Over-Imitation in the Kalahari Desert and the Origins of Human Cultural Cognition

Children grow up in environments saturated with tools and objects which they must learn to use. One of the most efficient ways in which children do this is by imitating. Recent work has shown that, in contrast to non-human primates, when young children learn by imitating they focus more on reproducing the specific actions used than the actual outcomes achieved. From about 18 months of age children will routinely copy arbitrary and unnecessary actions. This puzzling behaviour is called 'over-imitation'. By documenting similarities exhibited by children from a large, industrialised city and children from remote Bushman communities in southern Africa, we provide here the first indication that over-imitation is a universal human trait. We also show that over-imitation is unaffected by the age of the child, testing environment, or familiarity of the demonstrating adult. Furthermore we argue that, although seemingly maladaptive, over-imitation reflects an evolutionary adaptation fundamental to the development and transmission of human culture

Research ethics in the kalahari : issues, contradictions and concerns

Abstract: The effects of ethical clearance or institutional review board practices are discussed in relation to the experiences of academic field researchers on the one hand and indigenous research participants and/or co-generators of knowledge on the other. Ethical procedures such as protection (do no harm), control (micromanaging methods) and exploitation (taking ownership) are discussed in relation to researcher experiences in Southern Africa. Researcher-researched relations, researcher and subject alienation, ethics creep and the clash of ontologies is examined. Some tentative solutions are mentioned

Picking on the poor : the contradictions of theory and neo-liberal critique. A response to Stasja Koot's paper on the contradictions of capitalism for Indigenous tourism in the South African Kalahari

Abstract: The relevance of neoliberal critique of a community-owned, but commercially managed lodge, is examined with regard to Stasja Koot’s paper on “The contradictions of capitalism” published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism in 2016. Koot focuses on the ≠Khomani’s relationship with !Xaus Lodge in the Kalahari. This response critiques Koot’s methodology, theory and conclusions. This rejoinder provides the missing history of the project discussed, and details the financial evidence that cautions Koot’s interpretations. My analysis cautions about the relevance and use of his application of David Harvey’s Marxist-derived theory of spatial and temporal fixes. This response’s assessment is that Koot’s conclusions are arrived at without sufficient supporting evidence, and that his theory-led argument conceals a myriad of contextual contradictions. Some comment is offered on researcher’s positions and responsibilities

Visual images of South African communities

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 13 August 1984Language -- or labels -- is a prime site of ideological struggle in South Africa. The tussle for meanings, images and sounds occurs at every level within the media. Because the media are owned and controlled by the politically and economically ascendant classes within the social formation, it is inevitable that the media will accredit a dominant reality over subordinate ones. In South Africa, the state not only defines the hegemonic construct of reality, but it perpetuates and delineates the ethnic, racial, political, historical and geographical content of what it calls 'nation-states' and the racially segregated 'communities' which fall outside the homelands

Hacking through academentia : autoethnography, data and social change

Abstract: The question of who may produce and own knowledge, under what conditions, is critically discussed in relation to research regulatory regimes and academic managerialism. The nature of researcher position and nature of researcher-researched encounters is discussed. Autoethnography is offered as one way of examining Self-Other relationships in doing field work. How to negotiate the relationship is examined in the context of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and the questions of essentialism and paradigm clash. The dominant ideology of data is questioned. Case studies of how (over-)regulation excludes unconventional science from its system of rewards illustrates the contradictions imposed by residues of positivism

Indeterminacy, Indigeneity, Peer Review and the Mind–Body Problem

Peer review is discussed from the perspective of different ways of making sense, most specifically, Immanuel’s Kant’s statement on the indeterminacy of radical translation.   Ontological differences are examined with specific examples illustrating actual contestations, with some instances invoking indigeneity and self-knowing.  The veracity of claims of racism and exclusion by allegedly hegemonic Western-dominated editorial boards of scientific journals is examined.     Positivism is contrasted with relational thinking and just where ‘the body’ fits into scientific practice is discussed.  Paradigm and paradigm shift as constituting the rules of peer engagement is proposed.  The method is an autoethnographic one that draws on the author’s own experience as a journals’ editor analysing peer review issues via the prism of Western philosophy on the one hand, and the Subject-Object integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) postulates on the other. Conspiracy theories are questioned and the conclusion is that both determinacies (Cartesian and IKS) need to generate new insights via dialectical engagements

The geography of Plan S open science

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Theatre, Repression and the Working Class in South Africa

As humanity and, by implication theatre, become more technomorphic, performance outside of a building specifically designed for the purpose is either ignored or pre-packaged as \u27street\u27 or \u27guerrilla\u27 theatre. Whereas the theatre building functions to separate the audience from the players and entrench the distinction between art and life, these latter styles are an attempt by professionals to overcome this distinction, to draw attention to specific problems in society and to concientise the public to alternative everyday forms of theatre. Such theatre, however, remains a novelty (in South Africa at least) for it is a deliberate attempt by actors or directors to involve bystanders in a performance which does not normally occur outside of a theatre

Public intellectuals. Thoughts into action

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The tail wagging the dog: Tomaselli’s Contemporary Campus Life and why we are overdue for introspection as academics

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