigration intermediaries are; the role they play in and around immigration structures; and the relationship between the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), immigration intermediaries, and immigrants. By using data collected in 16 qualitative, in-depth interviews with actors in the industry, primarily immigration practitioners, the primary aim of this research is to document and analyse the role of immigration intermediaries within the South African immigration industry and the role they have in shaping emerging structures around immigration. With intermediaries as the focus of enquiry, this research has three primary results: the first is a typology of immigration intermediaries; the second is an analysis of the relationship between the DHA and intermediaries which understands the role played by intermediaries as essentially a function that the DHA has outsourced as a result of their inability to effectively manage migration; and the third is an argument that South Africa’s immigration regulations have always, and continue to, ensure the reproduction of a precarious migrant class to the benefit of the South African economy. Research in migration studies tends to focus on either migrants or immigration policy. This research focuses instead on neglected actors and structures, the intermediaries and the institutions they operate within, and brings to the attention of the field the importance of the actors and structures that facilitate immigration in South Africa

Changing Policy: Lesssons from the Passing of the 2013 South African Trafficking in Persons Act

There is an expectation that researchers produce development knowledge with the aim of influencing policy and that decision makers, in turn, make evidence-informed choices. However, there is almost no literature documenting whether this is the case or how policy gets made in the global South. This brief draws on research conducted by the African Centre for Migration & Society with policy makers and Non-Governmental Organisations. Using the development of The Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act (2013) as a case study, it reflects on how policy gets made and, drawing on these lessons, some of the more effective ways for researchers and activists to influence the policy process.DFIDMigrating out of Povert

Changing Policy: Lessons from the Trafficking in Persons Act (2013) in South Africa

Concern around human trafficking in South Africa started in the early 2000s, coinciding with the ratification of the Palermo Protocol and passing of the U.S.’s Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act, which mandates the Department of State to annually released a trafficking report which ranks countries’ responses to trafficking. Within this global context, South Africa became known as a ‘source, transit, and destination’ country for victims of trafficking and, under increasing pressure, began to work towards passing national anti-trafficking legislation. The aim of this project was to examine the policy process behind the development and passing of this Act as a way of better understanding how policy is made and influenced in South Africa. As such, the objectives of the research were to document the policy process leading to the Act and map out the key policy actors and mechanisms shaping the policy framework. As little is known about how policy is made in South Africa, this project was exploratory in nature. Using the minutes of parliamentary discussions, stakeholder mapping, and key informant interviews, the data from which was all analyzed using the ‘3-I’ framework and thematic content analysis, we attempted to map out the various roles played by key actors and organizations in influencing the Trafficking in Persons Act. From our findings it is clear that the policy process in South Africa is shaped by a combination of international and local pressures. Whilst research is valued in the policy process, it is not actively sought after as policy makers rely on a combination of popular narrative, local and international pressures, and research when making decisions.DFI

How Unpopular Policies are Made: Policy Making for Migrant Women in South Africa, Bangladesh and Singapore

In this paper we address the question: how and why does policy get made in post-colonial In this paper we address the question: how and why does policy get made in post-colonial contexts? Based on three case studies of policy change; from Bangladesh, South Africa, and Singapore, we trace the drivers of policy change in these contexts. Much research has been done on policy making in Europe and North America, which has led to the development of theories and frameworks which theorise how and why specific policies are made. Examples of these include Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) (2014) and more recent work on global norms and how these effect national policy making (Betts & Orchard, 2014; Risse, Ropp, & Sikkink, 1999). Whilst the later have certainly made more of an effort to include examples from contexts other than Europe and North America, there remains a lack of information on how policy is actually made and implemented in these contexts. The three case studies, on which this report are based, were conducted by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore, and the African for Migration & Society (ACMS), at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. All the case studies made use of qualitative methods to map out the various roles played by key actors and organizations in influencing the policy under investigation. All three projects are studies on policy process and engage in process tracing methods. Through a thorough analysis of all three studies, we conclude that there are six factors that shaped the policy making process in the three countries. These are components of policy change that were common across the country case studies even if their impact and nature varied. We propose that by paying attention to these aspects of policy making, we will be able to better understand, influence, and predict policy making in contexts outside of Europe and North America.DFI

Collapse and continuity: A multi-proxy reconstruction of settlement organization and population trajectories in the Northern Fertile Crescent during the 4.2kya Rapid Climate Change event

The rise and fall of ancient societies have been attributed to rapid climate change events. One of the most discussed of these is the 4.2kya event, a period of increased aridity and cooling posited as the cause of societal changes across the globe, including the collapse of the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia. Studies seeking to correlate social and climatic changes around the 4.2kya event have tended to focus either on highly localized analyses of specific sites or surveys or more synthetic overviews at pan-continental scales, and temporally on the event and its aftermath. Here we take an empirical approach at a large spatial scale to investigate trends in population and settlement organization across the entirety of Northern Fertile Crescent (Northern Mesopotamia and the Northern Levant) from 6,000 to 3,000 cal BP. We use Summed Probability Distributions of radiocarbon dates and data from eighteen archaeological surveys as proxies for population, and a dataset of all settlements over ten hectares in size as a proxy for the degree of urbanization. The goal is to examine the spatial and temporal impact of the 4.2kya event and to contextualize it within longer term patterns of settlement. We find that negative trends are visible during the event horizon in all three proxies. However, these occur against a long-term trend of increased population and urbanization supported through unsustainable overshoot and the exploitation of a drier zone with increased risk of crop failure. We argue that the 4.2kya event occurred during a period of unprecedented urban and rural growth which may have been unsustainable even without an exogenous climate forcing